A Heart So Fierce and Broken: Brigid Kemmerer (The Cursebreaker Series)

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Unexpected: Honestly, this book took a very different turn from what I thought it would and that surprised me in the best of ways. I'm not a fan of the discord between Rhen and his brother. Especially not since I believe that Grey's love for Rhen had a whole lot more to do with breaking the curse in ACSDAL than Harper's had at the time. It feels kind of forced. Did so at the beginning, when I found myself wondering if it might not have been better for Grey to be honest. Unlike him, I wasn't so sure of the fate that would have awaited him in that case. And it certainly feels forced now when Karis Luran (boy, was she one dimensional btw. Same as Lilith. Interesting villains they are not .. and I say that as someone who almost always roots for the villain :/) is dead, and ☆.。.:*pacifist queen Lia Mara*・°☆ is ruling Syhl Shallow. What we do know is what’s most important: this prince’s reign will come to an end, one way or another.”

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer - Waterstones

While on the other hand, we have Lia Mara who really is in this story for no important reason. I truly question why she has a point of view because she’s of no importance to the plot until the very end. But Lia Mara is from Syhl Shallow, the kingdom that tried to conquer Rhen’s lands in the first book. Anyways, her mother Karis Luran is trying to work out a deal to unite Syhl Shallow and Emberfall but Lia thinks she can do it a better way than her mother. So she tries to talk Rhen into better ways of finding peace, but in the meantime ends up meeting the true heir to the throne. Though Lia Mara is the firstborn daughter, she is not the princess in line for the throne. Her mother doesn’t value her like her younger sister Nola Verin, whose nature is more like their mother. Lia Mara is not as small and beautiful as her sister and she is intelligent and caring and does not like bloodshed. While Nolla Verin is unfazed by killing others and only to happy to rush into battle. My final critique of this book is that I would have preferred it to have included more than just Grey and Lia Mara’s points of view. Excluding the first and final chapters, the entire book alternates between Grey and Lia Mara’s perspectives, which causes the story to feel lopsided and biased. We are unable to view events through the eyes of Rhen or Harper and have to take Grey and Lia Mara’s descriptions of events at face value. The good Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!I remember a moment, in the courtyard, when Rhen was still a monster. When Lilith was going to kill me, and Grey got on his knees and offered himself to spare me.

A Heart So Fierce and Broken - Goodreads

It's a no wonder this book was named A Heart So Fierce and Broken. I literally feel like my heart has been broken.💔😭 After the curse was set in place, three hundred and twenty-seven seasons later, he was the only one alive from the Royal Guard. He was the only one who survived and became the last person along with Rhen to still live in the castle. They became good friends, even though Grey had an oath to protect Rhen. Tycho looks up to Grey, seeing him as a sort of big brother, and Grey is also very protective of the boy. Grey teaches Tycho how to sword fight and under his guidance he becomes a great swordsman, he also joins the guards to be like Grey.It was a very bold choice to steer away from Rhen’s POV because witnessing his harsh treatment of Grey and others without the benefit of his internal voice means that an established main character who is loved by readers now appears in a very unflattering light, to put it mildly. Rhen being cast in the position of antagonist is a surprise and makes the story very unpredictable as there’s no telling how far he’ll go while trapped in the depths of paranoia with his PTSD further compounding the issue. I will never advise anyone to not read a book because that’s just shitty, but I would definitely say if you loved ACSDAL a lot, there is a lot in this that you may not necessarily enjoy. I really liked Lia Mara, much more than I expected. She was so genuine and I admired her tenacity. She is badass in an unexpected way. She is filled with doubt and does not have good self-esteem, but seeing her grow throughout the book, filled me with such pride. I really LOVE Grey. He reminds me of Geralt from The Witcher because he's very stoic and contained but sharp and tactful when he needs to be. That combination of gentleness and wanting to do what's right mixed with absolute lethal power is so intriguing to me, so I liked it when the story focused on his development. Also, the new characters in this book were so much fun to read about. I love Lia Mara and Tycho, and even side characters from book one like Noah and Jake grew on me.