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A review by deena_
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
5.0
5 stars ★
petition for aelin and rowan to rule the world like they deserve to. they are the ultimate power couple we need in our life but don't get.
honestly, rowan whitethorn; that's the review, that's the rating. this book got me second-guessing my loyalties to acotar, acotar has characters who are as incomparable as they could get and didn't this series get too damn close? aelin and rowan can step on me any day; in fact, i refuse to die any other way. i almost always complain about lengthy books but if the book in question serves this well, i have no regrets losing sleep over it. this book had me anticipating it's every twist and turn.
here we have the hidden identity trope, lessons in magic trope, enemies to friends trope, forced to work together trope, bonding over trauma and the famous 'who did this to you?' trope.
i usually don't favor third-person perspective; it's rather hard to handle, but the whole sorting-out perspective was so beautifully done here, it constantly switched between scenes and characters in between chapters to keep our interests up. we have chaol, dorian, aedion and sorscha's points of view from rifthold and the castle, manon's from the training grounds on the mountains, and finally aelin and rowan's parts from wendlyn. the scenes were perfectly balanced out.
celeana: if nesta and cassian ever had a child, that's celeana for you. she's a tough cookie who can hold her ground to whatever end. she would say she doesn't care then proceed to walk through fire for you and probably burn you whole if you uttered a single word about it. her best trait is that she never backs down, even if her defeat is clear as day. through sheer determination alone, she manages to accomplish the unthinkable. the mask of indifference she keeps on is mostly to protect her bleeding heart but deep down she cares more than she lets on.
-after the events of 'crown of midnight', celeana is sent to wendlyn on the king's orders. having lost her dearest friend, she struggles with grief and self-hatred for the role she played in it. she drowns in dreadful past memories—
the night her parents were slaughtered and everyone she loved dead before her eyes. the time spent at the assassin's keep and the death of sam. a year as a slave in endovier and being totured beyond measure. to work under the man who stole everything from her.
-she arrived in wendlyn, a broken, empty shell of someone she used to be, looking for answers. she met kindhearted people there who welcomed her with open arms but she was afraid of letting them in and accepting herself and the responsibilities that awaited her. she couldn't be their savior when both her mind and magic were a mess, but being around people who understood her, helped her come out of that dark corner of her mind and all she could focus on was her blinding rage that sought retribution. with that ferocity in her heart, she lived on. she promised herself to hide no longer, to fight till all the sacrifices of her people were repaid and the once glorious kingdom her parents loved with all their hearts restored.
chaol: i knew for sure that chaol was way better as a friend than the love interest; other than a strong alliance, i can't think of anything else blossoming between them. the main reason is that they both are such strong individuals with many differences. circumstances, obligations or their own viewpoints, nothing was in their favor cause despite everything, chaol still struggled to accept some parts of her, especially after knowing who she really was. he did help her buy time and get away from adarlan for a while to do what she needed to, but he refused to be a part of whatever her scheme was. he admitted having full loyalty to adarlan and the royal family. he was equally conflicted on whether to offer celeana his full support or stand by his honor to protect the king. his indecision made things complicated even though he hid celeana's truth and searched for answers himself.
dorian: dorian has been distant and closed off ever since celeana left with a piece of his heart. he made up his mind to give up trying to win her heart long ago, but the heartbreak was still there. after learning the secrets chaol and celeana kept from him, it made him upset that they even for a second thought he couldn't be trusted. he was mad at chaol for sending celeana away all of a sudden without telling him why. the distance between chaol and dorian grew even more now that celeana wasn't there to repair what's broken. on the other hand, dorian had to live in fear of his untamed powers, which would surely kill him if word reached the king. he tried learning to deal with it all alone while tending to the betrayals of the ones he considered friends.
sorscha: she's been part of the royal family's healers and of a secret rebel movement for a long time. she had always fancied the crown prince, dorian, she withheld information and kept the prince and his friend's whereabouts a secret. when circumstances brought the prince to her doorstep, wanting her help to subdue and control this strange power within him. he asked her if she could find it in her heart to keep more secrets for him—secrets that'd possibly get her in trouble. but sorscha did it for him anyway, and some more. as they traded dreams and hopes and grew closer each day, she found herself in the middle of something very dangerous. afterall, it's never wise to get hearts involved when the promise of disaster is heavy on the air, looming closer with every shared moment they spent.
