Reviews with content warning for Murder - A Heart So Fierce and Broken

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

14 reviews

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

8/10. This book/series really continues to surprise me. It is one of those rare books where at no point am I sure where the plot is going (in a good way) but I am so enthralled the whole time. For reasons other than the book, I was having a hard time getting through the book but every time I opened it and actually started reading, I never wanted to stop. I am gonna be honest, I missed Harper and Rhen but I loved seeing things from Grey's POV. I also wasn't sure how I would feel about Lia Mara, but I ended up enjoying her perspective as well. I somewhat predicted/hoped for what ended up happening at the end of the book with Grey and Lia Mara about Karis Luran (no spoilers) but the very ending with Rhen almost blindsided me fr (again, no spoilers). I am very interested to see what in the world is going to happen in the next book because I genuinely have no idea.

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luna_lovelace's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book more than the first one! I enjoyed the perspective of Grey since I loved his character from the first book in the series. The new character, Lia Mara was such a brave woman and

it was so cute how their friendship turned into something more.

I wasn't prepared for all the sad moments that made me cry.

It broke me when her guard told her that they loved her too before he let her go. I don't think I can forgive Rhen for killing Sorra!

I can't wait to read the third book, I want to know what comes next!

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jackiepreston's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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ivegotyourpaperback's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Like the first book, this is dual POV. However this time we’re following different characters. This is a great way of expanding the story, and opening up the world. There’s only so much that can happen within the confines of the castle, so I thoroughly enjoyed the geographical exploration of Emberfall and its peoples.

We’re introduced to new characters, of which one is Lia Marra from neighbouring kingdom Syhl Shallow. This book does a good job of making you care about the new characters and not fall into the trap of resenting them because they’re not the originals. This is where the dual POV (one by a character from ACSDAL, and one by someone new) worked quite well. I also found myself rooting for Lia Marra over Rhen early on.

The ‘portal fantasy’ trope comes particularly in handy for this book, in the form of Noah, a modern day doctor who is able to recognise (and therefore alert the reader) Rhen’s PTSD. His resulting shitty behaviour is then addressed and understood more. At least briefly.

Then, I’m sorry to say, Rhen becomes a dick and Harper becomes boring. Luckily the book is mostly centred on the 2 POV characters, so this is pretty much a separate story to the first book, with nods to familiar characters.

A couple of the side characters (Nolla Verrin, Karis Luran) didn’t feel fleshed out. Karis Luran seemed to be evil just for evil’s sake. There didn’t really seem to be a justification for why she was such a bitch - she just was.

Finally I don’t quite get the logic behind the line of succession in Shyl Shallow: whoever kills the current ruler becomes the new ruler.

So was Karis Luran happy to let Nolla Verrin kill her one day?
Was Nolla Verrin supposed to wait until Karis Luran was on her deathbed? Or just whenever she felt she was ready to ascend to the throne?
And if this is how rulers come to be, what is the point in Karis Luran naming Nolla Verrin as the heir? What use is a specific choice of heir at all in this monarchy?

Content warnings:

⚠️murder/execution

⚠️corporal punishment

⚠️torture

Content Warnings

qrschulte's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think I liked this one more than the last one. And again, I called the big reveals.

Things I liked:
- GREY!!!
- Iisak. More of him please
- Jake‘s redemption.
- The romance actually made sense and had some chemistry and a bit of steam.

Things I didn’t like:
- The Lia Mara narrator made the girls sound waaaay younger than they were supposed to be. She also was a bit melodramatic, either with a laugh in her voice or like a swoon teen, which was a little much for my tastes.
- The torture
- The 180 degree flip of characterizations of Harper and Rhen, which I guess is only slightly explained. Especially after Rhen’s character growth in the last book. And Harper being okay with Rhen’s behavior after giving her brother (warranted) shit in the first book? Makes no sense.

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taryn_g's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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katievallin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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bzliz's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book flirts a little too closely to Game of Thrones territory for me at times, with brutal consequences for kindness or naïveté.

In developing Grey’s character, I feel like Harper’s character dulled greatly.

I find it really hard to believe that she would want to stay with Rhen when she is aware of his brutal actions against his subjects, despite not knowing that Lilith is still alive and doing something to manipulate his actions. Her family suffered trauma caused by her father’s actions and saw her brother turned into a puppet forced to threaten and possibly commit violent acts against people. It doesn’t make sense that she would stand by Rhen’s side as he- from her point of view- tries to rally his people by allowing some to be brutalized or murdered because he’s afraid of magic.

Lia Mara is the kind of protagonist I can’t help but like- she’s kind, clever and pragmatic despite her upbringing. Her mother makes too perfect a villain. It’s borderline offensive how one dimensional she is.

Despite it all, I did enjoy this and it was worth the couple hours I spent reading it and I care just enough to read the next one also.

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littletiramisu's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jlfaith21's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked the second book in this trilogy, but I think it’s just because I really like Grey as a character. I enjoyed the new characters. You really see the characters struggling with who they are and how they are suppose to fit in the story. I’m excited to see how this trilogy ends!

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