Book Review: Heartless Hunter by Kristen Cicarelli

 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Genre: Fantasy

Sub-Genre: Romance

Oh my gosh! It's been such a while since I've read a fantasy I wasn't disappointed in! Especially one that's a pretty popular booktok book, because this one is worth the hype! 

Continue reading for more details.

Synopsis:

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Review:

I liked Rune’s character! For being the Crimson Moth, she suited that title because of her cleverness and determination to help her kind, but she didn't radiate that powerful/intimidating energy that I would expect from someone with that sort of reputation but it didn't bother me too much. I liked seeing her work with magic and do all of the sneaky stuff she'd do, it was just so much fun! Her personality was nice balance between caring and also that sense of responsibility to do what's right because of what happened in the past.

“Gideon was her perfect rival; a deadly enemy to outwit. Without him, Rune could only be half of her full potential. It was why, deep down, she wanted him to come for her.

I liked how the author developed both of the characters so thoroughly. Gideon’s character was just as amazing as his motives for doing what he did had a reason and as a reader, I could totally understand why he did what he did because of what he's been through. He held himself in a way that made him seem so rough and cold, but we could see through his pov that on the inside he was so soft and caring and cmon how could anyone not automatically fall for him? 

“You are not the things that happened to you, Gideon.”

I loved these two so much! One of my favorite book couples. These two definitely had chemistry with their opposing demeanors. I know it sounds stereotypical but it's not even that which I loved the most about them but more it was the dynamic between them. They both were pushing and pulling at each other, trying to solely flirt for the sake of getting their goals, and it seemed so convincing! Just absolutely so perfect! Then I’d read the other person’s pov and just start squealing out of excitement that there was an ulterior motive behind it because you could not tell and I just loved that so much! This lets the facade of being enemies continue throughout the book because it's always annoying when the hatred stops after like a couple of chapters. It was also nice how they both were vulnerable with each other at times because I think that really made them more closed and added depth to their relationship. 

“The hunted had fallen for the hunter.”

This book would not in any way be the same without the dual povs. The dual povs made all the difference as it let us not only fully know both the characters, allowing us to truly understand them, but also see how clever both the characters were. It's absolutely so much fun reading about intelligent characters and seeing both sides of the story.

The plot was pretty decent. I wasn't bored at any part of the book since seeing Rune plan and act out and facing conflicts then bouncing back was enjoyable as she tried to do the thing she so desperately needed to do. The plot twists I did not see coming! I don't know if that was just because I was slow or something but when they were revealed at the end I was shocked at all of them. And the way the story was told from the povs of both witch haters and hunters, I could understand both sides and I genuinely didn't know which side to support by the end. I loved how this question remained unsolved at the end as I'm hoping the next book will focus on this overarching wonder. 

“I remember the sound of your laugh,” he said as the back door of the house came into view. “It pulled me like a magnet toward the beach, where I found the most beautiful girl in the world standing on the shore.”

Also, there is a love triangle. And Gideon’s younger brother, Alex, is involved. Honestly the love triangle didn't bother me too much because it didn't necessarily feel like Rune was leading both of them on or anything unnecessarily annoying like that. And the way it was dealt with at the end was good in my opinion, so a job well done with that!

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