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barbarianmissy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
WE ARE HOME, BABY! HELL YEAH TESSAREN!
Wowee that was quite the epic tale!
Felt a smidge slow at the start but the last 200 pages were crazy af in usual SJM manner.
Here are my thoughts on the characters for this book:
I’m so flipping HAPPY that Dorian got freed, poor sweet summer child, he didn’t deserve to be possessed for so long! BUT ALSO! Every single person just frickin left him to run a country on his own???? After he was tortured for months?!??! Like Aelin and her court all left to go North, and Chaol and Nesryn are going south! Who’s going to watch our battered and bruised lil king?!?! I don’t trust any of these Adarlan jerks to treat him right! But something I’m hopeful for is that I feel like Manon and him may become a thing????? That’d be quite the dynamic! Can’t wait!
Manon you’re sick af and a rockstar queen. Keep rocking, girlie! Hope Elide doesn’t get lost in the woods or break her other leg after you just left her there.
Also Lorcan was a fun lil addition, I don’t like him but I think he’s fun! Saucy lil guy!
I hope Lysandra and Aedion get together, they’d be really cute especially since she can scare the shit outta him. Good for her. She’s becoming one of my favs.
Aelin, I love you and Rowan together but I really wish it wasn’t established that you are blood relatives. I don’t care how distantly related you are, the fact that you can say “let’s go visit our aunt” is WEIRD. But long live the QUEEN!
Chaol, buddy, you really were pissing me off this book. Sorry about your lil leggies and I hope you get them back but you need to drink your “respect women” juice and treat Nesryn right pls cause I am getting real sick of your antics.
Now, ONTO THE TANDEM READ! LETS GOOOOOOOO
Wowee that was quite the epic tale!
Felt a smidge slow at the start but the last 200 pages were crazy af in usual SJM manner.
Here are my thoughts on the characters for this book:
I’m so flipping HAPPY that Dorian got freed, poor sweet summer child, he didn’t deserve to be possessed for so long! BUT ALSO! Every single person just frickin left him to run a country on his own???? After he was tortured for months?!??! Like Aelin and her court all left to go North, and Chaol and Nesryn are going south! Who’s going to watch our battered and bruised lil king?!?! I don’t trust any of these Adarlan jerks to treat him right! But something I’m hopeful for is that I feel like Manon and him may become a thing????? That’d be quite the dynamic! Can’t wait!
Manon you’re sick af and a rockstar queen. Keep rocking, girlie! Hope Elide doesn’t get lost in the woods or break her other leg after you just left her there.
Also Lorcan was a fun lil addition, I don’t like him but I think he’s fun! Saucy lil guy!
I hope Lysandra and Aedion get together, they’d be really cute especially since she can scare the shit outta him. Good for her. She’s becoming one of my favs.
Aelin, I love you and Rowan together but I really wish it wasn’t established that you are blood relatives. I don’t care how distantly related you are, the fact that you can say “let’s go visit our aunt” is WEIRD. But long live the QUEEN!
Chaol, buddy, you really were pissing me off this book. Sorry about your lil leggies and I hope you get them back but you need to drink your “respect women” juice and treat Nesryn right pls cause I am getting real sick of your antics.
Now, ONTO THE TANDEM READ! LETS GOOOOOOOO
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture, Medical content, Rape, Miscarriage, Grief, Incest, Vomit, Genocide, Physical abuse, War, Bullying, Drug use, Abandonment, Blood, Pregnancy, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault
annikenr's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Torture, Vomit, Violence, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Slavery
jelkebooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
We have finally arrived at the point in the series I did not get around to last time I tried to read it. I left Heir of Fire really excited for this book, and very curious to see what was going to happen in this book. I now have to report that all of this was wasted hope. This book just didn't work out for me. It felt very drawn out to me.
A lot of big and interesting things happen in this book, however they are few and far in between. In between these events not quite much happens at all. It's just our characters sitting around, messing around, doing nothing really. The actual big events in the book were also glanced over very quickly. It felt a bit dissapointing, and just easy despite having been building to these things the entire book. I don't know. I just feel like we could have spend more time building out these moments, actually make them as heavy as they were foretold, and then have less time just shitting around.
When it comes to the characters I was dissapointed. I feel like Aelin went through a lot of developement in Heir of Fire, and all of it was completely thrown in the trash. She completely acted like she did before, hotheaded, rash, completely selfish, and highly hypcritical. It's made worse by her inner monologue constantly beating you ever the head with how "Celeana Sardothien is dead, and nothing about her is still around" when she's just still her whiny self but with complete ass kissers this time. I don't know how Sarah J. Maas did it but everything I loved about Rowan last book was completely ereased for his ass kissery of Aelin in this book. He and Aedion acted the exact same. It was nausiating.
Contrary to popular opinion I actually love Chaol. I feel like he's the only character the feels realistic, and still has his actual brain in his body. He's rational, careful, but still effictive in his goals. He actually keeps the bigger picture in mind, while still fighting off rational he's been raised with basically. It's just extremely sad to me that it is entirely obvious in the way he's written that Sarah J. Maas does not give a shit about him anymore now that she has found a shinier new love interest for Aelin. Dorian was in an interesting place this book. He was not entirely himself, and we didn't got much of him, but I did think his storyline was interesting, and I'm curious how the events of this book will influence his future actions.
There were also quite a few new characters in this book, and I quite liked them. I think they were great additions to our cast of characters, and I'm curious to learn more about them as the series continues. I even liked the inclusion of Manon and her witches in this book. I think they were much better included in this book than in Heir of Fire. They actually felt like an important part of the story, and I loved seeing learning more about the Thirteen, and I'm honestly most curious about the future of this crew of characters out of them all. So yeah, this book wasn't my favourite but I am still excited to continue on.
