Finally. This is the type of story I’ve been expecting since starting the Throne of Glass series. I feel like this fantasy series finally found the fantasy. With Fae, magic, and wyverns, I am one happy reader.

Everyone blossomed in Heir of Fire. It’s possible that with more POV characters, there was more room for these characters to evolve and come into themselves, but damn was there some serious character development. Finally.

Celaena still gets on my nerves, but she’s much more tolerable with Rowan around; he’s exactly the stoic warrior Fae this story needed. The depths of his pain and torment make him an excellent character to complement Celaena and draw out her good and noble qualities. I’m a sucker for a good training montage, so I appreciated the amount of time Celaena stuck around in Mistward to learn how to harness and use her magic.

I loved the dynamic between Chaol and Aedion. As they feel each other out, trying to understand motives and loyalties, they helped develop the Terrasen storyline and flesh out the resistance. Chaol gets a bit pretentious at times, unwilling to admit that he will betray his King even though it’s painfully obvious he’d do anything to protect Dorian. I’m not entirely sure how Dorian inspired this depth of loyalty – he’s a bit of a dick now that he’s got magic and he’s falling in love – but Chaol is hellbent on protecting him no matter what. Meanwhile, Aedion can’t seem to decide whether he’d rather be reunited with his cousin or if he’d rather be killed off dramatically before being forced to face her. Honestly, that’s probably my biggest pet peeve about Heir of Fire – everyone is obsessed with how their past is too dark and terrible, how could anyone ever forgive them? So many wasted pages on self-pity and torment.

Manon and the Blackbeak Thirteen are excellent additions to this series. Learning about the witch covens, their hierarchy, and their magic was a great way to fortify this world and make it more interesting. Throwing in wyverns was the cherry on top of this delicious dark magic sundae. I’m very excited to see the developments in this arena.

I’m a bit worried to be heading back to Adarlan in Queen of Shadows – I don’t want to lose the best part of Heir of Fire: the magic. Hopefully with the new POVs we gained here there will be enough going on until Celaena can figure out how to bring magic back to everyone.