BOOK REVIEW: Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

Heir of Fire

Author: Sarah J. Maas

Series: Throne of Glass, #3

Published: 2 September 2014 by Bloomsbury

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy

Format: Hardback

Source: Purchased

Links: Goodreads

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.

Rating:

Review and Discussion:

I debated long and hard before deciding on a 2-star rating. I almost gave it 3 stars for its slight redemption towards the end, but I couldn't deny myself the truth about this book: it was entirely underwhelming, disappointing, and enragingly boring.

The other books in this series were amazing, and set up for what I had hoped would be an amazing series... which only made this book so much more disappointing. The series had hyped it up, and I had extremely high expectations. I went into this thinking I would rate it a full five stars at the end, but obviously I didn't get to that point. Let me explain to you all the things that derailed this series for me in this trainwreck of a book.

For one, I hated the unnecessary, excessive plot lines that were explored in this book. There were at least seven plot lines in this book, with many of them interwoven throughout and blended into one at times, and it was just too much for me to keep up with. There were storylines from Celaena (obviously), Chaol, Dorian, Adeion, Sorscha, Rowan and Manon, and all together in an almost-600-page-book was just overwhelming. I couldn't keep up half the time, and the focus shifted so frequently that I lost interest in each story very quickly.

Related to this, I felt that there were too many new characters, and that Maas was trying to get me to care about them. But I just couldn't. I had no interest in all these unnecessary, additional characters; all I wanted was to read about Celaena being a badass and claiming her world.

Manon's storyline bored me in particular. I could tolerate, and at times appreciate, the others, but I had no interest in Manon or what she was doing, and ended up skimming most of her chapters. I particularly didn't appreciate the animal fighting scenes that were present in much of her story, and I get that it's part of her character and what-not, but I hate the normalisation of animal violence. I cannot stomach it, even in fiction. It's a personal thing to me, but it just makes me uncomfortable and ultimately swayed my perception of Manon and her story. Not a fan at all. Not even in the end. Especially not in the end, actually! I was hoping that her story would be made relevant to the rest of the story by the end, with some detail linking her to Celaena or Chaol or Dorian or whatever, but that never came. So in the end, it just felt like unnecessary filler to increase the page count.

Which brings me to my next point: this book could have been amazing if it had been 200 pages shorter. It was unnecessarily long. This book had no suspense, no excitement, no drive for me to read it. I really had to force myself in the beginning, and by the time I got to the halfway mark, I was reading quickly just to get it over and done with. There were too many boring characters introduced that I just could not care about, and boring plot lines for them to exist. This book really just offered nothing, and it felt much more like a filler book than a book deserving of the "number one bestselling" title. Maas's writing was great, but the dull story just couldn't be saved by any amount of her skill.

As for some of the characters...

I didn't care anything for Rowan, and can't understand why the world has gone crazy for him. Rowan is hugely over-rated, and that annoys me because people aren't seeing him for what he really is: he is selfish, manipulative and cruel, and has absolutely zero good qualities about him. Maybe some people like that sorta guy, but I'm not interested in idolising fuckboys. The ridiculous thing where he was wordlessly communicating with Celaena was also ridiculous. Everything about him is stupid and I hate him and I can't stand that he is a part of Celaena's life now. I just want him gone.

Sorscha was the only new character that I liked, even though her storyline bored me to death. Her character was interesting, and I enjoyed learning about her. I just wish Maas would have given her a storyline more fitting for her awesomeness. Her character deserved so much better than developing a forbidden romance with the Crown Prince. And in the end, the potential of her character was ultimately wasted. Which was hugely disappointing, again.

Celaena lacked the badass punch she brought in the previous novels. Perhaps it's because she's in a new land or in her Fae form or whatever, but she just wasn't the same. She felt like a completely different character, one whom I hardly knew. Her identity as Aelin didn't really interest me, except for when she was talking about her history. I have come to adore Celaena, not Aelin, and I really hope that Maas can respect readers' favour for Celaena and not try to force us to love Aelin. I get that Aelin is a part of Celaena, but ultimately I feel that Celaena is her true identity. We are the makers of our own destiny, and she has made herself as Celaena for so many years that it would be a betrayal to neglect her and go back to being Aelin.

Which leads me to consider the question of whether I am interested enough to continue on with the story now. After Crown of Midnight, I thought I would undeniably love this series for anything and everything it offered. Heir of Fire proved naive me so very, very wrong. I definitely won't be pre-ordering Queen of Shadows, but I do still think I will read it eventually. At this stage, I won't be reading it in 2015. I will let its release day come and go, read some reviews from bloggers and reviewers that I trust, and pick it up when the mood strikes me. I think it's time for me to take a break from YA fantasy and read more of what I natually enjoy before forcing myself through another unecessarily long book.