The Deceiver’s Heart, by Jennifer A. Neilsen (Book 2 of The Traitor’s Game Trilogy Review)

 

“No one should have to hurt alone.”

Now being in possession of the Olden Blade, Kestra attempts to destroy the powerful Lord Endrick. But when Kestra fails and is captured, the king uses his magic to strip Kestra of her memory, turning her into a Iornheart. Simon is desperate to return Kestra back to her old self, but doesn’t believe magic if the right way about it. As Simon tries to restore trust with Kestra, war looms on the horizon, and peace is desperately needed. But can it be found before it’s too late?

“You’re my first thought when I wake and you follow me into my dreams at night.”

                                                               

Immediate thoughts on this book? *Cringy laughter* I have very mixed feelings on this book. When you read a series, you’re hoping the second book will make the first book even better. That’s what I loved so much with The Hunger Games series, that honestly the second and third books were my favorites. I wanna like this book so bad, but at the same time—I feel like the first book was really good and this book added some good parts, but also just some that we’re just unnecessary. 

Let me elaborate—for instance, I get the whole memory loss plot with Kestra, that was what the whole main plot pick up off of. And trying to overcome the darkness, bring trust into the plot, all solid things. But why didn’t Jennifer Nielsen have to make more come between the main characters? *Cries* the added love triangle? I still like Simon a lot in this book, but I wish Kestra pulled the good out of him that I’m sure could have been there if the author did it differently.

I honestly think that Neilsen could have ended the series with this book, wrapping up everything at the end. Her endings in this series are such cliffhanger hangers! This whole book was just her leading up to the ending, but then ending it there for the next book. I’m honestly unsure what else Neilsen is going to add in the third, so I am hoping that it will round everything off nicely. 

Other than that, the plot was pretty good actually, I liked the plot twists quite a bit. The whole world that Jennifer Neilsen put together in this series is so unique, and it was a very fantastical, dystopian kinda world that just kept you on your toes. I found myself through out the day trying to figure out what plot twists might happen, and wondering what crazy thing was going to happen next.

As my friend says, “It’s raining, your bored, your tired and you just want to read the cheesiest romance possible,” then you’ll love the cringe moments in this book that I loved. 

“I feel so much more for you than simply caring.”

Rating, you ask? I’d give this book an easy 6–10, possibly a 7–10. It was a decent book, but I wish it improved apron the first one. I’d recommend it as a YA novel, being similar to the first one.

I was hoping the second would make the first better—you can’t win them all. It was an averagely okay book, but it just didn’t make one of my favorites. 

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