this was hands down my favorite read of the year.

no because actually how am i supposed to wait for the next book??

i’m literally—i can’t even form thoughts. that was so good. like i knew it would be, because duh, it’s sabaa tahir, but somehow it was even better than i expected. i genuinely never thought i’d be swooning over a farrar but here we are. and don’t even get me started on sirsha—she is everything to me. AND THAT ENDING?? sabaa tahir is actually evil for that. helene aquilla remains the love of my life. AHHHHHHH.

OMG! I freaking loved this one. I can't get enough of this world. I enjoyed the multiple POV's and getting to see more of Helene, Elias, and Laia. It's definitely a new generation of warriors. The audiobook was fantastic and helped me get through this at a reasonable pace.

It's filled with so much adventure, love, and betrayal. 100% recommend!

I started and ultimately did not finish this. I adore Sabaa Tahir and her writing style from past books of her’s but something about this didn’t pull me in. I will say the cover was very well done. I think that if this was completely disconnected from the world of her past works I may have been more willing to give it a full go ahead.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for my e-arc. I didn't mean to take so long to get to it, but better late than never! This first book in a YA fantasy duology takes place in the same universe as Tahit's Ember of Ashes series and while it is not required to read those books, it is highly recommended. I was a poor soul who did not read that series before diving into Heir and while I wasn't completely in the dark, there were enough gaps in my know that I really felt it and ended up deciding to DNF or rather NFN - not for now. I'm still giving this book a solid 4 star because I can tell that Tahir is a brilliant writer and that I simply was not in the right space to really enjoy the effort put into this one. I think anyone who is a fan of the first series will absolutely love this and I recommend it to those readers. Happy reading!

Ooh, this was really good! While we don't see much of the characters from the original quartet, I enjoyed getting to know the new ones. Sirsha was easily my favorite, she's cunning and great at surviving difficult situations and I thought her backstory was the most interesting. Her relationship with Quil was fun to watch develop and I hope for much more in the sequel.

That ending was wild! Book two please!

Sanaa Tahoe has done it again! I cannot wait for the next book. I’ve been thinking about this book since I finished it.

Tahir is an amazing author and brings so much to life! I think everyone needs to try her books at least once because you won’t stop there!!

It was an absolute pleasure to return to the world from the Ember in the Ashes series. It took my awhile to get to this ARC review because I wanted to go back and read the original series, and I am so glad that I did. While this book can technically be read without reading the original 4 stories, it gives this story so much more context. The world building in this one is good (and I especially loved the expanded world), but you get a more full picture if you've read the others.

I loved getting glimpses, or more, of the characters that I adored from Ember. But I came to really care about the new characters here as well. Like Ember, Tahir tells the story through three POVs and we get to see how their stories will come to overlap. I love that Tahir creates complex and flawed characters whose choices sometimes make it hard to root for (looking at you Aiz, from chapter 1). Quil and Sirsha carried this book for me, esp. my girl Sirsha.

I enjoyed the plot. I think some of Tahir's other books were a bit of a slow burn to start. In comparison, this one had me hooked and on edge from the start. Unravelling the mystery and figuring out what happened and how these three story lines would come together was so much fun. And that ending..... cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.

The only thing that I did not love, and that is just an issue with this type of story (one that takes place generations after an initial beloved series, like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) is that without this addition to the world, we get to believe that they go off and live happily ever after. Here we see that tragedy still plays a part in Laia, Elias, and Helene's lives. And seeing them from a different perspective (mainly Helene from Quil's perspective) shows flaws that detract from their character building from the first series. That said, it's realistic that they don't just live happily ever after, so while I'm sad with how some things turned out for them, it also feels real.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group for providing a digital ARC of this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin, and LiboFM for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

An incredible audiobook. My first Sabaa book, but not my last.

Such a fantastic read! Loved how this was set in the universe of the other series. Can't wait for more from this author!

