Heartless Review

Title: Heartless

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publication Date: November 8th, 2016

Pages: 464

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Heartless is a wonderfully creative book that pulls in elements from the original Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. As a retelling, I really loved the details and pieces from the original story that Meyer brought into her book. I also loved the unique story that she created to explain why our protagonist became the queen of hearts. While I did have some problems with the story she brought into the book, I still thoroughly enjoyed it once I got to the end.

I would definitely recommend this to you if you love retellings (this story is very similar to the original book, drawing in many characters directly from Alice in Wonderland), and especially if you love Alice in Wonderland. Even if you’re not an avid reader, I think someone who enjoys the wonderful world of wonderland would fall head-over-heals in love with this book.

This book has its fair share of romance, action, drama, and world-building, making it a very versatile read. I would recommend reading this book in one or two good sittings. The pacing of this book is ~~really~~ slow in some parts, making it hard to concentrate on over the course of a few days. The overall picture of this book is extremely good, so reading it all at once would definitely make you enjoy it that much more.

On another note, fans of Meyer’s other series, The Lunar Chronicles, probably should not go into this book expecting the same outcome. That is definitely not saying that Heartless isn’t good, because it really is. It’s just not the same ~vibes~ as the TLC.

With saying that, this ends all of the non-spoilery section thoughts. If you haven’t read this book yet, go pick it up, read it and then come back and discuss all the ~feels~ with me! If you have, then let’s dive in!

Hello! Hi! Welcome. Greetings! If you’ve made it this far, you’ve read Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I’m going to attempt to keep this review short & sweet. For the most part I’ll split it up into two parts: things I liked, and things I didn’t like.

Things I Liked:

JEST! How could I write a review about this book and not talk about jest? He is literally the definition of perfection and I just *swoons*
I loved the relationship between the characters in this book. Especially between Hatta and Jest. I think it was really important for Marisa Meyer to include that little snippet into the book about how Hatta is in love with Jest.
I liked how the pacing picked up near the end of the book. At that point I was really excited to see where things were going, and I was pleasantly surprised by the ending of the book.
This book did have some really cute quotes in it. Especially when you knew what the quotes were referring to because of prior Alice in Wonderland knowledge.

“The finest hat shop,” Jest corrected. “And I assure you, the Hatter throws the maddest tea parties this side of the Looking Glass.”

Heartless, page 151

Things I Didn’t Like:

While I did love what Marissa Meyer did with Hatta and Jest, it is a bit annoying that she didn’t include that information until the very end. If you’re going to have a gay/bisexual character, don’t slip it until the end of the book.
I was a little confused at times, especially because I’m not all that familiar with the world of Alice in Wonderland. I understand that it’s supposed to be confusing, but at times it just felt ~too~ confusing, up to the point where it was hard to enjoy the book.
I absolutely hated how Jest came to an end ☹️. It was so sad how he just died. There was like one line dedicated to him dying in the book, and then it just moves on.
I felt like there could have been more to the end of the story. I do understand that this leads up to events of Alice in Wonderland, but like what happens in Chess? What happens after these events all occur that I’m missing? I wanted to know more.
The pacing was so, so, slow during the first, maybe 4/5 of the book. I had to really concentrate on reading and it wasn’t like I felt the need to pick up my book, which is something really important to me with my busy life.

Well, there you go… Heartless by Marissa Meyer. I loved writing this review, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments, so maybe we can talk about it! I think I would overall give this book 4/5 stars. Happy Reading!