Review for Heartless by Marissa Meyer!
Quick View Review:
Overall Rating: **** (4/5)
Amazon Rating: **** (4.3/5)
One Sentence Review: A stunning retelling depicting the backstory of the Queen of Hearts, Meyer does it yet again with an absolutely fabulous book: although the characters were a little hard to connect to and the plot lulled a little bit at parts, the story overall was absolutely wonder(land)ful and I loved every page.
Amazon Summary:
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.
Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
Full Review:
I read this book in one sitting. Yes, you read that right: I read all 449 pages of this beauty (both the cover and the story) without getting up even once. It was just that addicting.
As usual, Marissa Meyer proved to be a genius when it came to retellings. I absolutely ADORED witnessing the backstories of all of our well-known and favorite characters from the original Alice in Wonderland, and Cath herself was just a perfect little bean that I loved and wanted to protect with all of my heart.
Despite my love for the cuteness of all of the characters present, I didn’t feel connected to them at the same level that I did when reading the Lunar Chronicles. Now this may be because Heartless is a standalone (FINALLY, am I right??), but I just couldn’t bring myself to care for them as much as I thought and hoped I would. Of course, after the Lunar Chronicles, my expectations were basically sky-high (I mean, how could they NOT be??), but as much as I cared for Cath and Jest, I wasn’t entirely invested in what happened to them in the end.
Nevertheless, my heart still hurt so so much at the end (I don’t have a heart of stone, ok) even though I KNEW WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. The ending is utterly inevitable (oh come on, don’t deny you know about how the Queen of Hearts turns out) but gosh it shattered my heart to itty bitty pieces.
Despite a few little lulls here and there, the plot itself was BRILLIANT. Combined with Meyer’s impeccable writing, the story sucked me in and basically didn’t allow me to stop until I had finished.
Overall, I really, really liked this book. It may not be one of my favorites like the Lunar Chronicles is, but I was still ridiculously impressed with Meyer’s abilities to craft a completely original story that still corresponds exactly to the original fairy tale.
Make sure to come back next Wednesday for a new review!
Xoxo,
Jordan