A lot of big and interesting things happen in this book, however they are few and far in between. In between these events not quite much happens at all. It's just our characters sitting around, messing around, doing nothing really. The actual big events in the book were also glanced over very quickly. It felt a bit dissapointing, and just easy despite having been building to these things the entire book. I don't know. I just feel like we could have spend more time building out these moments, actually make them as heavy as they were foretold, and then have less time just shitting around.
When it comes to the characters I was dissapointed. I feel like Aelin went through a lot of developement in Heir of Fire, and all of it was completely thrown in the trash. She completely acted like she did before, hotheaded, rash, completely selfish, and highly hypcritical. It's made worse by her inner monologue constantly beating you ever the head with how "Celeana Sardothien is dead, and nothing about her is still around" when she's just still her whiny self but with complete ass kissers this time. I don't know how Sarah J. Maas did it but everything I loved about Rowan last book was completely ereased for his ass kissery of Aelin in this book. He and Aedion acted the exact same. It was nausiating.
Contrary to popular opinion I actually love Chaol. I feel like he's the only character the feels realistic, and still has his actual brain in his body. He's rational, careful, but still effictive in his goals. He actually keeps the bigger picture in mind, while still fighting off rational he's been raised with basically. It's just extremely sad to me that it is entirely obvious in the way he's written that Sarah J. Maas does not give a shit about him anymore now that she has found a shinier new love interest for Aelin. Dorian was in an interesting place this book. He was not entirely himself, and we didn't got much of him, but I did think his storyline was interesting, and I'm curious how the events of this book will influence his future actions.
There were also quite a few new characters in this book, and I quite liked them. I think they were great additions to our cast of characters, and I'm curious to learn more about them as the series continues. I even liked the inclusion of Manon and her witches in this book. I think they were much better included in this book than in Heir of Fire. They actually felt like an important part of the story, and I loved seeing learning more about the Thirteen, and I'm honestly most curious about the future of this crew of characters out of them all. So yeah, this book wasn't my favourite but I am still excited to continue on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism and Physical abuse
Minor: Ableism, Racism, and Sexual assault
There’s also mention of a stillbirth in this book. There are also characters in forced prostitution in this book, and just a whole lot of slut shaming.ernis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I liked the book, but felt that some of the events that had been talked about for a while fell short of the expectations. For instance, the plot to kill a significant character felt anti climatic considering how much it was discussed ahead of time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder and Violence
Minor: War, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
bi_n_large's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Confinement, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Emotional abuse, and Vomit
Minor: Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and War
jessversteeg's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Even on the second read, I loved it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Forced institutionalization, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Body horror, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Blood, Murder, Confinement, Pregnancy, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, and Child death
frog4earth's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
If I could give this a six 🌟s, I would. The amount of times this book shattered my heart, put it back together, shattered it again, and the way it put it back together in the end made me feel so much and I cannot tell you how many times I cried reading the second half of this book :’) I have so many feelings and so much love for all of these characters — both as individuals and as a group — and for the story that is happening alongside them. The way the end tied up everyone’s love for each other, as friends or otherwise, hurt SO badly in such a good way. I’m scared to see what comes next … but I look forward to reading about my absolute favorite fantasy characters kicking ass in the last 3 books of my new favorite fantasy series. ⚔️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gore
Moderate: Sexual assault
ladypalutena's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is the first book in the series where I found myself caring for Aelin.
I only started tolerating her about halfway through Heir of Fire - the only thing that kept me reading the first two books is that the side characters were way more interesting than she was. (And yes, I did read Assassin's Blade - and it made my already-dim view of her even worse, oops.)
These "side characters" are starting to become full-fledged characters in this book. It's clear that Aelin is still supposed to be the main character, but Aedion (I know I'm not spelling that correctly), Rowan, Lysandra, and so on are growing on me much faster than our supposed main character did. I am ALL for seeing a full novel from Lysandra's point of view. I know I'm setting myself up for heartbreak, but if Lysandra dies, I'm rioting.
This book wraps up with what seemed to be the end of the story - yes, there are a few unknowns, but I was not expecting there to still be THREE MORE BOOKS LEFT. That leaves a lot of time for people to die/for things to go wrong.
I only started tolerating her about halfway through Heir of Fire - the only thing that kept me reading the first two books is that the side characters were way more interesting than she was. (And yes, I did read Assassin's Blade - and it made my already-dim view of her even worse, oops.)
These "side characters" are starting to become full-fledged characters in this book. It's clear that Aelin is still supposed to be the main character, but Aedion (I know I'm not spelling that correctly), Rowan, Lysandra, and so on are growing on me much faster than our supposed main character did. I am ALL for seeing a full novel from Lysandra's point of view. I know I'm setting myself up for heartbreak, but if Lysandra dies, I'm rioting.
This book wraps up with what seemed to be the end of the story - yes, there are a few unknowns, but I was not expecting there to still be THREE MORE BOOKS LEFT. That leaves a lot of time for people to die/for things to go wrong.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage, Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault
hollymileham's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
this was so big my hands hurt
definitely worth it though it had a really strong storyline im even starting to care about manon finally
im excited for more rowan&aelin
wish me luck im doing the tandem read because i hate myself
definitely worth it though it had a really strong storyline im even starting to care about manon finally
im excited for more rowan&aelin
wish me luck im doing the tandem read because i hate myself
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Vomit, Blood, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
pagesandpixels's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
It was a journey to get here. I'm not sure we needed so many books but I will say that SJM can tell a story. It was long and sometimes frustrating because there were new characters and plot twists but it was fun and engaging. I can see the hype. This is not a spicy read and that's okay.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death of parent, Torture, Murder, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Physical abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, War, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Death