Thursday 20 July 2017

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Published: Feiwel and Friends, November 8th, 2016
Pages: 453
Source: Hardcover, library
Genre: Fairy-tale retelling
Rating: 4.5/5

How I Felt: This book was phenomenal. It surpassed all my expectations and blew me out of the water. I didn't expect to love this book as much as I do; I was just looking for a fairy-tale retelling standalone that I could read quickly and enjoy. Marissa Meyer is the queen of fairy-tale retellings in my opinion and I want her to write one for every fairy-tale ever please and thank you.

Can I just say how much I love the writing. It's been a few years since I read Cress (the third installment in her other series, The Lunar Chronicles) and haven't read any of her other books since. I don't remember loving her writing this much. Obviously, I enjoyed those books too but the writing in this was so whimsical, dark, not overly descriptive, and atmospheric. I found it extremely easy to read and kept a great pace that left me wanting more after every chapter. I carried this book with me everywhere I went because I wanted to use any free time I had to find out what happened next.

Another thing that was great about the writing is that going into this, I already knew how things would end up for the Queen of Hearts and yet this book was written in such a way that I still had hope for a twist at the end that would end in happiness. I was still rooting for and shipping Catherine and Jest so hard yet I already knew how it'd end up for them. That is some freaking awesome writing.

I must admit that I have never read the original Alice in Wonderland by Carroll but after reading this I have the strong desire to pick it up and read it immediately. I've been told this book is supposed to be a direct prequel so the original story picks up where this left off and I will say that while reading this, I noticed many things being set up to come into play in the original that takes place after this.

All the descriptions and mentions of talking animals and objects was so fun and magical and made reading this all the better. It was hard to grasp at first because I kept picturing people but after a while I got used to it.

It needs to be said. I. Love. Jest. New book-boyfriend alert. My heart cannot contain all the feels. Can I just say that Marissa Meyer is a MASTER at romance because not once did it feel like insta-love and she was able to build up so much tension, chemistry and romance between Jest and Catherine even though they didn't kiss until like 300 pages into the book. I didn't even feel the need to complain once because it was written in a way that felt so natural and just worked perfectly.

The three sisters were such an interesting addition to the story and I quite enjoyed getting to see their prophecies and how they'd play into the plot. It added to the darkness and mystery that was already building toward the end. Also, Peter Peter and his wife were also a great creepy addition to the story. Although, I did find the reveal about Mrs. Peter to be a bit predictable.

The one complaint I have about this book is that Catherine's wicked turn seemed a bit abrupt to me and I thought the change was a little sudden. I think I would've enjoyed it more if it was slowly worked into the story and then fully came out at the end. But otherwise, I liked everything about it. It was a phenomenal villain origin story in my opinion, although I have heard a lot of negative reviews for this book.

Honestly, I have the biggest sweet tooth and reading this book didn't help at all because Catherine was always baking and everything sounded so good and it just made me so hungry while reading XD

I enjoyed that there was a lot of talk about the history of Rock Turtle Cove. I found that very interesting and enjoyed those scenes where Cath's father recounted the history. It never dragged for me or felt boring; I was intrigued and yearning for more information.

Overall, I completely adored this book! This is my favourite book of Marissa Meyer's so far (although I haven't read Winter yet so that might change). I love this book with every fiber of my being and it's definitely one of my favourite books of the year. I highly recommend this if you're a fan of the Lunar Chronicles or if you're looking for a great standalone fairy-tale retelling. This definitely didn't disappoint.

Thanks for reading!
(Sorry for the long absence, I'm horrible I know!)
~Birdie

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