Reviews - A Heart Full of Hatred

97 reviews for:

A Heart Full of Hatred

Derek Landy

4.13 AVERAGE

louisanheinrich's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

I will be suing Derek for emotional damage

ork_queen's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense slow-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

mrmathematical's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

keeley_and_zuko's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

sadhabh's review against another edition

3.0

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

merrow's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-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

The tense moments in this book - in particular the entire final third or so - exceed most of the rest of the series as far as I remember. As a result the book flew by and compelled me to keep reading to the end (and beyond if it were possible yet). The characters, having had so much story to flesh them out, don’t need much time spent on them to be incredibly familiar and lovable, but the book still directly engages with their growth in a very real feeling way.

I think the best thing for this book is how the personal stakes are raised so high by Valkyrie’s impending mortality. At times through the series, she has seemed invincible, but with her magic disappearing and an incredibly capable killer who comes very, very close a few times, her life now feels in genuine peril to both her and the reader.

While the reveal of the killer’s identity

doesn’t hit quite as hard as it could, it does lend some poeticism to Fletcher’s debating death. Plus, it doesn’t ultimately matter too much considering the great reveal of what the book has really been building up to, Winter taking (and being denied to spare her soul!) revenge for her own experience during the desolation, something that the previous book and much of this one was spent with the main characters trying to stop for others.

Content Warnings