A review by samnite
This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

4.0

A powerful but imperfect book, filled with rich characters, historical detail, and imagery. Feels like it needed another editing pass. The pacing is strange (slooooow at the beginning and again toward the 2/3 mark, then rushed at the end) and there’s a lot of repetition and redundancy. At the same time, the book sometimes felt frustratingly evasive, as with relationship between Csilla, Azriel, and Tamas — are we meant to believe their (extremely interesting and well-drawn) love is consummated offscreen or that its fundamentally chaste? And in some places, the magical realism sits uncomfortably with Locke’s poetic language — does Csilla literally separate in the night and pull herself back together in the morning? (Counter-argument: does it matter?)

Still, This Rebel Heart aches with tragedy and hope. Despite its flaws, absolutely worth reading. And the audiobook is fantastic!