aedion: the once beloved prince of a mighty land now a mere puppet of the king; having surrundered every last drop of dignity, aedion built such reputation for himself by playing at the king's whims as one of his trusted generals. the whole time he has been working on his own agenda to find a way to free his people and search for anything he could find on the lost heir of his dying kingdom, playing a dangerous game all the while. a true warrior who greatly grieves the loss of his people, and the biggest of all is that he failed to be there for the one he swore to protect. he gets away with his charms so no one would suspect as he strikes up an impossible deal with the captain of the guards to extract more information about the king's plans.
manon: the king of adarlan disecretly assembled all the witch covens beyond the ruhn mountains to pick riders for his wyverns, enormous dragon-like creatures that make up the majority of his aerial forces. manon is the heir to one of the most powerful covens and esteemed leader of the thirteen. i have no words to describe her nature other than wild, feral and deadly; she's wonderfully violent. she along with the wyvern of her choosing makes for an exceptional pair. she smoothly glided past all obstacles faced while training her wyvern for the war games. even though her part in the story wasn't mentioned here in clear details, i know she plays a huge role and is one of the main characters.
rowan: the fae prince who was assigned to train celeana in harnessing her magic. he is extremely grumpy, closed-off, strict, and demanding. i thought he'd never ease up with her or like her in any way, but that doesn't mean i wasn't squealing and screaming from inside at every one of their encounters. he was the frost to her fire, wind to her embers; together they made for a lethal weapon on the battlefield. to make things more interesting, they hated the hell out of each other and got into bloody brawls that ended with a broken jaw and a bloody nose.
-him, biting her cause she refused to shift into her fae form, and her, shifting into her fae form just so she could repay the favor and bite him back; if this isn't their love language, i don't know what else is. the only times their interests aligned were the times they planned to unalive someone. the friendship, the slowburn—everything considered—they had an unbreakable bond, and i seamlessly ate it all up.
it's just the third book in the series, and the story is already riding it's peak with the level of intensity and buildup, so onto the next book we go, to test out my theory on how good it can get.
quotes i liked:
“She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.”
“I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.”
“She was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius—and she would not be afraid.”
“It would not take a monster to destroy a monster - but light, light to drive out darkness.”
“See what you want, Aelin, and seize it. Don’t ask for it; don’t wish for it. Take it.”
petition for aelin and rowan to rule the world like they deserve to. they are the ultimate power couple we need in our life but don't get.
honestly, rowan whitethorn; that's the review, that's the rating. this book got me second-guessing my loyalties to acotar, acotar has characters who are as incomparable as they could get and didn't this series get too damn close? aelin and rowan can step on me any day; in fact, i refuse to die any other way. i almost always complain about lengthy books but if the book in question serves this well, i have no regrets losing sleep over it. this book had me anticipating it's every twist and turn.
here we have the hidden identity trope, lessons in magic trope, enemies to friends trope, forced to work together trope, bonding over trauma and the famous 'who did this to you?' trope.
i usually don't favor third-person perspective; it's rather hard to handle, but the whole sorting-out perspective was so beautifully done here, it constantly switched between scenes and characters in between chapters to keep our interests up. we have chaol, dorian, aedion and sorscha's points of view from rifthold and the castle, manon's from the training grounds on the mountains, and finally aelin and rowan's parts from wendlyn. the scenes were perfectly balanced out.
celeana: if nesta and cassian ever had a child, that's celeana for you. she's a tough cookie who can hold her ground to whatever end. she would say she doesn't care then proceed to walk through fire for you and probably burn you whole if you uttered a single word about it. her best trait is that she never backs down, even if her defeat is clear as day. through sheer determination alone, she manages to accomplish the unthinkable. the mask of indifference she keeps on is mostly to protect her bleeding heart but deep down she cares more than she lets on.
-after the events of 'crown of midnight', celeana is sent to wendlyn on the king's orders. having lost her dearest friend, she struggles with grief and self-hatred for the role she played in it. she drowns in dreadful past memories—
the night her parents were slaughtered and everyone she loved dead before her eyes. the time spent at the assassin's keep and the death of sam. a year as a slave in endovier and being totured beyond measure. to work under the man who stole everything from her.
