This series is an emotional rollercoaster for me, ratings are down up down, all over the place.

Heir of Fire is certainly a book with the primary intention of setting up future books and I think it completely accomplished that goal. We get just enough closure and just enough information to keep us guessing and wanting to read the next book, but (imo) not enough action to necessarily warrant anything more than 3 stars.

I grow to love Celaena/Aelin more with each book. Watching her evolution from scared assassin running from her past and family responsibilities to

Spoiler

Queen Aelin, threatening Maeve and ready to reclaim her kingdom

has been so exciting. You can just feel the self confidence build more and more with each page. She has always been a warrior, but now she is a true

Spoiler

warrior Queen

.

SJM introduces many new characters in this book. I really loved the concept of moving from one character's POV to the next, but in some ways I think her attempt to create a more complicated story line just led to a loss in momentum. There were quite a few moments where things were building up, and then suddenly we jump cut to a different story line, which mucked up the pacing, for me. Additionally, because she introduced so many new characters, I was a bit less emotionally connected to the story, since I was only getting my Celaena/Dorian/Chaol interaction every so often. I love love love Rowan (who doesn't?) and I am intrigued by Manon's story line, though I wish we got more information about them in this book. It was a parallel story line that will clearly lead into something for Queen of Shadows, but it wasn't necessarily interesting to me in and of itself. I'm excited to see more of the witches.

A lot of people say this is their favorite of the series, but I am personally not convinced this is the best it is going to get and am eager to keep reading.