Heir of Fire, Sarah J Maas, 2014
In Heir of Fire, Celaena becomes Aelin and we finally get her childhood backstory (among other things)! This isn’t until Chapter 54 of 68 but it was so beautifully done and provided so much lore for a character we already know so well—being four novels in—that it changed my Goodreads rating from 3 stars to 4 immediately. I wish I could give it 5 (so far Crown of Midnight is the only TOG book I’ve given 5) but I had a pretty hard time getting through large portions at a time. Specifically Manon’s storyline (which, holy shit Fourth Wing said copy/paste) was tough for me.
Manon is a witch in the Blackbeak clan. Her storyline follows that the Matron of the clan, her grandmother, is remorseless and expects her to be as well. Witches are born heartless—at least that’s the expectation. The witches of the Blackbeaks, Bluebloods, and Yellowlegs clans made a deal with Adarlan that he will give them wyvern (dragon flying things) to fight with as part of his army. This deal is notably not made with the Crochan witches, who are the enemies (or I believe a different breed) of the other three. The three clans together join in the Ferian Gap to train for War Games, where a wing leader will be named. There are two main points of conflict in these chapters: the dangerous competition between clans (Manon the Blackbeak heir, Iskra the Yellowlegs heir, and Petrah the Bluebloods heir), and that Manon’s chosen wyvern is the most physically weak (though also most intelligent). In the end, Manon perseveres and is able to win war games with her little wyvern (Abraxos). She proves herself to have a heart when, against all witch values, she and Abraxos save Iskra from plunging to her death at Petrah’s request. Afterward, to be initiated as Wing Leader, Manon is given a Crochan witch to murder. The Crochan witch says we pity you for raising your young heartless and cruel. Though Manon goes through with slitting her neck, the words do not escape her. I assume this will be a point of contention in Book 5.
Manon’s storyline is given the least space in the book, yet it is so removed from the Celaena/Adarlan storyline that it couldn’t retain my focus. All the characters in the covens are new and unfamiliar. More so, to create the lore of the witches, there had to be a new deck of world building, which just isn’t so riveting compared to the other two active storylines. I do hope when Manon’s storyline is integrated with the other two that it becomes a more cohesive piece of the story. My other critique of the witch storyline is that they don’t quite feel like witches. Since this is such a whimsy fantasy novel, the idea of witches just doesn’t fit. Witches are generally creepy and inherently demonic but in Maas’s fantasy world, there is no issue with Catholicism/demonism, so the idea of witchcraft isn’t complete. This dissonance is a dealbreaker for me, and it makes it feel as though the term witches is used to sound creepy and make them dangerous creatures, but they’re really just a different brand of Fae.
Fae! In Heir of Fire we meet Rowan, who I’ll admit I quickly began to ship more with Celaena (who we now know is Aelin) than with Chaol. This is partly because I enjoy the story of Chaol’s noble heartbreak, which I do very much see coming. He and Celaena separated in Crown of Midnight, as he sacrificed his position as Adarlan’s Captain of the Guard to have his father’s support in sending Celaena to Wendlyn (outside of the continent of Erilea). He prepares throughout Heir of Fire to return to his hometown of Anielle to lead with his father. He hates his father. Through clues Celaena left him, Chaol finds that Celaena is Aelin, lost Princess of Terrasen.
Chaol is a complex character: he loves Celaena, though he knows that to continue being someone who prides himself in guarding Dorian, the Prince of Adarlan, Celaena is his enemy. He is torn between his loyalty to Celaena and his loyalty to Dorian, who he sees as an extension of Adarlan; though, truthfully, Dorian is torn with this as well—a loyalty to what’s right or a loyalty to his crown. In other news, he has fallen in love with new character Sorscha, the castle’s healer, though he knows he is risking her life by being with her (his dad is really that awful).
