Monday 30 January 2017

{English} Heartless - Marissa Meyer

For fans of: Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carrol (or the movie directed by Jim Burton), The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer, The Silver Trilogy - Kerstin Gier
Published: 2016 (Macmillan Children's Books)
Pages: 450




















Blurb: Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, she wants to open a shop and create delectable pastries. But for her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for a woman who could be a queen.
At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the King’s marriage proposal, she meets handsome and mysterious Jest. 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 a secret courtship.
Cath is determined to choose her own destiny. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
  


My opinion: When I first heard about this book I thought: Well, Marissa Meyer can’t get away from retelling fairy tales. But I enjoyed the Lunar Chronicles and Alice in Wonderland so I decided to give Heartless a chance. And I was not disappointed! This was such a cute and fluffy read, dripping with sugar and everything sweet.
Catherine was such a cute and charming girl, maybe a little depth wouldn’t have harmed her character, but I definitely liked her. Which is often not the case for female protagonists in YA these days. The fact that she loved to bake and ate everything sweet made her even more sympathetic to me. Baking is her dream, I get that, but there wasn’t much else she was interested in.
Her parents were awful! Her dad didn’t do much and with a mother like that you don’t need any enemies.
Jest was a very likeable character too and he and Catherine fit well together, but I didn’t feel much chemistry and it was clear from the beginning that they would end up together. I mean, there weren’t any options besides him, but I’m not a fan of instant love.
I disliked the King of Hearts as much as Catherine did and I felt so sorry for her. He’s such a silly figure and I have no idea how anyone would let him be king.
All the time I wondered how such a sweet girl like Catherine could become the Queen of Hearts. It had to be something big, so expected a huge twist in the end. I won’t tell any spoilers, but I was a little disappointed. It seems to me that what happened wasn’t big enough to turn her into the person she was in the end.
Marissa Meyer managed to produce the same vibe as in the original works of Lewis Carrol and sometimes it felt like the Tim Burton movies, but I would have loved to see more of Meyers own ideas. She pretty much only recycled bits and pieces from Carrol (e. g. the tea party, playing croquet, the Jabberwock, etc.), which made the whole book appear like just a fanfiction. Well, it pretty much IS a fanfiction, but at least a well written one. What she added was great and I liked the twist witch the Jabberwock.
The pacing was perfect and the author painted beautiful pictures with her words. Whatever she writes next, I’ll read it. But I really hope it’s no fairy tale retelling for once.
Don’t set your expectations to high, but if you want to have a fluffy read, here it is! And prepare to get hungry, make sure you have some sweets at home (;

 
 

My rating: 3/5 Buttons

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