As a long-time fan of Sabaa Tahir’s work, from her National Book Award-winning All My Rage, to the Ember in the Ashes quartet that Heir follows, I was ecstatic for her newest adventure. Heir did not disappoint. With characters that are somehow even more fearsome than their predecessors, Tahir’s most recent novel is blistering, romantic, and convoluted in a fantastical ode to all of the different definitions of family. Tahir subtly weaves in callbacks to her Ember series that will excite earlier fans of her work, all while skillfully making it accessible to every reader, whether or not they know the haunted halls of Blackcliff Academy. Tahir has already penned her name in the annals of young adult greats, and Heir’s scim-sharp prose only further cements her legacy.
Heir by Sabaa Tahir, (List Price: $21.99, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 9780593616949, October 2024)
Reviewed by Sydney Mason, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina