Book Review: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

11/9/2017

SYNPOSIS

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save her life, Lia's erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be barbarians. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country . . . and her own destiny.

Synopsis from Chapters.Indigo.ca

PERSONAL REVIEW

We get to see Venda! I was so excited to jump into reading this after finishing "The Kiss of Deception" and we were left on a pretty decent cliffhanger about what would happen to these characters next. For three people who started off lying to each other, Lia, Rafe, and Kaden have now been given a lot of time to get to know each other better.

What I Liked:

Lia Is Still A Badass: At no point do we see Lia as a damsel-in-distress, and I love it. Pearson does a great job of creating a strong female protagonist that knows that her only hope for freedom is to find it for herself. i love seeing Lia's transition from princess, to rogue, to leader and watching her unravel the mystery around her birth. While we got to know her in "Kiss", it's really in "Heart of Betrayal" that we learn just how strong Lia is. I honestly hope that if I was ever kidnapped by assassins and brought to a foreign land that I'd be as brave and strong as she is (also, I really hope this never happens...).
A New City and New Characters Too Discover: I loved getting to discover Venda with Lia and meeting so many new characters, including Rafe's soldiers. Pearson did a great job of creating this new world and showing the stark differences between Morrighan (clearly a first world country) versus Venda (a country struggling to survive). While the Komodor is obviously awful (classic villain), I completely understood his motives -- the only way he could see to make his country strong was through violence. While I disagree, as does Lia, with this, the simple truth is that he is a victim of his environment. Overall, I loved Venda and it's people.
Less of a Love Triangle (thank God!): I am, and I never will be, a fan of love triangles. I find them boring and a pretty big cop-out from the author, so I was happy that Pearson made it clear from the ending of "Kiss" to the ending of "Heart" that Lia was wholly in love with Rafe (is this a spoiler? I feel like it's pretty obvious from the last book, so I'm going to say that it's not a spoiler). I really like Kaden, especially by the end of this book when we get to learn so much more about him, but it's definitely a relationship between Rafe and Lia that I want to explore further. They see each other's strengths and make each other stronger -- which is important since they are basically trying to date while in extreme enemy territory.

Overall, I thought this was a great book. Often, the second book in a trilogy gets bogged down between the exciting beginning and the exciting end, but in this case I honestly felt that "The Heart of Betrayal" was equally good as "The Kiss of Deception". We get to see real character growth, discover a new country, and learn more about the secret prophecy that Lia is part of. I couldn't put this book down and am now diving into "The Beauty of Darkness" to find out how this all ends!!

FINAL RATING: 4.5/5