Heir of Fire is the third, epic novel in the Throne of Glass series and unlike many other series that I read every book is better than the last. Celaena Sardothien, our protagonist is the person everyone secretly wishes they were, but understands that they never can be because she is simply on a whole different level of awesome. Being the third book in the series, it's hard to explain it without giving spoilers but after reading this Katniss Everdeen will no longer be the first girl on fire that comes to mind.
This book is very different to the other two, it's less about romance and more about deep, raw emotions. It was incredibly interesting to hear more about Celaena as a person and not just as a gorgeous assassin. Her development as a character played a huge role in the quality of the story as she wasn't the all knowing, all amazing character that I often find myself reading about.
Her faults were true and her feelings were relatable. Instead of having her be a heroine that was unreachable and undeniably perfect, she was truly real and showed feelings and emotions so deep that they had me trying not to cry. We learn more about her past as a slave and her life before she became an assassin. How she was once a princess awaiting her time to be queen, trying her hardest to not ruin her family and how she was deeply in love with someone that is now dead. We hear of her regrets and we cry along with her, we hear of her deepest darkest feelings and it feels as if they are our own. We are introduced to a new character, Rowan, who becomes her best friend as well as our own. We see her gasping for air and find that our chests are as tight as hers. The writing is so immersive that we become the story.
The book was unfathomably good. Not only is it in itself pretty huge (standing at over 550 pages!) but it's entire presence on me as a person was huge. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I didn't go into it expecting for my problems to be solved, or at least aided but I found that Celaena was dealing with similar things. If we take out the fantasy portion, we find a girl that helps me figure out my problems much better than any 'teen advice' book you have out there. She is strong, powerful and damaged. She is the type of role model that would never exist in the real world because people like her would be trodden down or looked over before they had a chance to become amazing.
All I can say is that this series has to be read and that jumping on the bandwagon now will be one of the best reading choices you will ever make.
• Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
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