Beenish's Reviews > Heir of Fire

3.5 ★ | (reread with Lilah —loved Manon chapters this time.)

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—it's spoiler free for those who have read previous books and spoilery for who haven't.

Wendlyn. A land of myths and monsters—of legends and nightmares made flesh.

My Reviews of:
The Assassin's Blade 4.5 ★
Throne of Glass 4 ★
Crown of Midnight 3.5 ★
Queen of Shadows 2.5 ★
Empire of Storms 3 ★
Tower of Dawn 1.5 ★
Kingdom of Ash 4 ★

𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊

In short, we get *more than needed* details of how Celaena, trains in magic.
How while she's so broken inside and has lost hope, she heals with the help of her carranam. We get an idea of what the King is planning, and a clue as to where one of the wyrdkeys is.
Chaol is still learning things. He's in a conflict mentally as to who's side he's on, who he's loyal to and would fight for.
We're introduced to Aedion, Celaena's (Aelin's) cousin who is the King's General.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐚𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝟑-𝟒 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠! (not at all needed)—𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞, 𝐈 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝! 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.


𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖

Hello, Aelin Galathynius.

Celaena has been sent to Wendlyn to assassinate the King and the Crown prince but what she actually intends to do is find out the answers about wyrdkeys and wyrdgates. And how the magic can be freed in order to fight against the King of Adarlan. So she goes to Maeve, Queen of the Fae, and makes a bargain. But, in order to fulfill her side of the bargain, she has to train in magic.

A world where she was no one at all.

All through her training, Celaena feels weak. She's breaking inside with the weight of past events and is losing herself. Rowan, the Fae Prince, helps her heal and trains her. And when the time comes, Celaena uses her magic to fight against the darkness the King of Adarlan is playing with. The darkness he sent towards Wendlyn.
On the other hand, Dorian, the Crown Prince, spends time with a healer, Sorscha, in the glass Castle and starts liking her. The girl knows a lot that she can use against the prince but Dorian trusts her and keeps giving away information like it's nothing.
But this healer helps Dorian in some way.
When things get worse, the King uses his own son for whatever 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴 he has and the most Dorian is able to do is save Chaol.

Also, there are some witch scenes which are important (even boring at times) but they are part of the King's 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴.


𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗜𝗟𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚


𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒 (+ complains)


𝗖𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗘𝗡𝗔🔥
It would have been nice to have one person who knew the absolute truth about her—and didn't hate her for it. It would have been really, really, nice.

She's in Wendlyn, where no one knows her. Where her training means she'll get answers. But Celaena isn't over Nehemia's death or Chaol's betrayal. She isn't over the slaves she left behind at Endovier or the fact that she was ready to die there at some point. She keeps thinking of the things she's been through, the betrayal and loss she's had to live with, how she let Chaol in without ever thinking why he's loyal and serving the wicked King and she's just breaking inside. She does not want to be Queen. Rowan even asks her why she's ready to fight for others but not her kingdom, her people. I understand that she cannot bear anymore burden but after everything that has happened, how can she be hopeless? I understand she gets tired but how can she give up? And Why at book 3 are we still seeing Celaena run away from the truth if her being Queen halfway through the book? Like can we NOT have something new, something PROGRESSING like Celaena decided to be Queen to bring down the King??

—it was her most ardent and selfish wish to be ordinary, without the weight of her crown.

The thing I hated the most was that Maas had to give Celaena's training so much detail that 50% of the book she was still not ready to face the truth. All that motivation she had before meeting Maeve, was gone. And whatever relationship she was developing between Celaena and Rowan wasn't enough! This carranam thing just didn't feel as strong as it's mentioned to be!

I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.

The way Celaena said this, it felt nothing but dramatic. And when Celaena finally made use of her fire power, to fight that darkness thinking of the lives that were sacrificed to save her, so she could one day stand for others as a Queen, I felt it was too much. 𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟑 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡!!!

And then Celaena set the world on fire.

Lines like this! Maas tends to write things this way a lot. End the chapter with such lines !! So EXAGGERATED!! I liked it in the start but I don't like that it's become a pattern.

𝗔𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗢𝗡🧝‍♂️
general—a man able to walk into hell itself and come out grinning.

A handsome young man! Not only that, but beautiful, though I really wish we could get more details about his character. And this scene!!

similar to what he remembered from childhood, but wrapped in mystery and secret smiles

Every time he thought of Aelin, it felt so genuine and sincere that I cannot explain. I feel like the way he loves her as his Queen is just wonderful.

When she came back, he was never letting her go.

Each and every thought that occurred in his head for Celaena was just precious to me. The faith he had in her. The joy he felt to know she's alive! Just how alive he himself felt when the word spread that Aelin was alive and in Wendlyn. How he didn't care about anything and just offered himself to the King to save Chaol for his Queen.

My only wish is to see her again. Just once, ... to see her, to know for certain that she's real—that she survived.

And when he smiled and thanked the King for murdering his people, I felt that Hard!

nothing made me feel as filthy as I did today, thanking that man for murdering my people.

There are so many lines of his that I love!

He deserved to meet her, and she deserved to have him serve in her court.

𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗔𝗡🌬️
The people you love are just weapons that will be used against you.

I did like his character but there did not seem any strong connection of him or Celaena. The way he said:
Maybe we could find the way back together
It just, it seemed incomplete.
I mean it was nice that he was finally trying to understand her and be nice to her but for a man who's lived so long, it seemed a bit off how he thinks he'll find a way back with her, when he couldn't really do so in such a long time. 😏

Ice and fire. Frost and embers. Locked in a battle, pushing and pulling.

Oh, I just loved these words. It was these words that I absolutely loved even though they're a bit exaggerated for that moment. (the pattern I was talking about) Still, the line seemed worth appreciating.

Anyways, they may be carranam but I do not ship them yet.