Book Review - Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Title: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
Series: Throne of Glass, book 3
Pages: 562 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Dates read: February 13th-17th 2015

Goodreads synopsis:
Lost and broken, Celaena Sardothien’s only thought is to avenge the savage death of her dearest friend: as the King of Adarlan’s Assassin, she is bound to serve this tyrant, but he will pay for what he did. Any hope Celaena has of destroying the king lies in answers to be found in Wendlyn. Sacrificing his future, Chaol, the Captain of the King’s Guard, has sent Celaena there to protect her, but her darkest demons lay in that same place. If she can overcome them, she will be Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his own toughest enemy.
While Celaena learns of her true destiny, and the eyes of Erilea are on Wendlyn, a brutal and beastly force is preparing to take to the skies. Will Celaena find the strength not only to win her own battles, but to fight a war that could pit her loyalties to her own people against those she has grown to love?

Rating: 4/5 stars
This review contains spoilers

Heir of Fire is one of those books that start off kinda slow and iffy, but then progress into something, truly, mind-blowingly awesome. The size of it kind of freaked me out, but in the end, I was glad that it was big, because it gave way for a lot of things to happen. I'll just make a list of what I loved, or else this review would get too long:

1.  Rowan. I loved Rowan. Everyone said I would love Rowan but I didn't think I would love him this much. His relationship with Celaena is awesome. I do see them more as being an epic friendship than as an epic romance, even though I know they're most likely gonna end up together. But anyways, Rowan is now my second favourite guy in the TOG series.
2. Celaena's evolution. I loved the way Sarah J. Maas presented Celaena coming into her powers, and coming into her title as Aelin. It was so well-written. All her worries about accepting her title as Queen, and her guilt for everyone in her life who's died was just so perfect and really detailed. I could follow her evolution. I understood it and I loved it.
3. The witches. Baba Yellowlegs and the concept of the Ironteeth witches interested me quite a bit in Crown of Midnight, and I'm glad that we got to see more of the different covens and how they functioned. Evil witches are always awesome.
4. The tone. Crown of Midnight was quite a bit darker than Throne of Glass, but Heir of Fire goes a step even further. You can really feel the tension brewing in Adarlan and between the Fae and Adarlan. HoF really turned this series into a political novel of sorts, and was a really good opening for the last three books that are most definitely going to  be action-packed.
5. DORIAN. I could read a book just based on Dorian, and even though he wasn't heavily featured in HoF, his coming to terms with his magic and deciding to go up against his father was just amazing. And that ending. I was in legitimate tears. My poor baby. I felt so bad for him - he better not die in the next book or any after that. He deserves so much more. I just loved everything about him in HoF. I love Dorian.
6. The King of Adarlan. Definitely one of the better villains that I have ever come across in my years of reading. He's creepy and absolutely evil and sends chills down my spine whenever he's on the page. His creep-factor really amps up in HoF and I love it. There is nothing better than a villain that terrifies you.
7. The fae. HoF explains more about the whole fantasy/fae aspect of Celaena's world and Sarah J. Maas developped that world beautifully and vividly. The creatures were scary and just plain awesome. I feel like I'm overusing the word 'awesome' but that's really the best way to describe HoF. Sarah J. Maas' world-building just gets better and better in HoF and I absolutely love the world of Erilea, even with its evil kings and creepy creatures.

Now, as with any book, there were a few things I disliked about HoF. I'll just make another list. Because lists are fun:

1. The switching point of views. While I'm glad they were there, because it offered a lot more insight into the story, it did also make the story confusing at times. There was just so much going on and with the POVs switching all the time, it could make things kind of confusing and overwhelming at times.
2. Also, as much as I loved the witches, I feel like that story just didn't go anywhere. I know that their parts in HoF was to introduce them for Queen of Shadows and the last two novels, but I just found that their story didn't lead up to anything, especially for having so many chapters devoted to them. The stories with Chaol, Aedion, Dorian and Sorscha all led up to a very stressful yet awesome scene. The witches'... not so much. I hope there's more action with them in forthcoming novels.

Heir of Fire was definitely a strong novel, an amazing sequel to Crown of Midnight. I feel like it marked the beginning of the major conflict that is to come in the last half of the series. I was in absolute awe by page 562 and I was left feeling like September is way, way too far. I applaud Sarah J. Maas for creating such an amazing world. I am awaiting Queen of Shadows with bated breath. I'm sure it's going to be just as awesome!

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Okay so this review was longer than expect, woops ;) What did you think of Heir of Fire? Are you just as excited about Queen of Shadows as I am? Leave a comment below!