Hello everyone!
In honour of finishing another Maas book, I decided to hit the reviews yet again and see just what, precisely, I'm missing in a series I've been reading.
This series being, of course, the Throne of Glass series.
I've said it before somewhere and it bears repeating: for some odd reason, I can only read about Celaena if I'm really in the mood, and this works so that if I'm in said mood AND I pick up the book, I'll breeze through it in one or two sittings.
But, should I be in the mood, and get distracted, then I won't be able to get back into it by the time I return.
This, usually, leads to the poor assassin-slash-queen having to sit there and stew for a while as I go about my merry way.
Sometimes it takes me longer than usual to get back on track.
Unfortunately, this was also what happened with Heir of Fire.
As per usual, the links to my previous reviews of this author's work can be found at the bottom of this post - and by now there's quite a bit of them, actually, which I'm rather proud of. It means that I'm a faithful reader and keep gobbling up whatever it is Sarah sends my way.
Briefly, however:
Celaena is an assassin for the King of Adarlan, a kingdom which has pretty much invaded, or has plans to invade, other empires/kingdoms around it, and enslave the lot of them. The King is usually described as a bit of a butcher, as opposed to his heir Dorian, who is generally the better person.
Our assassin is actually the lost heir to a different kingdom, one Terrasen to the north, and she has survived assassin training, a mining camp, prison, a brutal battle for her life, and a host of love interests along the way.
At the point of Heir of Fire, however, Celaena, or Aelin, as her actual name goes, is in the land of her distant relatives, where she is SUPPOSED to murder the royal family.
Emphasis on 'supposed to'.
The thing is, however, that she's had a bit of a change of heart, and when we catch up with our interpid assassin, she's been drinking, gambling and making a nuisance of herself all around town until Rowan, a formidable Fae warrior and prince, finds her and brings her to Queen Maeve, who also happens to be Celaena's aunt.
It's a long story, but basically, Celaena's ancestor gave up her immortality to be with her mortal consort, and Maeve has outlived her. Big time.
Anyway, Celaena wants answers about the Wyrdkeys, objects that seem to give the King of Adarlan his power, and how she's supposed to deal with them, but her aunt has other ideas: she wants to see what's happening inside her niece, aka how strong her fire magic is, a magic that has been lying dormat since Adarlan had banished it, years ago.
Ergo, Rowan gets saddled with Celaena and her training, and at first, no matter how brutal or how unforgiving his actions are to bring both her Fae form and her fire magic out, nothing seems to happen.
It takes a long while, but eventually, the magic is finally reawakened, and Celaena can now shift between her Fae and her human form at will, also learning there are great depths to the fire running through her veins. She actually remembers bits of her childhood, which she had since repressed, about how uncontrollable she had been as a child. And rather than teach her how to use this fire, her parents had tried to suppress it, subdue it, and teach her to hold it in.
Elsa time, anyone?
The growth in her magical abilities goes hand-in-hand with Celaena's personal connection to Rowan, platonic, as Chaol is still very much on her mind, and Rowan is mourning his deceased wife and child.
To add mystery to this whole thing, Demi Fae are being brutally murdered all over the place, something Rowan is sent to investigate, and, naturally, Celaena trails along, which leads them to the discovery that the murderers are an ancient race, the Valg, who seem to be slipping back into the world again.
The duo also uncover kernels of news that a large force will be attacking the fortress where Celaena has been training, and rush back to prepare the civilian Fae and Demi Fae to fight.
Even so, once the forces actually DO arrive, and they being from Adarlan but led by a Valg prince possessing the general, the lot of them would have been hard pressed to defeat them if not for the arrival of Rowan's fellow warriors who are also blood bonded to Maeve. Celaena manages to hold the Valg at bay with her fire magic, going deeper into her reserves than before, but even so might have perished if Rowan decided to leave her be.
He doesn't; instead, he joins her and offers her his own vast strength in support, claiming her as carranam (soul friend). This is the boost she needs to kick the Valg princess out of this world.
