Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Fair
Recommended: Maybe
Level: High School

This is yet another book I felt rather "Meh" about, but I think that's mostly due to the fact that I jumped in without reading the first book. In my defense, I picked this book because it looked interesting, and it's part of my list for ROYAL. I had no idea it was a sequel until I actually started reading. The characters are a bit dull, and I don't really have any particular connection to them, and there's no map connecting me to the many random locations mentioned by characters in passing (one of my biggest pet peeves when reading fantasy). It wasn't horrible or offensive, but it certainly wasn't my cup of tea.

The Deceiver's Heart continues the story of young Kestra Dallisor, who recently discovered that her entire life has been a lie. Her father, Sir Henry, is not actually her father, and her real father perished trying to protect her. She has found herself not only entangled in a dangerous rebellion against the cruel Lord Endrick, but at the literal heart of it, as the Infidante. The Infidante, with the assistance of the Olden Blade, is destined to end Lord Endrick's reign of terror by killing him, but things go terribly wrong when Kestra attempts to do so. After having her memories wiped, Lord Endrick equips Kestra with a necklace that will record everything she sees and hears, sending her back into the heart of the rebellion. There, she reunites with her devastated former lover Simon, who is determined to find a way to restore her memories and help her fulfill her destiny. It is then up to Kestra to decide what is real... and what has been planted into her brain before it's too late.

I spent far more of this book than was comfortable extremely confused, and the rest of the time bored and uninvested in the characters. In all fairness, this isn't entirely Nielsen's fault, as I didn't have time to read the first book before tackling this one. The plot and intricacies of the politics in this universe might've made a lot more sense to me if I had. Unfortunately, however, I had to work with what I was given in this book, which was not a lot. From what I gathered,there are quite a few different races of people battling for power in this series. There are the Dallisors (the wealthy elite currently in power), the Halderians, and the Coracks, as well the Brillians, another group that has nearly gone extinct. Kestra once believed herself to be a Dallisor, but due to the events of the first book, has realized that she is half Halderian and a powerful being known as the Infidante. During the first book, she developed a romance with a Halderian named Simon, who was named the heir to the Halderian throne by the previous king, but refuses to claim the title. Magic also exists in this universe, but is feared due to its ability to corrupt whoever possesses it. Everything else in this book was either too confusing to piece together, or I wasn't invested enough to put forth any effort to understand it.

My biggest problem with this book is the character development, or lack thereof. Kestra strikes me as being rather annoying, petulant, and whiny, but I have only gotten to know her as someone whose true memories have been erased. From what I gathered about her former personality, however, she seems like a bit of a Mary Sue, fierce and smart and nearly devoid of any real flaws. Her romance with Simon felt very forced, and the romance later becomes an even more forced triangle when a third party enters the fold. It seems like characters fall in love as if they're in a Disney movie, with no real connection or chemistry. Though this is very petty of me, I was also annoyed with the fact that the male lead's name is Simon, when almost everyone else gets a cool fantasy name (Kestra, Wynnow, Imri, etc.). Simon sounds too much like the name of a modern teenager, and his name took me out of the fantasy setting a little bit.

Another thing that bothered me, and this is entirely my fault, is that I didn't feel invested in any of these characters. I didn't know any of them that well, and they weren't really re-established in any real way. I found myself spacing out a little bit while reading, not really caring who would live, who would die, and who would come out on top in the end. I also had no idea what was going on half the time, as characters would reference people, places, and events that I had never heard of. To add to my misery, there wasn't a map in the front of the book, meaning I couldn't even orient myself with the geography of this world. As I mentioned before, this is one of my pet peeves, especially when characters name drop random locations constantly throughout the story.

While I do think there is an audience for this book, it didn't really speak to me on any level. I could chock this up to the fact that I've simply read too much YA, as I now recognize almost every trope and over-used cliche. This one has it all, from the forced romance to the "chosen one" narrative I've heard a million times. While these themes can be done well if enough care is taken to subvert or play with them, this one falls flat for me because there really isn't much substance. Again, I've read so much YA that it genuinely feels like I've already read this book, leaving me with nothing to be excited or surprised by in the end.

I'm obviously not the intended audience for this book, but I can think of many other series that do the same things this one does, only better. I might recommend this series to someone who enjoys fantasy and romance, as it has both. but if they're like me and have read everything under the sun, this series won't do much for them. As I said before, it's not badly written, and there's nothing overly problematic or offensive about it, it's just predictable and a little dull. In all fairness, my opinion might have been different if I'd read the first book beforehand, but as it stands I had very little time to get attached to the characters or stories in this book. I've heard great things about Jennifer Nielsen, so I'd be willing to give her other work a chance, but this series is likely to go right into my "I forgot I even read that" pile, as it's pretty forgettable and underwhelming. ( )

Now firmly on the side of the Coracks, sixteen-year-old Kestra Dallisor plans to use the magic Olden Blade to kill the evil Lord Endrick, but when she fails, Endrick turns her into one of his Ironheart soldiers, without any memory of her rebellion, and bound to obey him, his spy within the Coracks; the rebel Simon is desperate to return her to the Kestra he loves, but he is reluctant to use the magic that might heal (or destroy) her--and neither Simon or Kestra is sure who they can trust among the rebels, because the whole rebellion is endangered by its increasingly murky politics. ( )