A Heart So Fierce And Broken
The second book of the curse breaker series is “a heart so fierce and broken” despite enjoying A curse so dark and lonely. I didn’t think the sequel will add up to the first. Boy was I wrong! This book really surprised me, It does what the first installment did not, and truly establishes itself as an original and unique story rather than just a fairy tale retelling.
The curse is finally broken, but still, prince Rhen is troubled as words spread through Emberfall that he is not the heir of the kingdom and that magic has been unleashed again. Though Rhen has Harper by his side, his guard commander is missing leaving every question unanswered. Here I like how this book focuses on new characters, if the story was again focused on Rhen and harper I think it would have been boring.
This book totally focuses on grey which I am happy about as he was my favorite character in the first book. Commander Grey was such a wonderful character in ACSDAL, he had sworn his life to the Royal family and to Rhen in particular. In doing so he had to detach from all his family and forego any future family that could possibly ever be used against him to get him to turn on the royals or the Kingdom of Emberfall. Even so, the evil mage Lilith still took his 9 sisters and brothers one by one while trying to get him to turn against Rhen.
Grey is on the run after learning from Lilith that he is the heir to the kingdom and that he is a magesmith. Rhen and harper are worried that their friend is dead. Here grey is living in wildthrone valley away from Emberfall as a stable guy with a young boy named Tycho who ends up as his sidekick. Rhen is sending out guards and word in search of a magesmith and whoever finds him will get rewarded.
Grey despite having magic in his blood doesn’t know how to use it, thus when trying one night he finds his magic and crosses over the other side and comes back. Tycho is astounded learning that he is the one the Prince is searching for and promises grey that he’ll keep it a secret. He meets some wonderful characters, and they journey together throughout the majority of the story. Brigid Kemmerer is an excellent writer and makes each of the characters come to life. I could picture each one of them and though they start out as strangers and foes, the travelers become united and even friends. The love interest Lia Mara is one of them.
Lia Mara is the firstborn daughter of Karis Luran of Syhl Shallow which is over the mountains from Emberfall. In ACSDAL, Karis Luran is the bloodthirsty Queen whose forces tried to invade Emberfall when she thought the royal family was gone and the Kingdom was at its weakest.
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 Nolla Verin, whose nature is more like their mother. Lia Mara is not as small and beautiful as her sister. She is intelligent and caring and does not like bloodshed. While Nolla Verin is unfazed by killing others and only too happy to rush into battle.
But even though Lia Mara knows she’ll never be the queen, she is still determined to find a violence-free solution for both kingdoms. I really liked Lia Mara, much more than I expected. She was so genuine, and I admired her tenacity. She is filled with doubt and does not have good self-esteem, but seeing her grow throughout the book, filled me with such pride.
Although Lia Mara does envy her sister, Nolla Verin, and knows that her sister can be cruel, we are constantly reminded how much she cares for and loves her sister and vice versa. I really appreciated that. It was refreshing having two sisters who are vastly different NOT hating each other. I loved seeing their love for one another, even if Nolla Verin is a horrible brat for most of the book.
I was happy that Lilith was not in this book but instead of her came Karis Luran oh my god, she was so evil and cunning.
I had never really paid much attention to Jacob (harper’s brother) in book one, but I loved how he and Grey become closer in this book and seeing their friendship bloom. Then there is Noah (Jacob’s boyfriend) who is still the noble healer in this book and in grey’s traveling group.
Initially, I didn’t get hooked up with this book like the first one. I was instantly swept away in the first book. Like the saying “good things take time” even though this book went in a different way the ending was just so perfect.
The twist at the end was so amazing that I was squealing and rejoicing.
The only thing I didn’t like that much is Rhen’s few doings in this book which made him gain negative points. But still, in the end, we could understand why he did that.
The last of the traveling partners is a scraver, a vicious creature that can slice a person with his claws in the blink of an eye. Scraver helped grey in practicing magic and passing letters among the lovers.
“Fear makes people act in ways we’d never expect.” And another quote which was so beautiful not to mention here.
“Choices are never easy. There are good and bad options, but the most dangerous is to not make any choice at all.”
I liked it very much this series is excellent so far and can’t wait to read the last book of this series.