Another character introduced in Heir of Fire is Aedion, Aelin’s cousin from Terrasen, who was raised with her as a childhood best friend and brother. Boy do I love Aedion. He’s sworn his loyalty to Adarlan—is a general up north for Adarlan’s army—but is actually a spy, leader of a Terrasen rebel group. When Chaol catches on to his elusive presence at the lascivious parties he throws and finds Aedion secretly meeting with the rebels, Chaol—who, remember, is still part of Adarlan’s court—is captured and nearly killed. To save his life, he offers Aedion the very critical information that Aelin is alive, using the name Celaena Sardothien, and working as the King’s Assassin. Two forces joined, they together figure out how the King has eradicated magic—a spell made from 3 triangular points at each end of Erilea—and they plan to share it with Aelin when she returns. She will be able to get magic back, and then they can overthrow the Crown.
Eventually, Dorian catches them being rebels and all. He overhears everything. The poor, misunderstood lover and friend. No one told him that Celaena is Aelin, or that Celaena is Fae, or that Chaol sent her away to save her from the King; no one told him anything of importance, really. Dorian’s just been on his own, confused and afraid of his magic (which Sorscha is risking her life to help him control), without being included in his best bud’s plans against his father and his inherited Kingdom. He says he won’t do anything to stop them, but he will not help them either.
When it’s time for Chaol to leave for Anielle, the plan is that Dorian, Sorscha, and Aedion will send him off—a nice, friendly goodbye to their friend. Really, this is to get them all—especially Sorscha—out of Rifthold. But as any good story goes, at the last moment before Chaol’s departure, the King calls them into his chambers. Bam. I can’t do justice to the impact of the ensuing scene. The King knows there’s a spy in the kingdom. While a guard holds a sword to Sorscha’s neck, the King says spill. Aedion is first to come forth; he believes that by taking the fall, he’ll honor Aelin by sparing Chaol’s life. He’s then brought to the darkness of the dungeon, where he knows he will likely die but doesn’t care—his only regret is that he will never get to see what his beloved cousin has become.
The king next confronts Sorscha, still held with a sword at her neck. He surprises everyone (including the reader) with the fact that Sorscha has been a rebel all along. For years, she has been a spy in the castle, sending messages to Ren, one of Aedion’s rebels. Sorscha’s head is cut off right in front of Dorian, who watches and screams. Chaol chooses this opportune moment to take a stand. This is a crucial moment, as Chaol is for the first time establishing his stance against Adarlan, torn between his loyalty no longer. But as the King orders for someone to shoot him with an arrow, Dorian, still screaming in a puddle of Sorscha’s blood, lets out his magic. He freezes the arrow and the whole room—without sparing his father’s throne—using his ice power. As the Chaos ensues, Dorian tells Chaol to run. He says when Chaol returns—implied, with Aelin—to burn this place to the ground.
The worst of it is that the King, who is for the first time seeing his son’s power, decides to let him live. He puts a Wyrdstone collar around the neck of his doomed son, henceforth forever able to control him. In Book 5, Dorian’s power will be Adarlan’s. When Chaol escapes to Ren, officially a rebel, the two discuss their initiatives to free both Dorian and Aedion.
All the action here oscillates between the Adarlan events and Rowan and Celaena’s (who is referred to as Aelin by Rowan and Maeve). Sent to Wendlyn, she will not kill the Ashryvers as she was tasked. The Ashryvers are her family, and, more so, they are loved by the entire kingdom of Wendlyn.
Celaena instead decides to visit her Aunt, the powerful, immortal, ruthless Fae queen Maeve, as Maeve was alive when the demon race, the Valg, warped the Wyrdkeys (the conduit for the King’s power) onto earth. With information about the Wyrdkeys, of which there are three (Celaena knows the King has at least one, but possibly two), she can defeat Adarlan and free Erilea as she had promised Princess Nehemia in Crown of Midnight before Nehemia’s death.
Maeve, however, is power hungry and unforgiving as hell. Aelin’s power, which was kept hidden from her during Aelin’s youth, is something Maeve wants for herself. Before answering Aelin’s questions, Aelin is sent to train and hone her fire power with Maeve’s Fae Prince, Rowan. By a blood oath, Rowan is forever indebted to be Maeve’s slave.
