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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful.
The thrilling conclusion to the His Fair Assassin trilogy
By Liviania
I didn't start to read MORTAL HEART as soon as I got it because I didn't want to say goodbye to the His Fair Assassin trilogy. The first two were darkly beautiful historical fantasy novels featuring two very different, but equally compelling heroines, and their genuine chemistry with their heroic counterparts. But I couldn't hold off for long. Amazingly, I think MORTAL HEART might be my favorite of the three.MORTAL HEART is actually more forgiving to new readers than DARK TRIUMPH. It winds time back a bit, to shortly after Sybella is sent on her mission (in DARK TRIUMPH) and re-establishes the rhythm of convent life and what is at risk in the War of Breton Succession. There's been something fishy at the heart of the convent, and it comes to a head as Annith realizes the abbess's orders can't come from their patron saint Mortain (the saint of Death). The abbess thinks Annith is docile and biddable, when really Annith is helpful and doesn't see the point of making waves. When she does, she reveals the steel beneath.I loved Annith's appearances and Ismae and Sybella's books, and she does not disappoint when handed center stage. She's confident in her skills and her knowledge, but unsure of her heart. She's never been able to see the marque (which is how Mortain's handmaidens know who to assassinate), and so she's less confident in her kills, even when they save people. She doesn't know if she's cut out to be an assassin, but she knows she isn't destined to be a seer, locked in a little room, the destiny the abbess is trying to force upon her.Annith, of course, gets her own romance. Balthazar is a hellequin, sort of a member of a Wild Hunt. He and Annith instantly spark - some good ways, some bad ways. Love certainly doesn't turn Annith into a swooning damsel. "What was your intent with this sparring of yours? To entice them? To entice me?" ... "If that is the case, then it is their fault and not mine. I wished only to keep my own skills honed." - p. 141, ARCI think DARK TRIUMPH had the strongest love story of the three books, although I enjoyed the other two. Annith and Balthazar's relationship frequently takes a backseat to the action plot, and I am not going to complain about that.I love how Robin LaFevers wove real history and fantasy together in this series. She makes the political maneuvering between battles just as vivid and high stakes as the battles themselves. The Duchess of Breton is in a bad place: the princess is dying, her husband-by-proxy has his own wars to fight, she can't pay her mercenaries, and it's just bad all around. The struggle to save Brittany from destruction holds equal weight to Annith's personal journey, and both are dealt with together in a satisfactory ending.His Fair Assassin is one of the best trilogies in recent years. It starts strong and just keeps going - no sagging middle, no lagging finish. I highly recommend all three of these books. They're exciting and insightful, and a wonderful exploration of feminine strength in a time when women were regarded as little more than property.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Still a brilliant entry, but it let me down
By Ashleigh
See more of my reviews sooner on The YA Kitten!Oh, the His Fair Assassin books. Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph held me at rapt attention, and the delayed wait for Mortal Heart (only delayed by six months, but still) was painful. After seeing devout Ismae bloom into a wiser woman and suffering through Sybella’s trials alonside her, what would barely-touched-on Annith have to offer as a character? It turns out she has a lot to offer as a dynamic character who rivals Sybella for my favorite assassin nun, but her overall story–especially the romance–failed me on so many levels.Though Annith has no Mortain-given gifts like her sisters, she’s still one of the best in the convent in every area–and yet she always gets left behind. Working hard to be just as good as everyone else but being left out because you’re not one of the chosen few is privilege in a nutshell, but whatever. LaFevers probably wasn’t going for any commentary on privilege; I’ve been especially deep in social justice lately and my brain made that connection with Annith and Mortain’s other daughters. ANYWAY, her desire to get out of the convent and serve her god is so strong you can taste it and the first 100 pages in which she’ trying to get out of there are slow but strong. They give us the all-important insight into this former side character that we’ll need to see who she really is and how much she changes over the course of her travels and trials.I admit, I’d never thought much of Annith in Grave Mercy or Dark Triumph. In other YA novels, characters like her are the good friend who is referred to at times and can make a difference from afar but don’t get a great deal of characterization. Mortal Heart takes us inside her to show us she’s so much more complex than readers ever thought and shows us parts of the convent and Brittany at large that Ismae and