After this, Celaena and Rowan must report to Maeve, and Celaena demands answers about the Wyrdkeys.
Maeve obliges: there is no way to actually destroy them, only to return them into the Wyrdgates and sealing them, to keep the Valg in their demon world forever. Suspecting that the assassin knows where the third key is, Maeve orders Rowan whipped to get the information, but Celaena is having none of it and sets fire to the water city Maeve had built for herself in fear of Brannon's descendants (Celaena's fire comes from her ancestor, aka said Brannon). This frightens her aunt enough that she stops.
Having figured out Maeve had betrayed those she loved for the Wyrdkeys (and their power), Celaena bargains with a golden ring she had found, which once belonged to Maeve's lover, and gets Rowan out of the blood oath to the queen, only to have him swear one right then and there to Celaena, after which they beat feet out of there.
Celaena does, in fact, know where the third Wyrdkey is: hidden in the Amulet of Orynth, the royal amulet of the House of Terrasen she had been wearing the night everything went to hell in a hand basket in her kingdom. And she knows where it is.
With the King of Assassins, Arobynn, whom she plays to visit first thing once she gets back to Adarlan. She orders Rowan to stay behind, and heads off to gather an army and the remnants of her court to stand against the King of Adarlan.
A very different plot line in this book is one about witches. We were introduced to them when Celaena killed Baba Yellowlegs, but the ones we see here, the Ironteeth, are the fiercest, and hunt the Crochan witches (arguably pretty nice witches) to the death. The three witch clans are brought together under the King of Adarlan and given dragon-like creatures, the wyverns, to train with so they could be the King's aerial force. The one witch you should remember and keep an eye on is Manon Blackbeak.
Back in Adarlan, we're treated to two different sides of the same coin: one involves Chaol and the rebels, and the other Dorian and his magic mucking about.
No, seriously.
His magic, as Celaena has already discovered, is raw, meaning it can take shape as just about anything, but he has little clue how to do it, so he's pretty limited with it. He keeps being patched up by a healer named Sorcha, and the two end up falling in love ...
... only to have the King behead her for being a rebel spy.
Ah, young love.
See, Terrasen rebels are all over the place, and they are actually secretly led by Aedion, Celaena's cousin and the Wolf of the North, a general who wields the Sword of Orynth, the sword of the royal House of Terrasen. By all accounts, Aedion, who was raised in Adarlan, is an ardent Adarlan supporter, but in secret, he's been funneling money and means into the resistance, and his legion, the Bane, are loyal only to him, and will fight for whatever cause he takes up.
Chaol teams up with Aedion and tells him that his cousin, Aelin, the Queen, is still alive, which gives the resistance and added kick: they figure out that the reason magic vanished lies in three towers the King had constructed years ago, and which are covered with Wyrdmarks.
If the towers fall, magic might return. Which could be a good thing considering the King is breeding monsters to put into his army.
After news reaches Adarlan that Aelin is in fact alive and has decimated Adarlan's army, the rebels cheer while the King is furious.
This leads to another road to hell as Dorian, Sorcha, Chaol and Aedion are all brought before the king; Sorca unfortunately doesn't make it, as I said before, but Dorian unleashes his magic to give Chaol a chance to flee (which the captain does). Aedion, on the other hand, is shackled, to be used as bait and a lure for Aelin to walk into the king's trap.
As for Dorian? Dorian gets a Valg necklace leashed onto him, and a Valg prince to inhabit his body ...
TO BE CONTINUED!
Cruel, isn't it? But it set the stage for Queen of Shadows, and I can honestly say that all the setting up was well worth it.
The book might have been a little bit too long in some aspects, and some things could have easily been cut out without missing them, but all in all it was a solid affair which will hopefully lead into more of the same, although granted I'll also admit that sometimes, Aelin still grates on my nerves so badly ...
Oops.
xx
*image not mine
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