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A review by karis321
A Traitorous Heart by Erin Cotter
2.0
~~Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!~~
2.5/5 stars rounded down.
I was enjoying this decently until magic came into the plot.
I did expect the characters to possibly consider magic as an explanation for what's happening, as it was the 1500s, and such explanations were much quicker to jump to than they would be today. But then the historical fiction swiftly slipped into historical fantasy about two-thirds way into the story when it was revealed that, yes, magic was real in this world.
I found this to be a very cheap twist. It didn't make the story more interesting; if anything, my interest immediately dampened. It made the story much more convoluted than it needed to be, and the fact it was introduced as a real element so late to the story really threw the world's rules out the window. We don't even get a proper explanation on how it works, only does it does. This annoyed me greatly, and it being the primary focus on that last third of the book kind of ruined the reading experience to me.
It is a shame, because I did find the story between Jac, the royals, and the secret society to be somewhat interesting. Jac is a deeply flawed protagonist whose trust and self-worth issues are tackled head on consistently throughout the book, and the dynamics between her, Henry, and Margot had some solid potential that I was really liking. This book would have been a solid three stars if the magic wasn't brought in.
Overall, it is in my opinion that the sudden inclusion magic does not make a story better. This story already leans heavily on the fiction aspect of historical fiction; adding magic on top of it was doing way too much.
2.5/5 stars rounded down.
I was enjoying this decently until magic came into the plot.
I did expect the characters to possibly consider magic as an explanation for what's happening, as it was the 1500s, and such explanations were much quicker to jump to than they would be today. But then the historical fiction swiftly slipped into historical fantasy about two-thirds way into the story when it was revealed that, yes, magic was real in this world.
I found this to be a very cheap twist. It didn't make the story more interesting; if anything, my interest immediately dampened. It made the story much more convoluted than it needed to be, and the fact it was introduced as a real element so late to the story really threw the world's rules out the window. We don't even get a proper explanation on how it works, only does it does. This annoyed me greatly, and it being the primary focus on that last third of the book kind of ruined the reading experience to me.
It is a shame, because I did find the story between Jac, the royals, and the secret society to be somewhat interesting. Jac is a deeply flawed protagonist whose trust and self-worth issues are tackled head on consistently throughout the book, and the dynamics between her, Henry, and Margot had some solid potential that I was really liking. This book would have been a solid three stars if the magic wasn't brought in.
Overall, it is in my opinion that the sudden inclusion magic does not make a story better. This story already leans heavily on the fiction aspect of historical fiction; adding magic on top of it was doing way too much.