Heir by Sabaa Tahir is set in the same world as An Ember in the Ashes and while you don't technically need to read that first, it is highly recommended that you do. I read the first two books in the An Ember in the Ashes series so I knew some of the characters mentioned in this book but since I didn't finish the third book in the series, I felt like I was missing a whole lot of backstory for this book. This was a great story, with a fully detailed world and full detailed characters but I still felt like I was missing out on essential parts of the story. The story is immersive and exciting despite what was mentioned previously. Anyone who reads fantasy stories will love this book, but again I recommend starting at the beginning with An Ember in the Ashes.
Thank to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for the advanced copy.

This is an intense book that’s filled with an abundance of attractions for the young adult readers. I was fascinated with on the mythical tales that drove each characters tale. The story is fast pace for the readers. I feel that the book has considerable amount of information to help readers understand aspects of the story. I enjoyed the book.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book.

Note to anyone considering reading Heir: it is set in the same world as An Ember in the Flames and while you don't technically need to read that first, it is highly recommended that you do. I attempted to read it on its own without the prequel series without knowing it was set in the same world and immediately faced barriers. I felt like the world wasn't described very well and I was confused about the wide cast of characters and how they all related to each other. For that reason, I unfortunately had to DNF this book for the time being. I hope that later I will get around to reading An Ember in the Ashes (it's been on my list for a while) and then I can try this book again but for now, I had to set it aside. Because I DNFed it, I'm not going to give it a rating.

I love Sabaa Tahir!!! I would literally read her grocery list. I was worried for Heir, because sometimes a sequel to a series can be risky, but Heir blew me out of the water. It absolutely can stand very strongly on its own, while still offering a reward to fans of An Ember in the Ashes. Tahir writes a nice balance of character and action, forcing me to very anxiously sit through every high-stakes moment, hoping that everyone gets out okay. I CRIED reading this book... Sabaa knows how to write heartbreak for sure, and it's the most deliciously painful reading experience one can have.

I thought this book was great, I know I’m at late in my review but I’m so glad I read it! It was great being back in this world, Sabaa is just a genius at their craft!

I was excited to read this newest release from Sabaa Tahir. I was hooked from the first few chapters. The characters felt real and three-dimensional. I love a story told from multiple POVs. And the author does a great job weaving their narratives together. Add in the fantastic world building and I would highly recommend this book!

There are a few things this author excels at. The first is writing well rounded characters. They're engaging, complex, and interesting, which is great since the author uses multiple POVs. The worldbuilding is also generally quite good. But this book is set 20 years after the events of the first book, so it was skimpy on some of the explanations, likely making it more confusing (or at least feel like it has weaker worldbuilding) for folks who haven't read the first series. The pacing is also quite solid, never leaving any parts of the book feeling like they're lagging.

But I just want to read a solid fantasy that doesn't have unnecessary romance and descriptions like "full bottom lip and cheekbones as sharp as scim blades." And of course there was romance included in more than one of the POVs, which was not appreciated. But that's a "me" problem and likely won't bother most readers. I also really dislike something the author used as a plot point, but I won't say what it is because it's a spoiler. Again, this is a "me" problem and maybe won't bother most readers, but it's something I've run across several times that never works for me.

Overall, this start of a duology wasn't as strong as I hoped it would be, but I know I'm an outlier here. I'll still read book two, though, because this author is talented. If you generally like modern YA fantasies, you'll almost definitely love this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This was my first book I’ve read by Tahir and oh my god, I was not disappointed. I absolutely loved the writing style, the plot was well thought through. I devoured it in a day. I will definitely be reading Tahir’s backlist!

“No one can manipulate those with faith like a person who has none.”

As a huge Ember in the Ashes fan, I adored this book! It reminded me of why I’m a big Sabaa Tahir fan. This was such a good continuation of the original series that wove together new and old characters in a whole new adventure. I had a hard time getting into this at first, but was hooked before I hit the middle. The twists just keep coming after that! I also love how Tahir uses multiple points of view to show all sides and give readers empathy for each character.

I did think it was odd that the description didn’t explicitly say it was in the same universe and a continuation of An Ember in the Ashes. I think it could be read as a standalone, but adds more when you have read the other books.

Reading this made me want to go back and reread the entire Ember in the Ashes series because it reminded me how much I freaking love this world. Also Sabaa has once again been so cruel to so many characters that I've become obsessed with and what do you mean you're torturing my babies like this?!?!?!