Category: YA Fantasy

(Review-Ya) Mortal Heart by Robin Lafevers

Kelsey Bogan4 Comments

Mortal Heart by Robin Lafevers

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LaFevers, Robin. Mortal Heart. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2014. Print. ISBN-13: 978-0547628400.
Formats available: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook. Paperback $9.18. Kindle $9.99.

Synopsis: (from amazon.com)

In the powerful conclusion to Robin LaFever’s New York Times bestselling His Fair Assassins trilogy, Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.
She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind, doesn’t mean she has.

My Thoughts:
During the first two books in this series, I thought Annith was the least interesting character, so I was not overly eager to read her book. I wasn’t dreading it, just felt kind of “meh” about it. But I’m very glad I did, because even though my feelings about Annith haven’t changed very much, in this book we get to meet her male counterpart, Belthezar, who is by far the most compelling male character in the trilogy. Belthezar “rescues” Annith after she escapes the convent one night, and she suddenly finds herself traveling with him and his band of mysterious, not-quite-human brethren. They are the Helloquins, damned souls who ride the night, hunting down and escorting lost souls to the afterworld. Although the first two books in the trilogy read more as historical fiction, with only little hints at magic or fantasy, this book seems to randomly go off in a new direction, with the addition of this almost ghostly army of Helloquins, but I didn’t care so much because they were quite fascinating. Belthezar proves an enigmatic and mysterious character, and I enjoyed learning more about his past as the book unfolds. I never really warmed up to Annith, but the other characters (Belthezar, and the Duchess included) more than made up for it, and Mortal Heart proves a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

Liked it? Loved it? Gotta have more of it?
The other two books in the His Fair Assassin series are Dark Triumph and Mortal Heart

You might also like:

The Kiss of Deception (Remnant Series) by Mary Pearson
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Extras:

  • Robin Lafevers’ website includes extras about the World of His Fair Assassin.
  • Locate Mortal Heart at a library near you on worldcat.com
  • Find more recommendations on goodreads.com

About the Author: 

Citation & Credits
Book cover image: Courtesy of Amazon.com
Kelsey Bogan. 2015. All rights reserved.