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mdal26's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Murder, Police brutality, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Torture, Blood, Child death, Gore, Self harm, Addiction, Drug abuse, War, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury
sabbathsoul's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A wonderfully written novel that weaves the characters inner turmoil with great world building. The romance is a slow burn that isn't resolved at the end, which I'm happy about.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Classism, Alcoholism, Blood, Genocide, and Sexual assault
daniellereadslikealot_'s review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I think this is going to be a popular book once it releases! A game of cat and mouse between a witch and a witch hunter, Heartless Hunter was a fun fantasy ride with characters and story I can’t wait to keep reading about. Both Rune and Gideon were written so well. I loved getting insight into their backstories and seeing their dangerous relationship grow. The magic system here was really interesting and I liked getting little descriptions about the different levels of spells throughout the book. The pacing was pretty steady. There was a lot of action and events happening to keep things interesting. The big twist I definitely didn’t see coming and it was such a cool one. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series!
Thank you to Wednesday Books for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury and Murder
Moderate: Child death, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction
camiclarkbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
If you liked “Serpent & Dove” but wished it was a grittier story, than “Heartless Hunter” by Kristen Ciccarelli is the book for you!
The first book in the “Crimson Moth” romantic fantasy duology, “Heartless Hunter” tells how Rune Winters struggles to navigate life after the bloody revolution that cast witches down from the ruling elite to ruthlessly purged. As a witch, Rune must walk a knife’s edge to conceal who she truly is and maintain her place in high society.
While pretending to be a vapid socialite, Rune is able to get information that she uses as the Crimson Moth, the notorious witch vigilante who rescues other witches from being purged. When her latest rescue mission goes wrong, Rune knows she needs to change her tactics. And so she pretends to court the handsome Gideon Sharpe, an unforgiving witch hunter that was instrumental in overthrowing the witch queens during the revolution.
Gideon Sharpe loathes everything Rune represents—the opulence of the aristocracy—but after uncovering a connection between her and the Crimson Moth, he decides to pretend to court her right back. The more time that he spends with her, Gideon realizes that there is far more to the socialite than she lets on. Rune is kind and intelligent, and seems like his perfect match…except that he suspects her to be the very enemy he’s hunting.
“Heartless Hunter” is an enemies-to-lovers with some of the highest stakes I’ve ever come across. Rune and Gideon are both key players in a post revolutionary world and both are doing what they think is best for their people. Those goals place them firmly on opposite sides until the two reach a point where they need information that only the other could provide.
Rune and Gideon begin a dangerous waltz—Rune trying to get information on the witch she was unable to rescue and Gideon trying to determine if she is the Crimson Moth he’s been hunting. Their romance kept me biting my nails, waiting for them to fall in love, waiting for them to be caught in a lie, waiting for it all to go terribly wrong. For an enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, it was a surprisingly grounded tale. The two main characters were well rounded and had a lot of depth that was explored over the course of the book and their chemistry was phenomenal.
The other characters were also interesting, if a bit predictable. Ciccarelli did a great job of ensuring that there were enough characters around to fill out all the high society settings, but never made the reader feel overwhelmed with an excess of named characters. This can be a difficult needle to thread but as a reader I appreciate Ciccarelli’s work.
The most admirable part of “Heartless Hunter,“ from a technical standpoint, is the unique magic system that Ciccarelli developed. The witches use blood magic, which is common enough, but Ciccarelli incorporated a really interesting detail on how the scars on a witch’s skin would turn silvery and they intentionally would cut themselves in beautiful patterns—almost like tattoos. Those silvery scars were also how witches were able to be easily identified, which is something that Rune has to constantly work around through the book. Spells also have a visible signature that stays behind after the spell wears off, a sort of maker’s mark, which was also a fascinating addition to the magic system.
