Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

126 reviews

emis_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

I cried reading this book. The story is great and i loved the characters. The POVs change but it’s great. Typical for a Sarah J. Maas book: the last 100 pages everything’s on fire.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, War, Hate crime, Murder, Violence, Torture, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Slavery, and Vomit

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Why did Sorscha have to die. What happened to Petrahs Wyvern is so sad. So many bad things happened but it was also funny omg. The end was so so hurtful to read. Ngl, Chaols POVs are kinda boring. I pray that Aedion meets Aelin. The moment between Maeve and Aelin was soo savage (with the citizens not being out of stone). And what happened to Dorian… it broke my heart so much…

mrsalexisrjones's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Assassins, kingdoms, magic, wyvern, witches, an underdog, an evil aunt, mixed loyalties, a secret romance, long lost cousins, etc. What more could you need?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Moderate: Torture, Blood, War, Slavery, Death of parent, Violence, Physical abuse, and Gore

Minor: Trafficking, Vomit, and Suicidal thoughts

allydoessomereading's review

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Omg what a massive book in the TOG series! It took a while for me to get into this book with the switching perspectives (and so many different characters to focus on too) but I eventually got used to it and loved having so many different characters to explore. Like every Mass book, the last third is just chaos and action-packed but it just makes it so much fun to read! Loved this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, Gore, Slavery, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Torture, Genocide, Grief, Confinement, Incest, and Body horror

tiredtori's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cannibalism, Torture, and Mental illness

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Kidnapping, Excrement, Hate crime, Animal death, Grief, Slavery, War, and Vomit

jelkebooks's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

first read in 2019 - original rating: 2/5 stars

Honestly, I liked this much more than I expected (and remembered from the first time around as well). I did still have a difficult relationship with this book though. There were parts that were boring to me. There were elements that I strongly disliked, but in the end I did enjoy this quite a bit, and the ending has me hyped to continue on with the series. I truly think this is a turning point for the series, and I'm quite excited to see where that is going to go.
Let's start with the biggest surprise of this book, it actually got me to root for Celeana. Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely HATED her for a large chunk of this book. She felt very weak, and pathetic, and following her just wasn't enjoyable for a while. However, she goes through A LOT of growth throughout this book, and I love that in this book she's surrounded by people that are willing to call her out on her bullshit, and just kiss her ass for no reason. I also think her part of the story was easily the most interesting. It got a bit boring in the beginning because it was just a lot of training, but overall the descriptions of magic, and learning how it works plus learning more about the fae side of the world was quite interesting as well. The plot also amps up the most in this part of the book, and I was on the edge of my seat during its climax. 
Then we also have a storyline following Chaol and Dorian, and from what I remember that was my favourite part of this book last time. However, this time around it fell flat for me. I do think the concept of it was interesting, but the execution was lacking for me. Dorian's storyline could have been incredibly interesting but was pushed to the side for an incredibly underdeveloped, slightly problematic romance. It just was easily the least interesting part of this book. Chaol's side of this storyline could have been interesting as well, but it was obvious to me that Sarah J. Maas had no clue what to do with him. His character felt very wishy-washy. It kept me from getting invested in his part of the story as his motivations were just impossible to read. 
Then we also have a new character to follow in this book, Manon. I don't know how to feel about her, or her story yet. Her chapters were very few and far in between, and didn't feel like a natural part of this book. They felt jammed in, and switching to her chapters felt very jarring. They were also relatively short compared to the other characters, and it left me with the feeling that I just didn't get a good enough grasp on her character, nor that side of the world, nor that storyline. I am excited to explore it more in future books, especially because I've heard a lot of people rave about Manon but right now it's just nothing.
So yeah, a very mixed bag of a book for me, but it was a relative quick read for its size, and I had a good time for most of it. Like mentioned before I also am incredibly excited to continue on with the series, and I never really expected that day to come so it is a win for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Slavery

scarlett_f's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, War, Emotional abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

emilywemily6's review

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Amazing!! I devoured this book and I can’t wait for the next one. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I thoroughly enjoyed following every perspective and am so excited to see where these characters go from here.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, War, Violence, Animal death, Torture, Death, Grief, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Murder, Child death, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content and Medical content

merrow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I always like the point where a YA series turns from adventures to a desperate fight for freedom, and this book is no exception.

Quite the tragic turn of events at the end, but they set up for some potentially good ways out.

The first half is a bit frustrating as the focus is placed on rebuilding and crumbling over and over again for the main character, but it finds its direction very well for the second half.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Self harm, Slavery, Abandonment, Body horror, Deadnaming, and Torture

sofiavivi16's review

adventurous dark inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Aelins depression and grief were very well-written and I like that the book ended with her becoming stronger without erasing her problems entirely, like many books do with characters that have depression. Although it was sad, there were plenty of funny moments too and I enjoyed the change of setting. I didn´t enjoy Manons POV parts because the lack of emotion in them alienated me, although I understood that decision from a writing point of view. The way Aelins road to recovery was written was very inspiring. The descrptive writing was very good. Descriptions are actually one of the few things Sarah J Maas consistently writes well. In hindsight, the way Ronan handled her depression was probably highly inappropriate but I enjoyed the way their bond developed. They probably should have stayed friends, because it just became toxic in later books. I liked all the new character introductions except Manon, who didn´t inspire much emotion or interest in me generally

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

stripy_gloves's review

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, and Death