-she arrived in wendlyn, a broken, empty shell of someone she used to be, looking for answers. she met kindhearted people there who welcomed her with open arms but she was afraid of letting them in and accepting herself and the responsibilities that awaited her. she couldn't be their savior when both her mind and magic were a mess, but being around people who understood her, helped her come out of that dark corner of her mind and all she could focus on was her blinding rage that sought retribution. with that ferocity in her heart, she lived on. she promised herself to hide no longer, to fight till all the sacrifices of her people were repaid and the once glorious kingdom her parents loved with all their hearts restored.
chaol: i knew for sure that chaol was way better as a friend than the love interest; other than a strong alliance, i can't think of anything else blossoming between them. the main reason is that they both are such strong individuals with many differences. circumstances, obligations or their own viewpoints, nothing was in their favor cause despite everything, chaol still struggled to accept some parts of her, especially after knowing who she really was. he did help her buy time and get away from adarlan for a while to do what she needed to, but he refused to be a part of whatever her scheme was. he admitted having full loyalty to adarlan and the royal family. he was equally conflicted on whether to offer celeana his full support or stand by his honor to protect the king. his indecision made things complicated even though he hid celeana's truth and searched for answers himself.
dorian: dorian has been distant and closed off ever since celeana left with a piece of his heart. he made up his mind to give up trying to win her heart long ago, but the heartbreak was still there. after learning the secrets chaol and celeana kept from him, it made him upset that they even for a second thought he couldn't be trusted. he was mad at chaol for sending celeana away all of a sudden without telling him why. the distance between chaol and dorian grew even more now that celeana wasn't there to repair what's broken. on the other hand, dorian had to live in fear of his untamed powers, which would surely kill him if word reached the king. he tried learning to deal with it all alone while tending to the betrayals of the ones he considered friends.
sorscha: she's been part of the royal family's healers and of a secret rebel movement for a long time. she had always fancied the crown prince, dorian, she withheld information and kept the prince and his friend's whereabouts a secret. when circumstances brought the prince to her doorstep, wanting her help to subdue and control this strange power within him. he asked her if she could find it in her heart to keep more secrets for him—secrets that'd possibly get her in trouble. but sorscha did it for him anyway, and some more. as they traded dreams and hopes and grew closer each day, she found herself in the middle of something very dangerous. afterall, it's never wise to get hearts involved when the promise of disaster is heavy on the air, looming closer with every shared moment they spent.
aedion: the once beloved prince of a mighty land now a mere puppet of the king; having surrundered every last drop of dignity, aedion built such reputation for himself by playing at the king's whims as one of his trusted generals. the whole time he has been working on his own agenda to find a way to free his people and search for anything he could find on the lost heir of his dying kingdom, playing a dangerous game all the while. a true warrior who greatly grieves the loss of his people, and the biggest of all is that he failed to be there for the one he swore to protect. he gets away with his charms so no one would suspect as he strikes up an impossible deal with the captain of the guards to extract more information about the king's plans.
manon: the king of adarlan disecretly assembled all the witch covens beyond the ruhn mountains to pick riders for his wyverns, enormous dragon-like creatures that make up the majority of his aerial forces. manon is the heir to one of the most powerful covens and esteemed leader of the thirteen. i have no words to describe her nature other than wild, feral and deadly; she's wonderfully violent. she along with the wyvern of her choosing makes for an exceptional pair. she smoothly glided past all obstacles faced while training her wyvern for the war games. even though her part in the story wasn't mentioned here in clear details, i know she plays a huge role and is one of the main characters.
rowan: the fae prince who was assigned to train celeana in harnessing her magic. he is extremely grumpy, closed-off, strict, and demanding. i thought he'd never ease up with her or like her in any way, but that doesn't mean i wasn't squealing and screaming from inside at every one of their encounters. he was the frost to her fire, wind to her embers; together they made for a lethal weapon on the battlefield. to make things more interesting, they hated the hell out of each other and got into bloody brawls that ended with a broken jaw and a bloody nose.
-him, biting her cause she refused to shift into her fae form, and her, shifting into her fae form just so she could repay the favor and bite him back; if this isn't their love language, i don't know what else is. the only times their interests aligned were the times they planned to unalive someone. the friendship, the slowburn—everything considered—they had an unbreakable bond, and i seamlessly ate it all up.
it's just the third book in the series, and the story is already riding it's peak with the level of intensity and buildup, so onto the next book we go, to test out my theory on how good it can get.
quotes i liked:
“She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.”
“I claim you, Rowan Whitethorn. I don't care what you say and how much you protest. I claim you as my friend.”
“She was Aelin Ashryver Galathynius—and she would not be afraid.”
“It would not take a monster to destroy a monster - but light, light to drive out darkness.”
“See what you want, Aelin, and seize it. Don’t ask for it; don’t wish for it. Take it.”