So, we’re in Wonderland, that’s pretty obvious, but more specifically the land of Hearts. She definitely deserves the title Queen of the Retelling, for sure. I should have trusted Marissa Meyer wholeheartedly when it comes to plot twists and developing characters in unexpected ways. I was desperate to get to the chain reaction that would cause the inner villain to rise up, that when it finally did happen I was going to be satisfied whether it was a good reaction or not.Īnd it was. I really, really loved when her personality started to change. When we were first introduced to Catherine, she was so average. Almost a little too average, because apart from her baking talents and the whole dreaming up lemons thing, there was nothing really special about her.

And there’s something about her that makes her a very easy study, because it’s not hard to think what might have caused her to become this bitter tyrant. It took until 70% through for me to be dedicated to the story, and for my attention to be fully grabbed, and that’s quite a long time for me to sit through a book, wondering when it’s all going to kick off… But, until then, and even after that, when we were moving back and forth between Cath feeling a duty to her king and parents but a passion for Jest she couldn’t quell, I was like ‘Make up your mind, already! Rebel or accept your fate!’ When Jest got introduced, the love interest, my interest was piqued a lot more to see how the two would work with the King in the background. It just felt a little bland, although her lemon tarts sounded delicious.

We were introduced to Catherine, our future Queen of Hearts, and all she wanted to do was open a bakery with her best friend, but she kept being courted by the King so that couldn’t happen. Let’s just get straight in there with: the pacing was slow, slow, slow. Goodness, if I was the kind of person to not finish books, I probably would have put this one down at 25%. Marissa Meyer had also proved that she knows how to write a prequel, before-the-villain story with Fairest, so my expectations were high, and I was satisfied…eventually. I was so excited to see her tackle another fairy story, even if Wonderland and I don’t really get along. So, Heartless, obviously, made my list of most anticipated releases of 2016. It’s no secret that fairy tale retellings are my favourite genre, and The Lunar Chronicles is my favourite series of all time. Marissa Meyer was a goddess when it came to weaving so many well-loved fairy tales together in this sci-fi universe and I couldn’t have loved it more. Note: We received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Heartless book genre