Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

143 reviews

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

ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

3.75

3.75-4⭐️ (I keep fluctuating)

This was another very enjoyable addition to the series.

I felt there was a bit of a lull at the start of the book where the pacing had slowed back down since the ending of book 2. So I found myself almost starting from scratch in terms of being emotionally invested in the returning characters.

In terms of new characters introduced that I’ve come to love, we’ve got:

• Manon Blackbeak (badass bitch extraordinaire)
• Abraxos (cutie patootie)
• Amaranth—— I mean Adarlan’s Whore, Aedion
• Sorscha (under-utilised character IMO)

For me where this book shined was in: 

• the relationship between Dorian and Sorscha 
• The rift between Dorian and Chaol
• The political intrigue and scheming going on in Rifthold 
• Aedion’s feelings and motivations
• Villainous deeds on page from fucked up rulers (side note: does the King of Adarlan have a name?)

I was less thrilled hearing about Celaena’s training montages and depressive episodes with newbie, Rowan. And I wasn’t completely sold on Rowan until he said one of my favourite things an MC can say to another MC: “who did that to you?”. 🫠 After that I was wholly on board with this broody Fae prince.

The last few chapters of the book had me experiencing a roller coaster of emotions and I can’t wait to pick up where we’ve left off (hopefully there’s not another pace change at the beginning of the next book lie there was with this one).

In terms of recommending reading order of the series, I’ve seen a lot of people say Assassin’s Blade should be read next. I’ll try it, but may end up skipping straight to book 4 if I get antsy. 

Content warnings:

⚠️racism towards mixed race beings

⚠️Slurs towards mixed race beings

⚠️implied animal cruelty 

⚠️mention of torture 

⚠️corporal punishment

⚠️murder 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Murder, and Racism

Minor: Torture and Animal cruelty

ernis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.75

A lot of people seem to love this one, but I felt like the plot kinda dragged on a bit compared with the previous 2 novels. I also found it a bit jarring and frustrating to switch between the different, almost entirely unrelated point of views when it felt like a storyline finally was getting going. Love C's development in this one though!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gore, and Murder

Minor: Torture

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

clarenotabear's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Slavery

Minor: Slavery

anguawolf's review

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Torture, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Blood, Hate crime, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Self harm, Slavery, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Drug abuse

Minor: Bullying and Panic attacks/disorders

ellenwm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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

4.25

Very worth getting through the second book to enjoy this one! The threads weave together wonderfully in this world as the history and current machinations come together. We (finally) get a lot of character development from our favs, and a lot less annoyingly clunky exposition from a ghost queen and a door knocker from Queens. Rowan is obviously the high point. In a genre littered with hot/brooding/grumpy teachers paired with tiny/mouthy/stubborn women training their wild power, Rowan and Aelin’s growing relationship strikes a great balance. There’s tension, but more importantly there’s trust.

I really appreciated that this book dialed down the romance a bit.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Murder, Suicide, Death, and War

mangofraiche's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Torture, War, Murder, Physical abuse, and Slavery

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 really good i think the first half was a bit slow but only because it was developing the characters and the storylines, the second half picked up so much and was so eventful the trauma these characters have been through already and its only the fourth book.. very happy to meet rowan he was a bit freaky at first but thats okay

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, and Torture

Moderate: War and Vomit

frog4earth's review

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense 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

ugh okay it is SO hard trying to not give this 5 stars but after sitting with it for a while i had to take a half star off just because of how slow the beginning was. however, once it picked up, i got SO sucked in i read a huge chunk of it in a night. i love rowan and aelin’s friendship, and i am so happy Chaol is getting his redemption arc 🤩 so proud of my boy fr. but what the king did to Sorscha in the end MANNN WHAT THE HELL. i sobbed :’) anyways i look forward to continuing the series after i take a short break with a short memoir im reading :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Murder