A Heart So Fierce and Broken: Brigid Kemmerer (The Cursebreaker Series)

Product Information

That’s one thing, though, that Kemmerer does so well. There are hardly any characters between these two books that are solidly good or solidly bad. They each have choices and decisions to make and they have to live with those consequences. It’s not always a happily ever after. This aspect of realism is much appreciated and a little despised on my end.

A Heart So Fierce and Broken - Bloomsbury Publishing

I really LOVE Grey. He reminds me of Geralt from The Witcher because he's very stoic and contained but sharp and tactful when he needs to be. That combination of gentleness and wanting to do what's right mixed with absolute lethal power is so intriguing to me, so I liked it when the story focused on his development. Also, the new characters in this book were so much fun to read about. I love Lia Mara and Tycho, and even side characters from book one like Noah and Jake grew on me.

Tycho looks up to Grey, seeing him as a sort of big brother, and Grey is also very protective of the boy. Grey teaches Tycho how to sword fight and under his guidance he becomes a great swordsman, he also joins the guards to be like Grey. Choices are never easy. There are good and bad options, but the most dangerous is to not make any choice at all.”

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer Review: A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

Harper and Grey didn't have a good start, after he dragged her from her world into Emberfall. Over time, they end up getting well along, trusting each other, and becoming great friends. Harper teasingly calls him Scary Grey. It is implied in A Heart So Fierce and Broken that he may have had feelings for Harper and she could possibly have had feelings for him. "but Jake's not you" in reference to when they were escaping the castle. This might have been had he not been sworn of any sort of family and Rhen had not been there. Instead they remained great friends.I swear if any of the four die in the next book, I will FOREVER HATE THIS SERIES FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE! While the first book was arguably pretty generic, it was a retelling so I couldn't really fault it. This book though was a mix-mash of every trope in the book while bringing nothing new to the table. Harper was all but eliminated from the sequel, removing the disability rep that was part of what made ACSDAL unique. It took me a while to warm up to all the new characters, but I suppose they were alright. I liked the sort of brotherly relationship between Grey and Tycho. The sisters rivalry between Nola and Lia irked me at the beginning, but I’m glad with how it worked out in the end. My favorite part about the book was definitely seeing how the dynamic among these forementioned characters along with Noah and Jake slowly changed from being hostile to showing a good camaraderie. I loved seeing the transformation in Grey's character arc as well. Being the middle book of a trilogy, there's a little bit of a slow down in terms of pacing. The urgency of book 1, in trying to break the curse, is gone. Instead, there is time devoted to setting up a different focus and in laying down the groundwork for what must be the big final conflict in book 3. Yet, the story still captivated me, and I was just as riveted with it as with the previous one. My final critique of this book is that I would have preferred it to have included more than just Grey and Lia Mara’s points of view. Excluding the first and final chapters, the entire book alternates between Grey and Lia Mara’s perspectives, which causes the story to feel lopsided and biased. We are unable to view events through the eyes of Rhen or Harper and have to take Grey and Lia Mara’s descriptions of events at face value. The good

A Heart So Fierce and Broken (The Cursebreaker Series)

I'm still reeling from that ending. I CAN'T BELIEVE LILITH IS ALIVE??!!! AND NOW RHEN HAS AGREED TO AN OFFER FROM THAT WITCH??!! AND IT'S TO PROTECT HARPER!!! HE DOESN'T EVEN WANT THE KINGDOM!!! HE DOESN'T CARE IF GREY TAKES IT AWAY BUT LILITH IS THREATENING TO TAKE HARPER AWAY FROM HIM!!! 😭Poor Rhen...😭😭 CURSE YOU LILITH!!!😡😡

About the contributors

A Heart So Fierce and Broken feels like the lesser child of A Game of Thrones and A Court of Mist and Fury. It features elements of both, including the vilification of a primary character and a reluctant heir to a crown, but they are incorporated in a far clumsier manner. Kemmerer has tried but failed to transform the story from a young adult retelling of Beauty and the Beast into some sort of fantasy epic. Jake: Harper's brother Jake was a minor character in ACSDAL - but here he takes on a more prominent role and I loved it! He is sarcastic, fierce and smart. I loved the energy he and Grey had! In Forging Silver into Stars, Tycho is in possession of rare magic rings that Grey has forged himself. This shows how much Grey values Tycho as a friend. He also appoints Tycho as the King's Courier and entrusts him with all the royal messages. I loved this book. It was as good or better than the first book. There were several villains and there were definitely some big surprises. Not all of them are good, but it makes for an amazing story. The ending is spectacular, there will be a third book, but it is not really a cliffhanger so much as an ending to one part of the story and the promise of a beginning of another. It was a very bold choice to steer away from Rhen’s POV because witnessing his harsh treatment of Grey and others without the benefit of his internal voice means that an established main character who is loved by readers now appears in a very unflattering light, to put it mildly. Rhen being cast in the position of antagonist is a surprise and makes the story very unpredictable as there’s no telling how far he’ll go while trapped in the depths of paranoia with his PTSD further compounding the issue.

A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer Editions of A Heart So Fierce and Broken by Brigid Kemmerer

Rhen’s curse has finally been lifted, but he’s not out of the deep end yet. His kingdom is turning on him as rumors of a true heir to the throne arise, and Karis Luran threatens war on Emberfall. Grey has fled the castle, being the only one with knowledge of the true heir’s identity. As things threaten to come crashing down around Rhen, Grey wars with himself; the fate of two kingdoms are resting on his shoulders, after all. What we do know is what’s most important: this prince’s reign will come to an end, one way or another.”

Reviews

I can still worry about you.” We were once separated after Grey snatched me off the streets of DC, and it was horrible not knowing what might have become of Jake. I don’t want to feel that way again. “Have you asked Rhen? He might not think it’s a good idea.” The curse might be broken but Emberfall is still on the verge of collapse. Rumours about the true heir are circulating and the people are starting to question Rhen's authority. Grey and Lia Mara made such a cute couple🥰, but I still love Rhen and Harper more despite everything that happened. Those two will always hold a place in my heart. Edited to add: Because a few people have told me I would like this book more if I had continued it, I probably should mention that, after choosing to "officially" DNF it where I did, I skimmed forward and read chunks of the rest of the book here and there to see if I might be more intrigued by what was happening. I then also skipped ahead and read the last few chapters (I know, blasphemy, but this is something that has convinced me to continue a boring or disappointing book many times in the past, so I was hopeful). Unfortunately, not only did I find the plot line predictable enough that literally NOTHING about the end surprised me, but I was even more frustrated by the characters by the end that I can safely guarantee nothing that happened between the sections I read would have redeemed AHSFAB for me. :( /end edit Neither Harper nor Rhen know that Grey and the heir are one and the same. And both are desperate to find their beloved friend.