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

*This review has some major spoilers for Crown of Midnight. If you haven’t read it, I will insert a – SPOILER ALERT – in front of every spoiler, in case you want to read the review anyway. Or you can just go buy Crown of Midnight right now and read it, and then read this review ;) Seriously, though, you should.*

Title: Heir of Fire
Author: Sarah J. Maas
My rating: 5 oh-my-God-please-give-me-more hearts
Genre: Young Adult, High Fantasy, Romance
Pub. date: September 2nd 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Synopsis: She was the heir of ash and fire, and she would bow to no one.

Celaena Sardothien has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak—but at an unspeakable cost. Now she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth...a truth about her heritage that could change her life—and her future—forever.

Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. To defeat them, Celaena must find the strength to not only fight her inner demons but to battle the evil that is about to be unleashed.

The king's assassin takes on an even greater destiny and burns brighter than ever before in this follow-up to the New York Times bestselling Crown of Midnight. (synopsis from Goodreads)My thoughts: My emotions are frayed. There was just so much going on in that ending and I’m an emotional wreck right now. This series just keeps getting better and better, and if it continues like this, I’m not sure how I’ll survive another three books.

Celeana is back, even better than before!

   And now she has magic! I loved Celeana in this one. I mean, I loved her in the previous books, obviously, but I love her even more now. We get to know her better, we learn more about her past and we get a deeper understanding for her. But what I loved the most was the character development. She really grew throughout this book. Celeana is a character you just can’t help but root for. I love her!

   I still love Chaol and Dorian, and in case you’re wondering, no, I haven’t decided who I love the most yet. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to. This book didn’t do much except make me very sad, because right now, I’m having a hard time seeing Celeana work with either of them – not because I don’t want her to, but things are just very, very complicated – SPOILER ALERT – what with her being Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen.  – END OF SPOILER – Things are looking dark right now, but I still have hope. Please, Maas, don’t break my heart anymore, because I don’t think I could take it.

An interesting new character! (who I love)

   I have to mention Rowan. I absolutely love him. Even when he was a complete jerk to Celeana, I loved him – okay, maybe I was a bit annoyed with him from time to time, but I still loved him. I love the interaction between him and Celeana. Their relationship is complicated – what in this book is not complicated? – and I love it. I love their silent conversations/arguments. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still ship Celeana/Chaol and Celean/Dorian. Rowan and Celeana are perfect as friends – well, kind of. I mean, they fight more than they get along, but still. That ending was absolutely perfect in that way (you’ll get it if you’ve read it).

   In every other way, the ending sucked. It was a cliffhanger, and you all know how much I hate cliffhangers. Seriously. There’s nothing worse than reading a book in a series, and it ends in a cliffhanger, and then you have to wait for a year for the next book to release. Now, thankfully, Queen of Shadows is already released, so I don’t have to wait. The ending completely broke my heart. There were a lot of events at the end of the book that had me crying a lot, and after that, I seriously doubt that I am going to make it through the next book.

   As usual, nothing to say about the writing, the plot was amazing, and I loved the way Maas balanced it perfectly between action scenes and quiet moments with a lot of character development. I love that she writes from different perspectives, so you still get to see what’s going on in Rifthold, even though Celeana is in Mistward.

Great world building!

   Speaking of which, I love the world Maas has so intricately woven, it’s absolutely amazing, and even though it doesn’t really exist, it feels so real.

   Basically, this is an amazing book that every fan of fantasy should read. The world building is amazing, you can’t help but love the characters, both the old ones and the new ones, and the plot is great. This book had me weeping like a sprinkler, laughing like a maniac (that’s how my mom looked at me), fangirling like crazy, and then weeping some more. If you do pick this up (which you have to, like, immediately, if you haven’t read it), be ready for an adventure like nothing else, filled to the brim with emotions.