Heartless by Marissa Meyer Narrator: Rebecca Soler
Published by Feiwel & Friends on November 8th 2016
Length: 14 hours 35 minutes
Genres: Adaptations, Fairy Tales & Folklore, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 416
Format: Audiobook
Goodreads
Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love. Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen. Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans. In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Julie’s Review:
Marissa Meyer is a genius, but we already knew that from her famous Lunar Chronicles series. I love how she takes a story and twists it all up in her adaptation of it.
Heartless is a brilliant prequel, a back story for the vengeful and angry Queen of Hearts, who is famously always screaming “off with his head!” In Heartless, we meet the young Lady Catherine and see how much passion and spunk she has, learn of her love of baking and desire to open a bakery. But she has caught the eye of the King of Hearts, and now her family is pushing her to accept him.
Enter Jest, the delightful court joker full of riddles and magic and distraction. We know how their story will end before it begins, which makes their romance and fun banter so much more meaningful, and painful. No, this isn’t a happy ending story of young and first love. We know it will end in some kind of tragedy to turn Cath into the angry Queen, but what happens?
A lot of plot twistiness happens. Meyer takes some well-known rhymes and twists them all up and dumps them in Wonderland. The plot is well thought-out and the different intertwining stories well-researched. That’s what makes these adaptations so fun – like little easter eggs with goodies from the stories we know, but different.
Also, the narration is superb. I love all the voices and emotion. The descriptions were wonderful and I really felt like I was watching a fun movie, all while driving to and from work. The characters were all given such detailed backstories. Hatter specifically played an important role and I enjoyed following his ambitions until time caught up with him.
I’m pretty much sold on anything she writes from here on out, so when’s her next release coming out? Ha!
Who else has read Heartless? What did you think?
I 100% agree with your review. Although I didn’t really remember the synopsis when I dove in. Nor did I keep in mind that Catherine was going to become the infamous Queen of Hearts. That didn’t all click until I got further along in the story, but no matter. I wasn’t mad as I’d normally be at this non-HEA prequel story. I’m so glad you loved the audiobook version of Heartless, too! Rebecca Soler is so freaking talented. I enjoyed this one even more than the Lunar Chronicles novels which were also narrated by Rebecca.
I really loved the writing (the descriptions were gorgeous!) and the plot was fantastic, but the only part I had a problem with this one was with the characters. I mean, I loved them, and I loved the small details from the original novel that characterised them, but they didn’t stand out to me too much. Need to finish the Lunar Chronicles though, for sure! Great review 😀
I’ve never read any Wonderland stories or watched any of the movies because the cartoon movie scared me as a child (I’m a bit traumatized, perhaps), but I think it’s time I get over this because I ADORED The Lunar Chronicles and I can’t imagine not enjoying anything Meyer ever writes. Lovely review! 🙂
Jessica @ Strung Out On Books recently posted…Review: By Your Side by Kasie West
I kinda feel the same way about anything she may write!