I just want Chaol and Dorian to go away so I can read about Aelin and Manon ( )

Rowan got my heart ngl. I enjoyed most of the plot points and I think the MC finally has been able to look at the past and started growing. I'm looking forward to the next books. ( )

Rowan!!! ( )

I enjoyed Heir of Fire a lot more than books 0.5-3, but I still feel like I’m waiting for the series to get really good. ( )

Hmph. The further I get into the series, I somehow still consistently dislike the protagonist the most. She definitely grows in this one- we open with her complaining about having to eat stolen onion flat bread again- but over the course of learning how to control Fae powers and answer her aunt's plot quest, she recognizes grief long ignored, and guilt over the selfishness of her actions over the last decade. And frankly, she's nineteen (or turns it in this one), so growth and figuring out your emotions is to be expected. Still not a big fan of smarmy teenage assassins who are somehow the best at their job but then hold idiot balls for long lengths of time.

I'd call Heir of Fire more of an ensemble book, though, as we expand points of view beyond Celaena, Chaol, and Dorian- we see through the eyes of Aedion, her cousin trapped as an enemy's general; and Rowan, her mentor-turned-friend-that-she's-definitely-going-to-bond-with-at-some-point. My favorite plot was the witches learning to train dragons wyverns, though I recognize it had verrrrrrry little to do with the rest of the book and honestly could've been its own novella side story (though I'll be darned if this isn't Maas once again trying to do a twist on a traditional fairy tale, as the red cloak & fearsome grandmother indicate Little Red Riding Hood... I expect Manon to find her wolf at some point).

I still feel like I'm hate-reading this series- it's entertaining but unfulfilling, like popcorn. I don't like abandoning something I've started though, so I'll continue reading onward. ( )