*Non-spoilery full series review*
Now I’ll be blunt straight off the bat: Chima isn’t known for crazy complex magic systems or the most unique world building- but what she *does* do is create characters you can root for and dramatic high stakes plots. And mannn does she do that amazingly well here. This is definitely her less popular series, yet I truly believe it deserves more attention. I don’t feel like there are nearly enough companion-novel style fantasy books like this out there and ahhh it was just so good!
Okay, enough shrieking, let’s get into the whys and wherefores of the Heir series, book by book, starting with…
The Warrior Heir
I’ll be honest, this one took me a while to get into, making it not-the-strongest start. Once it got going though I loved it! Despite the slow opening, the plot picked up; the story was direction as they travelled from Ohio to the Lake District (inadvertently fuelling my wanderlust and reminding me why I adore that country).
As it went on, I became increasingly invested in the characters, admiring them in all their shades of morally grey- with everyone from hero to villain given depth (even the side characters!)
By the end, the seemingly random prologue started to make sense. And, thankfully from a book that had offered me such a sluggish beginning, the dramatic finale and complex world that had been created made it all worth it!
Rating: 4/5 bananas
Wizard Heir
If I sounded a tad lacklustre about the first instalment, then you might want to prepare yourself, because you are in for some serious GUSH.
The obvious reason why I dug this book considerable more than the first was that I was much more invested in the characters. We love who we love- and I instantly connected to Seth. His story distinctly more intriguing and, even if it was a bit obvious in terms of the “twist”, it worked for me because it had all the *feels*. It honestly doesn’t get much better than that for me.
I also love that feeling of being transported all over the world when I read- and this did that by the bucketload- more even than Warrior Heir. In short, this book gave me MORE and was a MASSIVE hit with me.
Rating: 5/5 bananas
Dragon Heir
I liked this one marginally less than book 2 and here’s why…
Firstly, in terms of world building, I quite liked how this book did dragon-type creature and references- though it wasn’t my favourite (I’ve mentioned before, I have high standards). I did, however, like how ghosts were used.
What I had the most trouble with, however, was that being a companion series it can be hit and miss how connected you are with the characters. The issue with this one was I thought the focus would be one already-established character (Jason) and it turned out to be about another bordering-on-Mary-Sue (Madison). I’ve got to admit I was disappointed in that and consequently failed to be totally into it because of that.
I did feel like the plot motifs were very similar to the Demon King– basically “descendants” doing what you never could, having love you couldn’t, righting the wrongs of the past- which made me compare the two a lot. And while I will say Demon King pulled that off more successfully, this one had individual moments that were better. Ultimately, this did have a satisfying ending, yet it also hinted at more to come– which made it slightly different to Chima’s other series, as it meant those themes wouldn’t be the be all and end all of the story. It was therefore up to the next book to take it up a notch.
Rating: 4½/5 bananas
Enchanter Heir
And boy did it do that! Primarily, this was cos the concept for this was awesome! And when it came to the question of hit and miss characters, these ones were a complete hit– and the great thing is this focused on them for two whole books, meaning it got round the “will I/won’t I be invested”- RESULT!
Reading some tips about the series before I started, I saw that this book had a negative reception. Some claimed it was twilightesque- I couldn’t disagree more (after reading, I determined the only reason for such a comparison must have been that it was popular to compare everything to Twilight at the time of publication). In terms of romance, they actually have things in common, and there are actually reasons for the direction their romance takes. I loved the little tussles at the heart of their relationship– and all the drama managed to leave me reeling.
I also totally disagree with the people on goodreads who don’t think this is its own book- have they never read a cliffhanger before? Protip though: if you do read this, make sure you have the next one close to hand when you finish, or you’ll be going “nooooo!” like Vader in the Lucas insert in Star Wars Episode VI- and no one wants that 😉
(Heck you might do that anyway)
Regardless of what people say, this book was inventive, different and had a great mystery behind it. Too great of a mystery to be resolved in just one book.
Rating: 5/5 bananas
Sorcerer Heir
I had a HUGE dilemma with this book. On the one hand I couldn’t put it down; on the other the tension was so intense and got to me so much that I *had to* put it down. That’s right, this is an unputdownable book that you must put down at points for the sake of your own sanity!
As with the last one, I was absolutely crazy for the musician element, the characters, their relationships, the raw emotion of the story and- literally- *everything*.
One thing that held the series back a little in the previous books was the villains- but here they were so many complex baddies and that led to a ridiculous amount of “WHAT THE HELL IS GONNA HAPPEN” intrigue.
And as much as I didn’t want to know and yet needed to know how it would all go down, it ended up being painful and beautiful and wonderful. It was the perfect conclusion to the series. It was just AHHH-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Words can’t even express it.
Rating: 5/5 bananas
Overall, I loved this series MUCH MORE than Demon King– and that’s saying something, cos y’all know I frickin adored that series. At this point I’ll read anything Chima puts out and if you’re a YA fantasy fan, you should too 😉
Have you read this series? Do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!
Seriously…how many books do you read in one week lol 😂😂 Just joking of course, but wow really impressive. I haven’t heard about this series before, but it does look (and sound) very interesting. The covers for these are seriously cool. Seeing your ratings for them, also really make me want to read them. As usual another terrific review and post!
