Initial Impressions 9/3/14: THIS WAS AMAZING 
 Oh, Sarah J. Maas. I love you. And I hate you. But no, I really love you. 
 OKAY OKAY OKAY. So. The plot: So amazing. This is the first series I've read in a really long time that carries over so much from previous books to make a SERIES PLOT ARC. I mean, other series do too, but there are so many things that popped up in HEIR OF FIRE that I didn't even consider as something important from a previous book until it showed up and then IT WAS AMAZING. 
 The characters: FINALLY, CELAENA. I mean, I did like Celaena this whole time, but sometimes I wanted to smack her. (In a loving way?) She's so badass and sometimes wallowing in grief did not make me feel pity for her but annoyance that her world fell apart so many times. She finally made peace with some THINGS in this book (though obvs not saying what) and I finally feel like I can stand behind her 100%. 
 ROWAN is flipping fantastic. I love how he pushes Celaena in so many ways -- physically, mentally, magically (is that a thing?) -- and I love his attitude as well. 
 I just loved this book. Maybe it was a bad idea to binge read the series to this point....... Now what do I do? 
 Full review posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 9/29/14: ** This is a spoiler-free review for Heir of Fire but please note that there ARE spoilers for the first two books, THRONE OF GLASS and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT, if you have not already read them. ** 
 HEIR OF FIRE in one word? Brilliance. I've binge read the series up to this point and I think that makes it even more obvious to me how much Sarah J. Maas has already grown as a writer throughout this series as it stands. With each book in the series, my love for it only grew and by the time I finished HEIR OF FIRE, I was pretty much in total awe of what Sarah's done with this series so far. 
 HEIR OF FIRE is by far the longest book yet at over 500 pages, but it's one of those books that never felt long. The book follows the story lines of characters we've grown to love in previous books (Celaena, Dorian, Chaol) but we also get a new major plot and character with Manon Blackbeak, a fiercely awesome witch with a badass attitude. At first I was afraid with the introduction of a new character receiving their own story line (though I know it will eventually tie into the main-Celaena story line) because I recently had a more negative experience with this concept and it kind of ruined part of the book for me. BUT I know I shouldn't have doubted because Sarah J. Maas is a master-plotter and even though Manon didn't end up connecting with Celaena and the gang in HEIR OF FIRE, there's no doubt that she's going to play an important role in this series and I never once felt like her story was irrelevant. It added a hefty amount to read, but I loved every minute I spent with Manon and I can't wait to see more of her in future books. 
 My absolute favorite thing about HEIR OF FIRE was the fact that now that we're three books in, readers are able to see larger pieces of the puzzle. Since this series is longer than the current trilogy fad, there's so much more time to be able to detail not only the characters but the plot as well. Longer arcs don't have to be rushed and there's so much more time to let ideas and mysteries simmer. In HEIR OF FIRE, we see certain items and events and places from THRONE OF GLASS and CROWN OF MIDNIGHT and how they all tie together. There were several instances in which I had totally forgotten about something because it had already been used as a major plot point in previous books BUT its role in the series isn't done and that just totally blew my mind. I feel like I've read so many series lately that use certain elements and then they get discarded, specifically put in the story for that one event. Not that I have an issue with that -- more so that I was just so impressed to see how carefully Sarah J. Maas has crafted this overall series arc and how well all of the books flow from one to the next. 
 The character growth has also seriously impressed me. If you've read the novellas, you've pretty much seen Celaena's entire history (aside from the more mysterious aspect of her childhood but no worries because *flails* you get more info in HEIR OF FIRE!!) and know exactly how she acted when we first met her -- confident, cocky, brash, and invincible. After her time in Endovier, she became much more closed off, but still had an air of arrogance about her. Even after everything she's been through, Celaena still somewhat has a sense of entitlement, but new character Rowan is NOT having it -- and I was SO thankful for his presence in this book! I like Celaena. I really do... but she needed someone like Rowan to come in and really change her perspective a bit. Celaena IS so good at what she does and she does have that confidence in what she can do that it's hard for someone else to really challenge her. Rowan is the perfect person to really push Celaena to become a better person in many different aspects of her life and I loved how much he enhanced this book and helped Celaena keep moving forward. I think she really needed someone like him to do that. 
 I feel like I could talk about this book forever but I'll wrap it up with the reiteration of how much this book amazed me. At only a quarter of the way in, things were already escalating to the point where I was floored by what was going on and there were still so many adventures left to have in the book. By the time I reached the end, I was nearing the point of being speechless. HEIR OF FIRE was simply magical to read and I absolutely cannot wait for the rest of the series. It's clear that Sarah J. Maas just keeps improving her writing with each book and I look forward to seeing where she takes us for the rest of this journey.