{Review} Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: September 11th, 2014
Finished Date: August 17th, 2014

Publishers: Bloomsbury UK
Genre: YA Fantasy
Source: For Review
Format: eARC

Pages: 585

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

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?

The Review: Heir of Fire is the stunning third book in the Throne of Glass series and like its predecessors – it was awesome!
This book felt like a game changer as Celaena takes on a voyage of true self discovery. She is a different person in this, rather broken and feeling like she has failed all of those people who believed in her. Nehemia’s sacrifice has opened up a lot of wounds and it seems like she can’t get past them. She sacrifices everything in the hopes that someone will have answers in Wendlyn on how to stop the King and his dark magic but what she finds is something different. She is forced to train, to embrace her Fae side, to prove that she is worthy of the knowledge she is trying to obtain – and because we’re talking about Celaena here – she will do it the hard way. We are introduced to Rowan, a fae prince under the rule of Maeve, the fae Queen and he is forced to see to Celaenas training – with not so great results – as they both clash. During this training they uncover some deadly secrets as the enemy seems to have followed Celaena with its own agenda bringing new and even more deadly foes in its wake leading to a massive battle that they just might not win.
Elsewhere, Chaol starts investigating in Adarlan in an effort not only to keep his charge Dorian safe but also Celaena – even if she is potentially their biggest threat. What he now knows about the king is something he isn’t comfortable with because of the threat it poses to Dorian and whilst Chaol has no love for the king, his fealty will forever be with the Prince – even if they aren’t the best of friends right now. What Chaol uncovers will really start to challenge his beliefs and I liked that he was open minded enough to try and take in the truth, that Celeana had opened his eyes and his heart to fight for what is right, even if he doesn’t know what that is yet. Dorian wasn’t in this as much but when we did see him, he was trying to quell his magic so that no one would find out and it’s also how he finds love. It was so gratifying to see him move onto someone following his feelings for Celaena, something sweet and untainted that gave him some hope. One thing for certain is that Celaena has certainly opened all of their eyes making them challenge everything and they ALL now know the true enemy.
As if that isn’t enough, we also have a new clan to meet and this clan may not be on our favourite characters team, in fact they are brutal, deadly and stone cold. They are also in the pocket of someone who can give them what they had lost long ago – which would make them a very formidable opponent indeed.
So, there are a lot of things going on in this book, told from at least 5 points of view that give a great & varied view into all that is going on across the kingdoms. The enemies seem to be piling up and the new ones introduced throughout are very scary indeed, if they can make our assassin quake then you know they’re trouble. The world is opened up a lot more too and we’re off to new shores, meeting new people, seeing new kinds of magic as well as keeping up with happenings in Adarlan through Chaol & Dorian. I mentioned that this feels like a game changer because you can feel the players taking their sides, swaying in direction or making solid alliances. We find that Celaena already has a following through rumours & hearsay about her true identity, that she is alive but it remains to be seen whether she will embrace that destiny and maybe that’s what the training is all about. There’s not so much in the romance department this time as only Dorian gets a little action and I did miss the three – Celaena, Chaol & Dorian – together, investigating the castle, legends & magic but I totally understand why the separation needed to happen and I’m seriously looking forward to the reunion. This was again filled with action, mystery, battles, magic, betrayal, acceptance and all of the things you would expect from this absolutely fantastic fantasy series and that ending? It’s a shocker! – I couldn’t recommend this series enough – simply stunning! 

Thank you to  Bloomsbury UK for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.