As expected, the two spend their training sharing banter and an indubitable connection. Here we have our slow burn enemies to lovers—though where the novel ends, they aren’t yet romantic lovers (I assume this will be the highlight of Book 5). Rowan is strict and takes no bullshit while training Aelin to hone and control her ability to spread fire. In the forest where they train, they unexpectedly encounter an unknown threat, which appears to be killing Demi Fae. When Celaena encounters it, it nearly kills her by making her relive her darkest memories— including that of her family’s murder when she was 8 years old.
Together they discover this creature is one of three (or four, including Narrok, Adarlan’s general) in an army of men controlled by Adarlan’s Wyrdkeys. They invade the Fae fortress; Aelin, who feels responsible for thousands of good people being butchered by the King through the past ten years, leaves herself exposed to the creatures. She finds out they are the demonic Valg, and they feed by draining the minds of their victims with the fear of their darkest memories.
Suddenly (in the most beautiful chapter in all of TOG), Aelin is 8 years old. Adarlan is visiting her parents’ court in Terrasen, and she is attacked by an internal black worm. She loses control of her power in front of the smiling King. Her parents take her to their vacation estate with only their handmaiden, Marion. Celaena wakes when Marion finds them butchered in the middle of the night in their beds. Marion fights the army off, and she tells Aelin to run. Aelin only survives because she is wearing an amulet her mother had given her, which she lost that night. This is when she realizes the amulet was the third Wyrdkey—and it is in Arobynn’s possession. (Remember, Arobynn is the Leader of the Assassin’s Guild, who found her in the river when she was 8 years old and raised her onward until he betrayed her when she was 18, sending her to Endovier).
As she remembers her origins, she fights and beats the Valg and Narrok’s army, testing the full, inimitable force of her power. From there, she and Rowan set off to confront Maeve. Maeve doesn’t reveal much knowledge about the Wyrdkeys. Aelin does, however, figure out that Maeve was hoping to use Aelin’s power to retrieve the Wyrdkeys for herself. When Celaena refuses to tell her about what she knows of the third wyrdkey, Maeve orders her other Fae to whip Rowan until she speaks. In this fight of power, Celaena wins, shocking Maeve with her power and setting the world on fire. She then bargains with Maeve—a gem from an ancient sword that belonged to a lover of Maeve for Rowan’s freedom from his blood oath to her. Maeve agrees.
Within minutes, still in front of Maeve, Rowan imposes on Aelin a new blood oath (why would he do this?) where he vows his life to Aelin’s court. They are carranam (meaning they can share their magic) and now they are bound to each other for life. They do this ecstatically. (A little off-putting in my opinion. He just had the chance to be free—his own individual!—but he begs Aelin to take him as essentially her slave within seconds of being given his freedom? You good bro?)
This is what I mean about Chaol’s noble heartbreak😔. Chaol knows that Celaena, who he loves, is not Celaena any longer. She is Aelin. He does not know that while he’s been missing her and fighting Adarlan for her (and choosing her side!), she’s been falling in love with Rowan across seas. Again, it isn’t explicitly said that there’s anything romantic between Rowan and Aelin, but it is very clear that they are bonded more than she felt with Sam, Dorian, or Chaol, and that they will fall in love soon. Chaol is cooked.
Anyway, this sets up our stage for Book 5. Aelin is on board a ship back to Rifthold, where she expects to get the Wyrdkey from Arobynn (this will be interesting) and fight Adarlan to free all of the continent and magic. Dorian is now under his father’s control, and Chaol has run away as a rebel and will be preparing to fight. And then I assume Manon will be integrated against them.
AH. So much going on. If you don’t read this series but you read this review, I appraise you. Not many quotes. (It’s not like revolutionary writing where the quotes touch me in their own right. It’s just a story that really takes you away).
Quotes:
He threw a glance at her, breathing hard but evenly. And it might have been the sun through the canopy, but she could have sworn that she saw his eyes alight with a glimmer of that same, feral contentment. She could have sworn he was smiling.
He peeled back, the space between them now a tangible thing.
A calm, if not pleasant, silence fell between them while they walked.
This morning, she’d awoken in their hilltop camp to find him staring at the sunrise, looking for all the world as if he’d been having a conversation with it.
