Heartless by Marissa Meyer
“Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love”. The queen of retellings herself, Marissa Meyer’s Heartless is the villain origin story of the infamous Queen of Hearts.
Catherine Pinkerton is the daughter of a Marques and dreams of opening her own bakery. The best bakery in all of Hearts. Only her status obsessed and noble parents have other plans. They arrange for Cath to get married to the King, who is a complete and utter buffoon. Catherine doesn’t know this and attends the ball where their engagement will be announced along with all of nobility.
Only there, she meets the handsome and new Court Jester. She is immediately stricken by him, but Jest has a secret that he hasn’t told anyone. That isn’t their only concern though because the Kingdom of Hearts faces a series of attacks by a monster. And of course the childish King won’t, or rather cannot do anything. So Catherine and Jest step up to save Hearts, but can they save themselves?
Beloved characters from Alice in a Wonderland are also a part of the story, like the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. It could be slow at times but it is 464 pages so there was a long build up to the climax. I was however always engaged and interested in how things would end, because you kind of already know the ending. The Queen of Hearts is a well known villain today.
Major themes of fate, self-fulling prophecies, and forbidden love are at play that makes Heartless an absolute masterpiece. But the last 100 pages or so was so heartbreaking, I’m still unwell.
100% Heartless by Marissa Meyer is a 5 star fantasy retelling, I couldn’t forget this book or it’s characters!
