Review: Heartless

Title Heartless
By Marissa Meyer
Genre Fantasy/Retelling
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Before Alice visited Wonderland, Before the Queen of Hearts uttered "off with his head" there was just Catherine. A girl with a dream to start a bakery. But Wonderland has other plans.


First Sentence
Three luscious lemon tarts glistened up at Catherine.






Ever since reading The Lunar Chronicles I've been eager to see what else Marissa Meyer would come up with. When I heard about Heartless, Meyer's take on the Queen of Hearts before she became the vicious villain from Alice in Wonderland, I was very excited!

Now let's think this through. This is a retelling of the Queen of Hearts. We all know how wicked and cruel she is, right? So I knew going into it that we weren't in for a happy ending. Having that acceptance was important for me to enjoy the story. If I'd thought I was getting a happy ending I might have been very upset.

While I found this one a little...OK a LOT slower moving than Meyer's other books, I was still very much enjoying myself while I read. Meyer's does the best job of taking a well known story and twisting it around to meet her needs and yet still keeping true to the original.

I loved this take on Wonderland. Everything was described in a very casual way. Animals talk? Why yes, they do, Why do you ask? I loved that she didn't stop the story to explain the inner workings of Wonderland. Who can really do that anyway? Not even Carroll, I dare say.

My biggest issue with the book was Catherine. She was such a simpering little wimp! It drove me nuts. I'm kind of surprised she becomes someone as strong willed and stubborn as the Queen of Hearts. But maybe that was the point??? Who knows. It just bugged me. I like my heroine's a little more self reliant.

Should you read it
Oh yes. Please do. Just be ready for that ending.