A review by lizanneyoung
All the Fragile Hearts by M T Solomon

4.5

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

As a reader who loves worldbuilding but often struggles to take it all in at once, All the Fragile Hearts has perfected the drip-feed system. The start of each chapter offers a tiny morsel of history, from snippets of historical texts to stanzas from songs, it always gives you exactly what you need when you need it. Because of this, we know how parts of this story will end decades into the future, but we don’t know how we get there. I am always a fan of a story following a journey not working towards an end, and that’s what we get.

The moral ambiguity of every character is fantastic. You really can’t predict who will fall for what or what causes they will choose to pioneer, which made for great storytelling. Even our main characters Cecelia and Viktor aren’t completely on the straight and narrow, despite what we might think because of their societal positions, making them interesting and flawed characters. The character development is also spot on since they have to make decisions that go up against their previous worldviews and their intentions based on how they grew up. 

The pace was exactly what I needed it to be. There’s a lot that happens in this book, taking readers down a twisty path that leaves you questioning who will survive the chaos, but it never felt busy despite the constant action. I credit the writing style and the worldbuilding structure for that.