JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

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

Heir of Fire is the third book in Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series, and this novel is just as fast-paced and fantastic as the first two. I devoured this book in two sittings and then I immediately went and bought the next book in the series because I was desperate to find out what happened.

The book starts where the previous novel, Crown of Midnight, finished. Celaena is lost and broken, but she has survived deadly contests and a shattering heartbreak. She must now travel to a new land to confront the darkest truth about her heritage and avenge the death of her dearest friend. At the same time, Chaol Westfall, who has sent Celaena away to protect her, has finally come to understand who Celaena is and what this means for their land. And now his job is to do all he can to help and protect her, even from afar and even if Celaena has no idea about Chaol’s sacrifices.

In Heir of Fire, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, and Celaena undergoes training with the mysterious Rowan Whitehorn to learn how to control her magic and understand who she is meant to be – Queen. Once she comes to understand her true destiny and once she can learn to control her magic, she will become Adarlan’s biggest threat – and his toughest enemy.

This is the first time in the series where I really felt like Celaena was starting to grow into her heritage. She becomes very powerful and she uses her intelligence to further her position in this new land and prove herself to Rowan, who is sceptical of her and is extremely unforgiving. Celaena is strong, brutal and resilient and she proves herself once more in this book. Sarah J. Maas has done a fantastic job of building the suspense whilst also uncovering information about Celaena’s past. We learn more about what happened to her parents when they died and how Celaena became the prisoner that she was when we met her in the first book, Throne of Glass.

Heir of Fire introduces fierce new characters and rebellions. I particularly loved Manon Blackbeak, who is an Ironteeth witch and the heir to the Blackbeak Witch Clan. She is a marvellous character who is cruel and ruthless, and yet cunning and resourceful. At times she is cold, heartless, scary, uncaring and dominating. But there are times in the story where we see a softer side to her. In this book, she is to choose a wyvern (a beast that she will ride into battle), and she chooses a smaller beast that has been cast aside by others. Manon is laughed at and doubted, but she rises above what those think of her and she uses her intelligence to soar above the competition. This is one of my favourite Manon quotes from the book:

Witches didn’t need blood to survive, but humans didn’t need wine, either.

I really loved Heir of Fire, and I recommend this series to anyone who is looking to discover something new to read. Sarah J. Maas is a great writer and I can’t wait to see where this series heads next.

Read my review of Throne of Glass HERE
Read my review of Crown of Midnight HERE

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass #2) by Sarah J. Maas

Crowned by Evil.
Bound by Duty.
Divided by Love.

Celaena Sardothien, royal assassin, is the King of Adarlan’s deadliest weapon. She must win her freedom through his enemies’ blood – but she cannot bear to kill for the crown. And every death Celaena fakes, every lie she tells, put those she loves at risk.

Torn between her two protectors – a captain and a prince – and battling a dark force far greater than the king, Celaena must decide what she will fight for: her liberty, her heart or the fate of a kingdom…

Crown of Midnight is the second book in this six-book series and this book really propels the story forward. About half way through the book, one of the main characters dies (sorry for the spoiler) in a truly gruesome way, and from that point on, I couldn’t put the book down.

Sarah J. Maas manages to make each chapter important. Something happens in every chapter that keeps the reader engaged and interested, and sometimes that’s hard to do in fantasy. There’s a trap that some fantasy authors fall into and it’s called the ‘journeying from Point A to Point B’ trap. AKA the main character needs to get somewhere so the reader must endure 100 pages of boredom to get there. And although there isn’t a lot of travelling for Celaena in this book, there was still no point in the novel where I was bored. I was always engaged in the story and in the characters and I was desperate to keep reading. I haven’t yet read Heir of Fire (the third in the series), but fingers crossed there’s no boring travelling in that book either.

The magic in this book seemed much better explained and believable than in the first book, and to be honest, the magic kind of bored me in the first book. But in Crown of Midnight, the world was more fleshed out and Celaena came to understand it a lot more.

Celaena was so much more deadly and badass in this book. She was actually an assassin. She embraced her Fae heritage and she embraced her training as an assassin and she killed many, many people, all of whom were completely deserving. Celaena is much more three-dimensional character, and I’m looking forward to seeing her character evolve over the next four novels. Sarah J. Maas has written these action scenes and murder scenes with enough description and a fast-enough pace to readers reading.

