Book Review: Heartless

Review By Marianne

Title: Heartless, Book 1 in The Goldstone Wood Series

Author: Anne Elizabeth Stengl

Rating: 5/5
Age Recommendation: 10+

Plot:  Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and her mind is filled with daydreams of romantic suitors come to pay their respects (which, according to Una means, "to investigate marriage possibilities with the resident princess.") Soon Prince Aethelbald of Farthestshore comes to her kingdom and proclaims his love for her. The only problem with this is, he is not nearly as exiting, romantic and dashing as she had hoped. She instead, is interested in another prince who better meets her ideals, and refuses to pay heed to Aethelbald's warnings of a perilous monster on its way to her kingdom. She sees no fault in ignoring Aethelbald and his news of a coming threat, until it is far too late.

This. Book. Is. Awesome. That's the only way to describe it. AWESOME! I absolutely adored every part of it! Elinor enjoyed as well and you can read her review HERE! The plot to this book was very interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat! There weren't any dry and boring parts to this book and every moment was absolutely marvelous!

Characters: My favorite character would have to be Aethelbald (duh!) But Una's little brother, Felix was very cool too! The "perilous monster" was... how shall I put this? Extremely creepy but, I wanted to learn more about him at the same time you know? Altogether, the characters in this book are some of the best developed and easy to connect to that I have ever read about!

Emotion: There were so many! Most of the time the kingdom of Parumvir had a cheerful and sweet feeling, but there was a point when it was very dark and hopeless. I don't want to give to much away, but you know that scenario where you're in this building and the Bad Guy is somewhere there too but you don't know where, and you have two choices, leave the room you're in and try to get out, but face the fear of running right into him, or stay put and wait for him to find you? Yeah, that is depicted very well in this book. And that scenario is like, the Ultimate Nightmare for me. But I loved that scene too! I'm kind of weird like that.

My Thoughts: Overall, this is an amazing book and if you haven't read it, you're really missing out. It has that really cool fantasy feeling, but it is also kind of your classic knight in shining armor type thing as well! There was nothing inappropriate in this book, but just because of the genre and reading level, I would recommend it to mainly a 12+ audience. It's totally worth reading and I am SO exited to read the rest of The Goldstone Wood series! 

Favorite Quote:

" 'I am here.' Aethelbald stepped in the room. His clothing was worn and burned, his face lined with care. 'I have come for my sword.' "