“She would light up the darkness, so brightly that all who were lost or wounded or broken would find their way to it, a beacon for those who still dwelled in that abyss. It would not take a monster to destroy a monster—but light, light to drive out darkness.”

Heir of Fire presented us with the magical world of Wendlyn, Doranelle and Rowan Whitethorn’s angst. What a dreamboat. It’s pretty obvious, following the events of Crown of Midnight, that Rowan has been brought into the mix as Celaena’s complete mirror reflection. He’s the new male protagonist (although there are many) and matches her word for word, strength for strength, weakness for weakness.

A running theme in S. J. Maas’ characterisation – Rowan has his own demons and these dictate and guide his actions. As the audience, we are also all still reeling after THAT plot twist/name reveal at the end of the previous book, and this novel provides clarity and closure to that. Celaena’s development throughout the entire series so far is pretty impressive but this is the most personal and defining we have seen so far.

We receive continuous perspective changes throughout this which is effective but slightly confusing. You really need to focus for this one. New characters are introduced (Manon Blackbeak; Elide Lochan; Aedion Ashryver) and their movements in both Ardalan and a shiny (or should I say, bleak) new setting, Morath, are smattered throughout Celaena’s progressive transformation alongside Rowan in Wendlyn. Dorian and Chaol also have altered perspectives throughout this and you can really feel the tension beginning to build up in preparation for what is bound to be a big finale.

All in all, really enjoyable and a solid 3 stars (in comparison to the other books within the Throne of Glass series). My appetite has been wetted and I’m excited to see where these lot go next!

Once again, READ THIS SERIES.