Review : The Heart Forger by Rin Chupeco

« 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿, 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝘀. « 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, » 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗺𝗲, 𝗮𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗺𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝘂𝗹𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻. « 𝗠𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀. »

• Author : Rin Chupeco
• Release date : March 20th 2018
• Publishing house : Sourcebooks Fire
• Number of pages : 528
• Book 3 : The Shadowglass

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If you want to read my review of the first book, The Bone Witch, head here.

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In The Bone Witch, Tea mastered resurrection―now she’s after revenge…

No one knows death like Tea. A bone witch who can resurrect the dead, she has the power to take life…and return it. And she is done with her self-imposed exile. Her heart is set on vengeance, and she now possesses all she needs to command the mighty daeva. With the help of these terrifying beasts, she can finally enact revenge against the royals who wronged her―and took the life of her one true love.

But there are those who plot against her, those who would use Tea’s dark power for their own nefarious ends. Because you can’t kill someone who can never die…

War is brewing among the kingdoms, and when dark magic is at play, no one is safe

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Characters :

Tea Pahlavi : Tea has come a long way since the first book. She’s even more bolder and mature and she controls (for now) her powers a lot better. She has control over the azi, a three-headed dragon, which is the most powerful daeva (creature) and they kiss ass. She is quite balanced, sometimes she is quick-witted and at other times she doesn’t consider her actions fully (partly because she lets her emotions get the better of her) and she wears her heart on her sleeve. Her desire to take revenge slowly turns her into an anti-hero who will do anything necessary to protect those she loves and to avenge her friends who were hurt or killed because of all the scheming. Tea also has to struggle with her powers as the more powerful she becomes and the more she uses her powers, the more intoxicated she becomes and her very slow descent into the dark is unstoppable. The outcome of this journey is I’m afraid not a good one.

“You talk like a recipe exists to accustom one to death,” I said, bitter. “Oh, but there is,” she responded. “Take a girl and remove her heart. Add a touch of tragedy and a thirst for vengeance. Divide her into equal parts grief and rage, then serve her cold.”

Her relationship with her brother is quite beautiful. They always bicker but they have each other back. As both of them can communicate by thought and know each other thoughts (to some extent), they can react faster and devise plans without anyone being the wiser. They complement each other, making up for their strengths and weaknesses.

The romance with Kalen is well written and developed. Their relationship is slow-burning but very passionate and mature. Both of them realise that they have been in love with each other for quite some time and that her love for Kance was just an infatuation.

He kissed me. In full view of the nobles, in full view of the emperor and anyone who wanted to see, his mouth hot against mine. He tasted like everything I wanted, and he kissed like I could reach into his heart and take everything I desired from it.

The secondary characters have also changed and more developed. Reading the first book, I think that no one could bear Zoya who was mean, acerbic with almost everyone. But here, I have liked her and her love for Shadi came as a surprise. But both of them were so sweet ! Likh has also become more self-assured as he begins to assert himself thanks to everyone else and his abilities were decisive in thwarting the enemies’ plan. Each character stood out as they all had an important part in the story but they did not outshine Tea.

The story :

When the king of Odalia announces that Kance, his son, will marry the First Daughter of Kion, Inessa, he is taken to the sleeping sickness a few days after. Tea and her friends must flee in order not to be killed as she is accused of betraying the crown and poisoning him. Riding the azi, they fly to Kion to get some help. They devise a plan to go to Tresea to ask Khalad’s master the means to cure this sickness. But no one has been able to get in touch with him for weeks. When they enter the palace, they realise that something is wrong and they may have fallen into a trap.

In this sequel, Rin Chupeco has stepped up the pace. Where the first book was all about world-building and some battles, In The Heart Forger, world-building is a bit less present but it is much more focused on action and politics. They go to one country to another, battle daevas, soldiers, Faceless. It is really action-packed. There are a lot more of plot twists and I really wanted to know what will happen next. The book is much more intense than the first.

We know more about the group called the Faceless, the way they use their dark magic and whom they work with. Their quest for immortality is the reason why they are putting some people to sleep because they are part of a very important bloodline. The Heartforger’s abilities are also very interesting and frightening.

As in the first book, I really loved the glimpses to the older Tea who instils fear in others. The bard offers what he sees and feels and even though he is at first afraid of her, he knows that what she is doing is right and begins to root for her in a way. These glimpses add suspense and anticipation as we do not know what led up to this. The way the older Tea speaks is suffused with pain and fierceness.

I have to confess that the last few pages caused me to be misty-eyed.

This is my Review of the Month for the review collection on LovelyAudiobooks.info