Sybella never got to experience. Through her, we meet the Arduinnites rarely discussed in previous books, the hellequin who definitely didn’t come up in any good way before, and see the depths of the corruption within the convent.Annith isn’t the first character LaFevers has sent through the wringer, but she’s the character whose growth is the most significant and touching. There’s no emphasizing enough how strong it is. A woman confident in her own power blooms out of a girl desperate to prove herself after her entire childhood played out as one long, vicious test and she sacrifices everything she thought she knew about herself to get herself to where she wants to be. Despite my many problems with Mortal Heart, the novel is worth recommending solely on the basis of Annith’s character-driven journey and the strength of her arc.Oh, did I have problems. Annith’s journey as a character is strong enough to carry readers through to the end, which is a good thing because the plot’s pacing is uneven and major twists are predictable. At about one-third of the way into this hefty novel, I had the biggest one pinned and made puns about it (because you’re not here for the right reasons if you don’t want the PUNishment). Plot points are lazily delayed so they can be explained later. For instance, an Arduinnite finds a mark on Annith’s neck and doesn’t explain it to Annith when she explicitly asks what it looks like. Then it gets explained many, many pages later as something the Arduinnite definitely could have explained to her. Really?The romance failed me in pretty much every way. One of the major twists and one of many reasons the novel’s jacket copy is so thin relates to her love interest in this book and that was the one I got punny with. She and her boy spend plenty of time together, yeah, but by the time she gets around to saying she loves him, Annith’s interactions with him hasn’t convinced me they know each other well enough for love to be possible yet. The idea of their romance is great, but the execution is lackluster because it needs more development. There’s slow-burn and then there’s taking 200 pages to build up a couple without actually building up a relationship between them.The way the end of the novel uses religion confuses and irritates in equal parts. Now, I’m no fan of religion myself whether one worships multiple gods or one. Religion simply isn’t something essential to my life. The way LaFevers uses it in her novels is brilliant and Annith’s own religious fervor is a vital part of her character (especially when much of her growth involves her faith being tested), but the way it’s all explained in the end just doesn’t work.Still, this trilogy is a strong work of historical fiction and perfect for binge-reading, so I can’t do anything but recommend it despite my reservations about its finale. Can Robin LaFevers keep writing books like this? Reliably good books are good yes. I know she’s got some backlist titles, so I may dive into those…
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Disappointed by the last part
By Yoruhime
So. Last book in His Fair Assassin's series.I'll start by saying it's a story I like a lot - not love, for I find the politics and assassination handled generally too nicely and easily. But still, it's a good, relaxing read all the same. I especially appreciated Dark Triumph, with its more adult, grave tone. Now, what off Mortal Heart?Well, as far as the two first part out of three, I found it extremely pleasant - Annith is a very enjoyable character. More ruthless than Ismae and far less broken than Sybella. She is brave, and there's a true vein of steel in her under her gentleness. Metting and following her was nice.However, I must say that, at least at his first appearence, her love interest charisma's crushes hers effortlessly. Balthazaar, and his men, are very, very entralling - the time Annith spent at their side, was, in my opinion, the strongest part of the book, truly. A pity it didn't last longer, because, sadly, it's where the story fell for me.More precisely, at the moment when Annith steps into the Palace and the Duchess' service. I'm sorry I have to say it, but Robin LaFevers' political intrigues always stayed basic at best, and this book is no exception to the rule - it's not bad, per se (even through the solution found to end the war left me gobsmacked, and not in a good way), but let's say that I don't read His Fair Assassin for its political games.Mainly, the best point in this series has always been the characters: Ismae, Duval, Sybella, Beast...And now Annith and Balthazaar. Except...except a revelation about him comes and breaks everything apart - I won't spoil it, but suffices to say that an idea of this kind would have needed a far longer developpment to become believable and interesting. Frankly, Balthazaar was far more enthralling when we first met him - LaFevers should have left it to that, especially since there was so much to say about the hellequins.To conclude, I'll say that, while this tome is pleasant enough, the last part drop down rather badly - maybe others will enjoy it, but I was just left with a sad sense of mess and breaking of a good story. Pity.Overall: 3/5
