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mikerickson 's review for:
Heartsong
by TJ Klune
I had a feeling that if I stuck with this series for long enough I'd get some primo Grade-A Angst™ and I was right. And it hurts so good; put that shit right into my veins.
Maybe this this goes without saying as a third entry in a series, but this cannot hold up as a standalone novel, it absolutely builds upon and requires the two that came before it. And while I hate to be a, "it gets better as you go on!" kind of guy, that's absolutely the case here. With a first entry that left me curious but still a little uncomfortable and a second entry that was an improvement but still pulled its punches, I'm really glad at where this one landed. I think what worked for me was the tone shift that wasn't afraid to lean into heavier themes without the frequent hyuck hyuck jokes present in the first two books. Even the characters that were clearly meant to be comic relief have hardened and sobered up at this point.
Also a big fan of just the overall structure of the plot: we start with a minor character we've seen before now being given center stage in the protagonist role, but not really with anyone else we recognize. Okay, you think to yourself, this is obviously a flashback, until it clicks into place that this is all occurring after the events of book two. When the (first) big twist happens about a quarter of the way through the book it hits hard and is really bittersweet despite happening so early on.
At heart this is a romance, but there's also a lot of action and politics and violence and betrayal going on. But it really struck me how this central relationship still managed to rise to the top and hold my attention and interest in spite of all these peripheral reactions. The stakes felt real and serious, and this didn't at all feel like a phoned-in filler entry before the big grand finale.
I've spent fifteen-hundred pages with some of these characters at this point and damned if I wasn't teary-eyed by the end of it. Just a matter of when and not if I'll get around to the fourth and final book in this series.
Maybe this this goes without saying as a third entry in a series, but this cannot hold up as a standalone novel, it absolutely builds upon and requires the two that came before it. And while I hate to be a, "it gets better as you go on!" kind of guy, that's absolutely the case here. With a first entry that left me curious but still a little uncomfortable and a second entry that was an improvement but still pulled its punches, I'm really glad at where this one landed. I think what worked for me was the tone shift that wasn't afraid to lean into heavier themes without the frequent hyuck hyuck jokes present in the first two books. Even the characters that were clearly meant to be comic relief have hardened and sobered up at this point.
Also a big fan of just the overall structure of the plot: we start with a minor character we've seen before now being given center stage in the protagonist role, but not really with anyone else we recognize. Okay, you think to yourself, this is obviously a flashback, until it clicks into place that this is all occurring after the events of book two. When the (first) big twist happens about a quarter of the way through the book it hits hard and is really bittersweet despite happening so early on.
At heart this is a romance, but there's also a lot of action and politics and violence and betrayal going on. But it really struck me how this central relationship still managed to rise to the top and hold my attention and interest in spite of all these peripheral reactions. The stakes felt real and serious, and this didn't at all feel like a phoned-in filler entry before the big grand finale.
I've spent fifteen-hundred pages with some of these characters at this point and damned if I wasn't teary-eyed by the end of it. Just a matter of when and not if I'll get around to the fourth and final book in this series.