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bzliz 's review for:
Tale of the Heart Queen
by Nisha J. Tuli
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This series declined so hard with each new book and it wasn’t very good to start with. I was surprised when I looked back at my previous ratings because they now seem pretty generous. There was way too much going on and yet the villains didn’t get enough build up at all. There wasn’t a looming threat to be nervous about when this new villain pops up out of nowhere halfway through the book and cucks the old bad guy (who literally tortured the main character as a child, I remind you) to the point that our MCs start feeling sorry for him. It ended up feeling like a clumsy attempt to bookend the series with events similar to the first book but it simply didn’t make any sense. Why would a demi-god hold a trial? Especially one where they have time to sleep and forage for food? I could maybe buy a fast paced gauntlet but not this. And he says he didn’t expect her to be clever like he’s annoyed but impressed when Lor didn’t do anything clever or impressive. He’s hundreds if not thousands of years old and she’s in her mid 20s and found out she could do magic like 2 months ago. Nothing she could do should be surprising. Also, minus 1 million stars for not understanding quicksand.
A frustrating amount of scenes are spent relaying the same information to various other characters, who almost all have the same “why should I believe you?” reaction. It started to feel like I was stuck in a time loop where someone was doing their best to relay this story to me, except they read it last month and forgot half of the details.
Lor didn’t grow as a person and Nadir regressed into a prop with a penis. Rion’s downfall was dissatisfying to say the least. Gabriel ended up being the only character I sort of cared about and I think it was because he had shit to do that had nothing to do with Lor. I’ll even forgive the predictable resolution of Tyr taking Zerra’s place, just because at least they had some kind of political plot happening that didn’t revolve around Lor. Everyone else was way too far up her ass. Even the two women she was kind of friends with in the trials end up vowing to tend a rose garden that was built in her honor which is ridiculous.
Lastly, there were too many sex scenes. At best, they didn’t add anything to the story. At worst, they were a jarring side quest that spanned two chapters in the last 5% of the book as everyone is getting their happily ever after. At a minimum the last two sex scenes should have been cut. It really left me wondering if anyone genuinely edited this book or maybe if the author refused to take any suggestions to tighten things up.
A frustrating amount of scenes are spent relaying the same information to various other characters, who almost all have the same “why should I believe you?” reaction. It started to feel like I was stuck in a time loop where someone was doing their best to relay this story to me, except they read it last month and forgot half of the details.
Lor didn’t grow as a person and Nadir regressed into a prop with a penis. Rion’s downfall was dissatisfying to say the least. Gabriel ended up being the only character I sort of cared about and I think it was because he had shit to do that had nothing to do with Lor. I’ll even forgive the predictable resolution of Tyr taking Zerra’s place, just because at least they had some kind of political plot happening that didn’t revolve around Lor. Everyone else was way too far up her ass. Even the two women she was kind of friends with in the trials end up vowing to tend a rose garden that was built in her honor which is ridiculous.
Lastly, there were too many sex scenes. At best, they didn’t add anything to the story. At worst, they were a jarring side quest that spanned two chapters in the last 5% of the book as everyone is getting their happily ever after. At a minimum the last two sex scenes should have been cut. It really left me wondering if anyone genuinely edited this book or maybe if the author refused to take any suggestions to tighten things up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Vomit