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A review by annettebooksofhopeanddreams
A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer
4.0
The first book in this series was one of those books that really positively surprised me. It had an amazing representation, it had a great plot and it had a promising cliffhanger leading us into the next book. I was kinda convinced that I was gonna read that next book as soon as I'd get it, but it seems it stayed on my shelf for a little while. Anyway, I picked it up today, finally.
I have to admit that my expectations of this second book had been quite different from the story I eventually got. Normally I'm not the one with many ideas on ships or story or plot, but in this case I had a few things of which I was truly convinced. I was wrong, it seems. So, it took me a while to accept this book for what it was. An entirely new story, with characters from the previous books but a different direction, and with loads of lovely new characters.
In a lot of ways this book felt like a so called middle book. Action wise not much was happening and it felt like the author was mostly making sure the pawns would be in place for the next book, and the big battle that's supposed to happen in that book. There was however a lot of world building and character building in this book and therefore it never really got boring either.
Especially not because I really liked Lia Mara and the way she viewed her world and was willing to fight for it in her way. Very often in fantasy stories the female character is strong because she knows how to wield a sword and how to fight. And although Lia Mara is not powerless with weapons it's not her strength. That's her brain. It made me smile to see how that was cherished, how people fell in love with that intelligence and how it was portrayed as something good and something maybe even better and stronger than brute strength. I also liked Grey and how his character grew and developed. I was a little less impressed by Rhen, but the why was cleared up eventually.
So, after all the plotting in this book, I can't wait to see what the next book will look like! And I hope that this time I won't leave it on the shelf for this long after it being released.
I have to admit that my expectations of this second book had been quite different from the story I eventually got. Normally I'm not the one with many ideas on ships or story or plot, but in this case I had a few things of which I was truly convinced. I was wrong, it seems. So, it took me a while to accept this book for what it was. An entirely new story, with characters from the previous books but a different direction, and with loads of lovely new characters.
In a lot of ways this book felt like a so called middle book. Action wise not much was happening and it felt like the author was mostly making sure the pawns would be in place for the next book, and the big battle that's supposed to happen in that book. There was however a lot of world building and character building in this book and therefore it never really got boring either.
Especially not because I really liked Lia Mara and the way she viewed her world and was willing to fight for it in her way. Very often in fantasy stories the female character is strong because she knows how to wield a sword and how to fight. And although Lia Mara is not powerless with weapons it's not her strength. That's her brain. It made me smile to see how that was cherished, how people fell in love with that intelligence and how it was portrayed as something good and something maybe even better and stronger than brute strength. I also liked Grey and how his character grew and developed. I was a little less impressed by Rhen, but the why was cleared up eventually.
So, after all the plotting in this book, I can't wait to see what the next book will look like! And I hope that this time I won't leave it on the shelf for this long after it being released.