A review by heartscontent
The Tournament of Heirs by Amilea Perez

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

A big shout out and thank you to the author for providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!

I’m going to split this review down the middle—unlike my usual style—to expand upon the things that worked for me and the aspects I struggled with. Some of these aspects might repeat under both categories, because there are elements within them that were great, while others I’d like to share my thoughts on. 

I’ll start with the aspects of The Tournament of Heirs that workedfor me.

From the very first page, I was extremely drawn to the writing in the book. There was emotion and heart in abundance and while I was surprised to see this in a book promoted to be brutal and competitive, I was extremely glad for it. The writing ensures that the readers are well aware of the effect the tournament has on those who are to engage in it, those who are to watch them and of course, the Gods who designed it.

Personal Anecdote: In fact, I enjoyed the writing so much, even just 5% into the book, that I reached out to the author to gush (twotimes) how much I was liking it! Thank you Amilea for being so warm and welcoming despite my sliding straight into your DMs uninvited.

This leads us, of course, to the world building. Despite what the blurb claims, the book doesn’t dive straight into brutality and violence, in fact the actual tournament only begins about 60% into the book. This means that the book has a lot of time (as it’s a little over 500 pages) to establish characters, their personalities, their cultures, their circumstances and the overall nature and rules of the world. I would say however that quite early you’re fairly sure of everyone’s roles, emotions, personalities and responsibilities. Surprisingly, the reader can pick up on the underlying plot points quick enough that you know what the primary purpose is and are waiting anxiously to see it unfold. (Another tie in to how well TToHwas written that you settle in fast and comfortably into the book.)

The plot, as mentioned earlier, is very clear to the readers from about 10, maybe 15% into the book and given how long the characters have to interact with one another, it only gets further established in our minds. 

The characters in any story are extremely vital to how I feel about a book. TToH alternates neatly between the perspective of both heirs and while dual perspective are not my favourite, I easily saw the purpose for it in this book and found myself quite interested in both of their thoughts fairly equally. At one point of the story there is an influx of characters—which the author prepares us for muchearlier—and they’re all written in a way that ensures you’re perfectly capable of separating characters from one another. Even if it doesn’t happen immediately, in a few chapters, you’re well aware of who’s who. 

The cultural aspects in this book, I enjoyed so much. While I agree it’s part of the world building, I want to mention it separately just for the love I felt for it. 

Another aspect I’d life to mention separately, even though it technically falls under characters is relationship dynamics. There were several types of relationships in this book, from parental, to sibling, to rival, to vague and they were all cast in the perfect light by the writing and I enjoyed how much emotion is brought into each interaction between the different characters; even if sometimes that emotion was bitterness or anger. 

Now, let’s gentle tip our toes into the aspects of the book that didn’t work for me personally. 

As fantastic as the writing and world-building were, there was a small issue that appeared initially that slowly grew over the course of the first 60% of the book. Initially, I loved that there was a bit of time before the Tournament began. But by the 30% mark, we knew so much about the Tournament and it was already built up so much in our minds that you’re wondering where it is at this point. So you can imagine by 60% you’re quite… exhausted waiting for the Tournament to start. It’s now two times the anticipation, two times the hype and four times the expectation. 

Sadly, this expectation is not met. The Tournament does not come across as brutal as it seems or the expectations the readers have for it from all the information and anticipation render it that way. I think maybe the struggle was that the blurb promotes this book as a fight for the throne/power but the book itself is … not that. While the Tournament is spoken about a lot, the book doesn’t centre around the competition itself, as much as the emotions related to it, the hidden lore behind it and the bigger storyline beyond it. I think it would work greatly in the author’s favour if the blurb was tweaked to speak less about the Tournament itself and instead focus on the … bigger plot point beyond it. That I think would ensure readers don’t go in with an expectation that they’re bound to feel disappointed about. 

There was also lots of things that we are kept in the dark about, despite the first sixty percent that does a lot of world building. Which makes me wonder if that was intentional? I would say there was some rush in some of the connections in the book (typically in the romantic ones), which I honestly got in some ways. For one, everyone’s living in a maybe-there’s-a-tomorrow-maybe-there’s-not state of mind and that does of course colour everyone’s interaction. However… there is a sense of connection between the characters that’s both… elusive at times and not at other times. I’m mostly understanding of it, but it’s sometimes a little disconcerting when it slips into the more elusive nature of itself, where it goes from feeling deep to not at all. 

The pace dances between even, swift and slow as it tries to balance the reader’s experiences of the drawn out anticipation that goes on for many days before the Tournament, the not-as-brutal Tournament and the borderline insta-connections that toe the line of being plot props at times. 

Three stars. This book has so much heart, it’s impossible that it does not move you. 

Please check trigger warnings as always, the book has content and themes that can be triggering and difficult for some. Happy reading.