Review: Heir

Heir by Sabaa Tahir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For a while this book was only known as “Sabaa’s Bane,” and now, having finally read it, I can see why. Returning to her star-making saga of An Ember in the Ashes with a hard hitting next generation story - and a vastly expanded world map to show how much development Tahir put into this fictional world - it’s also a complex high fantasy, YA in marketing only, with three primary POV’s that show just how brutal the next war is going to be.

It doesn’t start out with war, though, but largely with mystery as kids all over the world die mysteriously. After a while, as we get into the three POV’s - Aiz, an orphan from the small but belligerent land of Kegar; Quil, Helene’s nephew and imperial heir apparent against his better judgment; and Sirsha, a tracker exiled from her own homeland but far from bereft in the wit and guile departments - tell their stories in some staggered order. It’s a bit tough to keep track of the chronology in this one, but Tahir makes it clear that it’s a sprawling one to go along with the great distances traveled. The technology in this book is also a huge step up, kind of like ATLA to Legend of Korra, but over a shorter narrative gap.

Tahir has said that recent events and wars in the Middle East and wider Muslim world have been influential on her writing, and this is no exception. Kegar, though small, is disproportionately powerful due to their unique wind magic abilities, powered by a different application of the same metal that gave the Martials their power. They can fly thousands of miles and bomb entire cities to oblivion in one go, and Aiz hides her identity as long as she can because she knows that others harbor harsh prejudices against her nation.

Tahir has said that no one nation or war in the real world has specifically inspired any nation in this one, and she specifically did cite American bombings in Pakistan as inspiration for Kegari campaigns, but she’s also acknowledged similarities to the current Israel-Hamas war. Given that Tahir is vehemently anti-Israel in real life, it’s not hard to read the Kegari as an anti-Zionist critique in particular, given that they’ve got a unique religion that drives their colonial ambitions after fleeing their old homeland. But the Kegari are also not indigenous to the southern continent like the Jewish people are to the Holy Land, and they’re also prone to the sort of brutality that Hamas and Hezbollah like to perpetuate, particularly sacrificing children in the name of their religion and nation. This is Tahir we’re talking about, though, so I can’t imagine she didn’t write this after much care and thought.

I imagine it’ll be a while before the sequel comes out, but after all that rage and trauma, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had to wait an even longer time for that one. But it’ll be well worth it.

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