Heartless by Marissa Meyer is a quick-paced, exciting read that is sure to rip your heart out. The story follows Catherine, the daughter of a marquess living in Wonderland's high society. She is a favorite of the King, and almost everyone expects her to be the next Queen of Hearts, but her dreams lie elsewhere. Cath secretly desires to open a bakery with her best friend Mary Ann and has been working for years to achieve this goal, even planning to sell her dowry to pay for it. But her parents are less than optimistic and encourage her to instead marry the King.
At a ball where the King is planning to ask Cath for her hand, she instead meets the mysterious new court jester, aptly named Jest. They enter a secret courtship and plan to run away and start a new life together, far away from Hearts. But fate has other plans, and between Jabberwock attacks and poisonous pumpkins, Cath soon realizes how impossible her dreams truly are.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to fans of fantasy, romance, and adventure novels. The plot moved very quickly, and although there were a few parts where it lulled there was always action right around the corner. The romance between Cath and Jest was really heartwarming and cute, but there was also a lot of tension between them which kept it interesting. The character development was also impeccable, most of the characters becoming almost unrecognizable by the end of the book, for better and for worse.
There were also a lot of easter eggs for fans of the original Alice in Wonderland, complete with characters like Hatta (AKA the Mad Hatter) and the Cheshire Cat. It also fits really well into the original lore and gives a good layout for the future versions of the characters we see in Alice.
All in all, I thought this was a great stand-alone read and would give it 4.5/5 stars (mostly because it made me want to SCREAM by the end of it). But if you're emotionally stable enough to read books with not-so-happy endings, Heartless might just be for you.
This is a really good book review! You summarized the book very well without spoiling anything. This book sounds quite interesting, it actually reminds me of the series Cinder, which I really enjoyed. I will definitely be reading this book as soon as I can! You also did a wonderful job at connecting your opinions of the book to its plot and explaining what you do and don't like. Once again, nice job!
ReplyDeleteWonderful review! I loved your detailed descriptions of the characters and plot. The book sounds very interesting, I'll definitely be adding it to my reading list!
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I really enjoyed reading your summary and how you connected the book to the original Alice in Wonderland. It seems like a riveting novel that anyone would like! This is now on my list, I just hope it doesn't rip my heart out :)
ReplyDeleteAn excellent review! This review felt very passionate and explained things in a way that draws lots of interest toward the novel! Consider this blog on my list
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this review! I think I've seen this book on the internet floating around and I was wondering what it was about. I love fantasy and romance novels so it looks like I might need to take a trip to Barnes and Nobles. Great review again!
ReplyDelete