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hahaha 😂😂 Honestly, I read these a while ago- I *did not* read them all in a week 😉 (starting to sound like “I did not hit her, I did not…”) They are so good!! If you’re into YA fantasy in *any way* these are worth picking up!! Thank you so much!!
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I read the first 3 books before abandoning ship due to the ya waves overturning everything.
haven’t been tempted to read another Chima book since 🙂
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hehe I couldn’t imagine you reading this tbh 😉 It’s why I had to add the addendum for “Ya” fantasy fans 😉
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I think I prefer her Demon King series but I really did enjoy these as well. Currently waiting for the release of Stormcaster.
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Fair enough! I think that technically Demon King was more worked out, but this just hit me more emotionally (although I was still pretty emotional about Demon King 😉 ) Awesome- I need to read that series too!
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I am definitely a Chima fan. I haven’t read anything by her that I didnt enjoy.
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Me too 🙂
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Ok, I have never heard of this series and now I am definitely going to check it out!
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Brilliant!
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Wonderful breakdown! I love this series!🤗
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Thank you so much!! So glad you liked it too! 😊😊
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I need to find time to read the Demon King series now.😊
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Oh do! If you liked this you’ll love it 😊
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Sound solid. I’ll keep an eye out for it.
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Awesome!
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Your review has managed to intrigue me and I am soooo adding this to my tbr!! Great reviews!
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That’s brilliant- I’m so glad!! 😀 Thank you!!
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I’ve been wanting to read this for years. I think I once even had the first book and then I donated it without reading it…. I guess I should consider getting around to this series after all!
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Ah yes- it was so worth it for me!! They don’t start as strongly as they end up being and it’s more all about the characters than the world, but I highly recommend it!
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Wow this is awesome. I love it when every book in a series is just as good as the next!
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It really was awesome!! Me too 😀
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Fantastic Review!💖📚
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Thank you!!💖
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You’re welcome!😊
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Check out my latest upload on my visit to delhi. I’ve shared my pics and some information about my visit.
My tour included the huge trade fare held in Delhi, India Gate, Akshardham Temple, Humayu’s Tomb and returning back to chandigarh having dinner at the Famous Amrik Sukhdev… Don’t forget to like and comment and tell me about your views about delhi…Waiting for your reply.! #followsme
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Oh wow, I actually hadn’t heard of this series, but your wonderful reviews make me want to go and pick it up! They are detailed enough to really keep me interested, great post. I’m glad to hear you liked this series so much though, that’s always such a good feeling!
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I’ve been swing this series around since forever and yet I never picked I up. I now feel the need to drop everything and add them to my TBR! This never ending list of books I want to read just keeps getting bigger and bigger! Great reviews for all of them!
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I’ll admit that I’ve never really been that interested in reading this series before, never heard much about it so it’s been one I’ve always just passed by, but reading your reviews and how the first book fuelled your wanderlust has made me add these onto my to-read list! 😀
It’s a shame the first book didn’t have the strongest start but looking at the ratings you gave the rest of this series it seems the books only got better with each one released.
Great reviews. 🙂 ❤
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Oh that’s so brilliant to hear!! It was so worth it for me!! Yes, it did take a while to get into for me, but once I did I was so hooked on it and the books got better, so it was really worth it in the end!!
Thank you! 🙂 ❤
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There are series I’ve had like that too, the first book was a little so-so but the rest of the series has been incredible. 🙂
That’s all right! 😀 ❤️
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Yes definitely 😁 ❤
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I read these a few years ago and remember liking them, but I think only the first three were out though. I’ll have to look into the other two.
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Awesome- I really recommend them if you liked the first two, because they were a really good conclusion (and fun in their own right!)
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I only made it through book three, and just like you I was disappointed. I ended up quitting this series after that one and never picked it back up. (Though I loved book two so much.)
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Oh I get that- I’m glad I wasn’t the only one with that, cos it wasn’t the best. But I will say that it got better again after that and do recommend the last two if you’re interested 😉
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I think I will eventually.
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Great!
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You complete series like no one out there!!!! :O Love that you highlight this series as I’ve always been curious as to why I don’t see it more often around my feed. But these reviews really do promise us great things for this series though!! Amazing reviews as always!! 😀
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hahahaha thanks!! It was so good!! I really recommend it and definitely think it’s underrated (granted cos everyone loves her other series and that gets more attention 😉 ) Thank you so much!! 😀
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This sounds very interesting. I need to guys to keep telling me about great fantasy, I want to get into it and I always feel like I have no idea where to start… But I just need to jump in, I have been given many recommendations.
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hehe well this is a great place to start, if you like YA. But most of the time I usually just recommend the Hobbit as a starting point 😉
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This series review just gave me a huge zap of energy 😀 your gush is so positive and addictive here! hahaha… brilliant, you defo make my want to try this… the same way you made me want to read Demon King… you’re good at this! 😉
I love that the characters are good and the unputdownable that needs to be put down for the sake of sanity sounds perfectly brilliant! 🙂 Great review!
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Yay I’m so glad to hear that!! 😀 😀 That’s brilliant!! heheehehe oh that’s awesome too!!
It really was brilliant!! And I couldn’t believe how tense it was- I was seriously stressing about all the characters by the end and I just didn’t know what was going to happen. Thank you so much!!
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Wow, you even liked it more than Demon King? It’s going on my to-read list then!
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Yes I really did- although initially it took me longer to get into, I ended up loving it even more and definitely recommend!
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