Heir of Fire Review

Chapters 1-8

NEW CHARACTERS!!!!! YAY! This book looks like its going to be really good and at the same time really emotional. Heir of Fire opens on Celaena simply laying on a roof, buzzed on wine and allowing the chasm in her chest to swallow her up. In the last book, we saw her make this plan to go and see Queen Maeve aka her aunt and vowed to free Eyllwe if it's the last thing she does. What is the first thing that we hear from her in this book? That she gave up. She just gave up. Celaena just figures that since the Prince of Wendlyn - who is adored by his people - can't do anything about the King of Adarlan than nor can she. I can see why she feels that way, but doesn't she owe it to Nehemia, to herself, to at least try and take down the king? Thankfully Rowan shows up and forces her to see Queen Maeve, so at least that is taken care of.

Let's talk about the characters!

Dorian - Dorian still has no idea about anything that's going on concerning Celaena and his father. Chaol of course does but for the prince's safety, he doesn't share anything. Naturally, this drives Dorian mad but he doesn't lash out or anything he just feels left out.

Chaol - So far I'm just not loving Chaol as much as I usually do. I understand that what he's learned about Celaena is a lot to take in but what kills me is that he honestly thinks that she'll kill Dorian. Chaol believes that since Celaena is in the midst of other Fae she's just going to hop back on her throne and annihilate Adarlan. Yeah, she is looking for a way to take down the king because he is evil but remember when she smuggled the people she was supposed to be killing out of Adarlan because they were innocent? Celaena has seen enough of the king's barbaric killing of innocents to be totally adverse to killing innocents when she rises to power. Dorian has never shown any resemblance to his father so why in the world would she kill him? Also, they were friends when she left. Why would she kill her own friend? I think after Nehemia she has had enough of people she cares about dying.

Aedion Ashryver - This guy reminds me a lot of Celaena. Quite honestly I don't know how the king hasn't realized that they are somehow related yet, or Dorian for that matter. They both have the same hair and eyes not to mention they have very similar personalities. Anyways, when we first meet Aedion he comes off as an arrogant asshole, who has totally jumped ship and sided with the man who slaughtered half of his kingdom and his entire family, save for Aelin that is. I was most baffled when Chaol noted the black ring on his finger. Is he part of the evil voodoo ring clan? What!? Is he so bloodthirsty that he would disregard his kingdom and join the man who ruined it just because he wanted to fight? Later when the king is talking to Dorian he says this.

"Because Aedion's rage is a useful blade, and he is capable of keeping his people in line. He will not risk their slaughter, not when he has lost so much. He has quelled many a would-be-rebellion in the North from that fear, for he is well aware that it would be his own people - the civilians - who suffered first."

What I gathered from that is that Aedion didn't jump ship but instead reluctantly joined the king so that he could stop more of his people from getting slaughtered. I just hope he stays until Celaena gets back or somehow runs into her because they could be really powerful allies.

Rowan- We don't know much about Rowan other that he's Fae, a prince, has been around for a while, he is loyal to Queen Maeve and isn't a huge talker. Oh and as if he didn't sound enough like Chaol when we first met him, he is also tasked with training Celaena. I'm really curious about this guy. I think one of the reasons I liked Chaol so much was because he was very closed off at the beginning, unlike Dorian who has always kind of been open. I find that a closed off character is always fun to read about because you get to discover who they truly are bit by bit. Rowan seems like that kind of character so my intrigue has already been peaked.

Manon - She is a bloodthirsty Ironteeth witch who has destined her life to hunting down and killing Crochan witches. I've only read one short chapter from her so far so that's really all I know. I wonder how she and Celaena will cross paths. Or maybe she'll be one of the witches who goes to Adarlan to investigate why Baba Yellowlegs was killed. Who knows.

Queen Maeve, to be honest, was pretty on point to what I was expecting. Cunning, cool and powerful. In my mind, she is a less evil and cruel Amarantha with black hair. That was just my first interpretation of her. I'm sure it will change as Celaena either hears more about the queen or interacts more with her.

That's all I have for this update, I am excited to read this book and see what happens because we are finally at a point where Celaena must choose if she wants to take back her throne and destroy the king or if she wants to just keep running from her fate. Since this book is quite a bit larger than the last two I may be posting updates at intervals closer to 10 chapters rather than 5. I don't know we'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading!