Heartless by Marissa Meyer

 

    In the book Heartless by Marissa Meyer, readers follow the life of Catherine Pinkerton, daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of Rock Turtle Cove. Catherine is in line to be the new queen of Hearts by taking the king's hand in marriage. However, her interests lie elsewhere, with the mysterious Jest. Catherine must make the decision of what her life will become, whether it be with the King and a life of unwanted royalty, or with the Jest and a life starting all the way from the bottom. 

    Overall, I would say that the book was decent. There were both things that I enjoyed, along with aspects that I didn't like as much. Here, I will highlight some of the good and bad parts about Heartless. 

The Good

    The book overall was very well written; I could visualize and follow along easily. I really enjoyed the author's tone throughout the book, because it was more casual and relatable. I also liked all of the detail the author conveyed, because it shaped the characters and setting very nicely. 

    One of my favorite aspects of the book was the completely unexpected plot twist. Without the plot twist, I would have thought that this book was not the greatest. But, the plot twist was a really unique change of events from where I thought the plot was going to go. I liked how the book ended without your typical happy ending, and instead was a bit depressing. I won't spoil it here though; you'll have to read the book to find out!!

   

The Bad

    One thing I particularly didn't like was the plot itself. The plot to me seemed a bit shallow and slow, with little direction (until the plot twist oooh). Catherine keeps on going back and forth between what life she should choose, and it seems a bit two-dimensional. I feel like readers can quickly grasp that she doesn't want to marry the King at all and would much rather be with the Jest, but her indecisiveness stretches for a while throughout the book. 

    Another thing I didn't enjoy as much was Catherine's overall character and personality. While this doesn't have anything to do with the author's writing, I guess I didn't exactly agree or think that her decisions were the best. Catherine is strong willed, passionate, and extremely caring. However, she is resolute on her dreams and passions, and she doesn't seem to think that much about the consequences of her decisions or how they will affect others around her. For instance, Catherine's dream is to open a bakery in Hearts and be with the Jest, instead of becoming the next Queen along with accepting the proposal of the King. I'm not trying to negate her feelings because I would never want to marry someone I don't love or spend my life doing something that I don't necessarily have a passion for. However, she doesn't seem to realize how opening a bakery and abandoning her life is completely going against her parents and everything they've provided for her, and will ruin both her and her family's reputation. Her parents may not always be right and might be a little pushy, but it just seems like she doesn't care too much about how her decisions could affect them. 

I do recommend this book, Heartless, if you like action and fantasy books mixed in with a little romance, along with a good plot twist. Thanks for reading!

-Maddie