“Heartless Hunter” was a fantastic story that kept me biting my nails as I read through the night. I absolutely can’t wait for the sequel to come out and already know that I’ll be devastated that “The Crimson Moth” is a duology. I highly recommend “Heartless Hunter” to anyone that likes a darker fantasy world with high stakes and a slow burn romance.
I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I received a digital ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Blood, Death, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: War, Addiction, Child death, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Medical content, Slavery, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Police brutality, and Sexual assault
chaptersofmads's review against another edition
1.0
"Isn't that the point of art - to tame the monster in us?"
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
TW: addiction, blood, child death, death, death of a loved one, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, genocide, gore, grief, injury/injury detail, medical content, physical abuse, rape, self harm, sexual assault, sexual content, sexual violence, torture, violence.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 and I am devastated to be rating it this low.
Reviewing ARCs, especially negatively reviewing ARCs, is always a bit of a challenge because I'm unsure how much to say without accidentally giving too much away. Which means I am reduced to being vague and my thoughts may not come out clearly, but I'll try my best.
First, I want to say that this should not have been a YA novel. It felt like NA, it felt like it had been written for a NA audience, and the timeline simply doesn't make sense if all of the characters are in the YA age range. I will be shelving it as NA, despite the fact I know that's not what it's being listed as.
Beyond that, still trying to stay as vague as possible, I was bothered by the entire plot. So much of the premise revolves around an SA victim being pressured into sleeping with someone to properly inspect their body; while this is met with discomfort, it's still a sizable portion of the book and never truly condemned.
I felt the relationship between the two MCs was forced and toxic in a way that was completely unnecessary. As well as the way things were... propelled forward by the end of the book, felt cheap and predictable. I was able to guess the plot from the very beginning off of a very minor detail and was really let-down to find out that I had been correct.
There are many other things I could say, but as this is an ARC, I don't want to go any further. I will say, this is not a terrible book. It is tropey and very flawed, but I believe people will enjoy it so long as it finds the right audience. I just... I still can't help but wishing the entire plot had been different.
All in all, this is like a witchy Bridgerton (the comparison makes sense in my head) and if you've read this review and it still sounds like something that would interest you, please go for it.
I'm extremely grateful for the ARC and wholeheartedly wish I could have loved this even half as much as I wanted to.
ARC provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
TW: addiction, blood, child death, death, death of a loved one, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, fire/fire injury, genocide, gore, grief, injury/injury detail, medical content, physical abuse, rape, self harm, sexual assault, sexual content, sexual violence, torture, violence.
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 and I am devastated to be rating it this low.
Reviewing ARCs, especially negatively reviewing ARCs, is always a bit of a challenge because I'm unsure how much to say without accidentally giving too much away. Which means I am reduced to being vague and my thoughts may not come out clearly, but I'll try my best.
First, I want to say that this should not have been a YA novel. It felt like NA, it felt like it had been written for a NA audience, and the timeline simply doesn't make sense if all of the characters are in the YA age range. I will be shelving it as NA, despite the fact I know that's not what it's being listed as.
Beyond that, still trying to stay as vague as possible, I was bothered by the entire plot. So much of the premise revolves around an SA victim being pressured into sleeping with someone to properly inspect their body; while this is met with discomfort, it's still a sizable portion of the book and never truly condemned.
I felt the relationship between the two MCs was forced and toxic in a way that was completely unnecessary. As well as the way things were... propelled forward by the end of the book, felt cheap and predictable. I was able to guess the plot from the very beginning off of a very minor detail and was really let-down to find out that I had been correct.
There are many other things I could say, but as this is an ARC, I don't want to go any further. I will say, this is not a terrible book. It is tropey and very flawed, but I believe people will enjoy it so long as it finds the right audience. I just... I still can't help but wishing the entire plot had been different.
All in all, this is like a witchy Bridgerton (the comparison makes sense in my head) and if you've read this review and it still sounds like something that would interest you, please go for it.
I'm extremely grateful for the ARC and wholeheartedly wish I could have loved this even half as much as I wanted to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Moderate: Addiction
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