My Score: 9/10

Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass #1) by Sarah J. Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king’s council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her… but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead… quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

This book is fantastic — an intriguing premise, three-dimensional characters and an unfolding plot that sucks you in and makes you desperate for the next book in the series.

Celaena is a wonderful main character. She’s confident, talented and in this high fantasy setting, can fend for her own. At times she’s a little up herself, but she is an assassin. She’d have to be confident in her own appearance and abilities to be an assassin. Celaena is witting, sarcastic, confident and very likeable. She says what she thinks and isn’t afraid of the consequences. She doesn’t need to lean on anyone for support and has the backbone to stand up for herself, even when she shouldn’t.

This book is high fantasy, but not at first. At the beginning, it almost seems to be a YA dystopian book, until one of the characters ends up dead, and then another and another. And soon, Celaena is discovering that there’s mythological beings beyond the castle walls that can kill her.

The plot develops and unfolds at a realistic and believable pace — nothing moves too quickly and nobody’s actions seem unjustified. The chemistry between Celaena and Dorian and also Celaena and Chaol helps push the story along. They form a love triangle, and by the end of the novel, it’s hard to tell who she will end up with. Prince Dorian is one of those characters who redeems himself throughout the novel — he seems to be a spoilt, womanising prince at the start, but as his personality is revealed, the reader starts to sympathise for him and they come to understand him. This love triangle has been written so well that it doesn’t seem to overpower the main storyline. The chemistry between Celaena and the two male characters is interspersed subtly into chapters that focus on the ‘bigger picture’.

Sarah J. Maas has created a brilliant high fantasy sequel that both YA and adult audiences could love.Throne of Glass is open-ended, and once I finished it, I was desperate to go out and buy the next book in the series, Crown of Midnight. No doubt I’ll be reviewing the entire series on this blog.

My Score: 9/10

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.

A Court of Thorns and Roses was a letdown for me. I allowed all of the Twitter/blogger hype for this book to give me expectations that the book just couldn’t live up to. Truthfully, I think that fans of Sarah J. Maas are going to love whatever book she writes simply because her Throne of Glass series is so popular.

I hate to start with negatives, but there were three major things I hated about this book:
1.The premise is not believable
2.The ‘threat’ doesn’t exist until the end
3.The love interest doesn’t seem real and their connection doesn’t seem believable

Let me explain in detail. Feyre (main character) kills a wolf in the woods, but this wolf is actually a faerie. And when his friend, Tamlin, comes looking for revenge, instead of killing Feyrie, he invites her back to his house with him. She is fed amazing food and is cared for and she allowed to paint whatever she wants and they vow to keep her safe. AND her family is taken care of. What? Huh? She killed someone! That’s the worst punishment ever! And even though the reason Tamlin did this is explained later in the novel, it just doesn’t make any sense. Plus the explanation came a little too late in the novel, AND it was revealed via a servant girl’s monologue. Such a cheap way to reveal it!

Secondly, the only villain in the entire book doesn’t actually appear until the final 50 pages. So, the first 90% of the novel is so slow. It’s almost like the first 90% of the book functions as a love story, except this love story is ridiculous and unrealistic (will explain this in the next paragraph). The evil queen is a rich character who is actually a great villain, but she comes into the story way too late and at that point, you know she’s not going to win. And that entire section of the book where Feyrie has to pass three tests and figure out the queen’s riddle is fantastic. It’s a shame it didn’t start earlier on.

Lastly, Tamlin is a two dimensional character with no depth. I didn’t actually feel like I understood his character, and therefore I wasn’t cheering for him and Feyrie to get together. When she challenges the evil queen in order to save Tamlin, I was like meh. Who cares. Moving on. His role in the novel seemed generic, and he seemed too distant to be understood.

There were some redeeming qualities in this novel. Lucien is a way more interesting character than Tamlin – he’s witty and funny, and provides a different dynamic to the novel. Also, A Court of Thrones and Roses does open up a lot to be explored in the rest of the trilogy. I just hope the plot for books 2 and 3 is a little more fast-paced.

My Score: 5/10
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