So. Everyone says this is where it starts. Heir of Fire. That's where it gets good, right?

I hate to admit it, but I am going to agree. They're right. The TOG girls are correct. This book grew up the story so much and gave Celaena all the workings of a redemption arc I needed to see to stick with her. This felt like a much more grown up fantasy story where Maas was finally able to break into the pulse of her story.

SJM hit her stride here. There's still some prose and writing choices I personally find clunky or awkward, but that's personal preference and not on her at all. I really enjoyed the new characters so much and the way she split out from Celaena so we could see the broader world and feel more connected to the other characters was handled well.

Her threats feel threatening, her characters are finally coming into their own, and you can just tell she figured out where the heart is in this whole thing. Part of my problem looking back is that to write and communicate strongly you need experiences in the world that teach you more about that. SJM being so young shows because she just doesn't have any experience in the wider world and literally hasn't lived through enough general life to be able to write strongly to any one thing. That's okay! By the time she wrote Heir of Fire, though, she had been at it for a while and was escaping a (self-admitted!) sheltered upbringing that likely impacted a lot of her early writing.

Back to the story. This was way stronger and much more compelling to read. Celaena regularly failed and learned she wasn't really as good as she thought, nor had any of her arrogance been earned. Rowan was a good foil to her because he possesses the competence she thought she had and proved to her she actually doesn't have shit. I prefer to see characters fail and grow, Celaena definitely did in this one. We stop hearing her talk about being the best or how great she is or how fearsome she is and she just tries to find herself outside of a title or a role when she recognizes neither of them mean anything in her new circumstances.

I loved how Dorian actually developed a personality in this one. He no longer reads like whiny wet lettuce and is coming into himself as an empathetic and righteous person. He's learning his morality and what matters to him, which in turn makes him actually expressive and interesting!

This remains a Chaol apologist house, I make no apologies. I will write a bigger thing on him when I'm done so I'll keep this brief. Chaol is also young, people forget that. He's 22. Celaena gets a lot of grace for being young, but he doesn't get the same. 22 is very young. He doesn't know how to process big hurts and changes in a mature way because he is still a young man learning about a world in flux. He reacted poorly to Celaena killing people despite knowing she killed people because he does what every human reader does - he considered her job in the abstract, not the literal. Your partner tells you what they do for work and you form a belief about them in the work context that supports what you know of them in a personal context. Then you see them do their job and you actually understand what it is they do, it changes how you see them or consider their job now that you KNOW-know. Chaol's whole life has been built on what he believed to be immutable truths - magic is bad, Adarlan is good, I have to protect everyone because it's my job. Now, he has to dismantle all of those as someone who can only watch things change and has no role participating in that change. Chaol is the one character who gets the most hate because he's the one character that refuses to let readers escape from human behavior. Chaol is how most regular people and readers would behave and facing that reality jars our suspension of disbelief and so we resent him for making us see ourselves as we are and not who we want to be.

Okay.

Thesis done.

MANON. I loved her so much. She's the RBF queen of this series. I find her compelling and empathetic and human and painfully real for such a brutal upbringing. I cannot wait to see where her arc takes her and how/if she comes back.

Aedion is such a fun addition to the cast. I like him a lot, very fond of him. He's a character I'd crush on so hard if he were age-appropriate. Alas, I am an elder and thus I leave his character for the youths. I like his single-minded sense of loyalty and how his greater cache of memories illustrates more about the old Terrasen kingdom.

I liked seeing Celaena develop her magic and try to learn her roots instead of ignoring or fighting them. Her embracing her identity as Aelin felt natural and organic. I especially liked watching her struggle with the fallout and subsequent depression and anger that something like all of what she's been through would give her. SJM did a pretty good job of showing us the emotional impact instead of letting her just be fine and okay and move on and be so strong it doesn't affect her. I find characters that go unaffected by the human elements of their behavior very bland. She allowed Celaena to fail and grow and learn and I didn't hate it.

I do want to say that I dislike Celaena so much because I was her growing up. Undeservedly arrogant and blind to my own incompetence. It took a thrashing from life to get me out of it and humble myself. I love watching Celaena get drop-kicked by the world because I think its necessary to making her into a good, better person. NOT because I enjoy watching a character suffer.

I'm much more inclined to the series now and am actually looking forward to Queen of Shadows. I like the trajectory and it feels like the story finally has heart. Into the heart of Adarlan we go!