Review-Heir of Fire

Very rarely do I read high fantasy, I find that there are too many characters and too many complicated names to keep track of in a world with too many rules, but last year I decided to read Throne of Glass and was blown away.  I quickly devoured book two and then...I waited.  When I finally got around to starting my precious ARC of Heir of Fire it took me some time to get into, mainly because it had been a good year since I had last read a book in the same world, a very complicated world at that, but soon I got back into the swing of things.  It should have been a quick read despite being over 500 pages but I ended up dragging it out because if you know anything about Sarah Maas you know she has no mercy.  I know perfectly well that in books (and in life) people do not live happily ever after and to make a story there must be conflict.  When it comes to high fantasy generally that conflict involves death.  But when I get so attached to characters I don't like to see them die,  don't like to see them in pain, so I stall.  Which is what I did with this book.  I stalled. But despite all of my stalling I made it to the end, and like I suspected, Maas drove a dagger through my heart.  That sounds bad, but it's not (well, it kind of is but...), the way Maas writes it's just so beautiful that even when I wanted to yell at the main character for this crushing sadness she was enduring that was making her kinda lame I couldn't because it was RIGHT.  And despite everything that happens in this book, and that little voice in the back of my mind going "it didn't have to be this long", I still find myself in awe of the world that has been created and the story that is continuing to unfold.  In the end I didn't care that it was long, I wanted it to be longer, and even the characters you think you'll hate you end up loving (except for the king, no one loves him).  There is, honestly, no other way to describe this book, this series, than to use the word amazing.  You would also have to use the word beautiful too though, because despite the horrors written about in this book, and there are many, you can't help but stop and marvel at the writing.  Hands down I think this is one of the best books I've read this year and probably will end up on my list at the end of the year.  All at the same time I'm stunned I finished it and full of emotion at how everything played out but now I'm just sad because I doubt there will be ARCs for book four which means waiting another year to continue on with this journey and these characters.  Bottom line I will read anything this woman writes and while I hate the fact it seems to take so long for each book to come out if they're all as good (or better) than this one I will be one happy girl when I finally get to sit down with them.  Adult high fantasy fans should check out this series, and if you haven't delved into the genre before YA or otherwise I would highly suggest this series as a starting point because it doesn't get much better (or more heartbreaking) than this.

5/5 dust spirits

*Thanks to Bloomsbury for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review