[Review] 'Heart of Mist' by Helen Scheuerer
"She was a whirlwind, as fluid as water, moving through a deadly dance only decades of training could have honed."
"You need to learn that every flaw you think you have can be used to an advantage."
"It's easy enough to take a life. The hard part is living with it afterwards."
Heart of mist is a beautiful and unique fantasy story with dazzling twists and heart racing-turns. It is a story of warriors and queens, fighting for what they believe in. A fight against evil at a heart-racing pace.
SYNOPSIS:
In a realm where toxic mist sweeps the lands and magic is forbidden, all Bleak wants is a cure for her power. Still grieving the death of her guardian and dangerously self-medicating with alcohol, Bleak is snatched from her home by the Commander of the King’s Army, and summoned to the capital. But the king isn’t the only one interested in Bleak’s powers. The leader of an infamous society of warriors, the Valia Kindred, lays claim to her as well, and Bleak finds herself in the middle of a much bigger battle than she anticipated. Heart of Mist is the gripping first book in The Oremere Chronicles, a fantasy series of epic proportions.
From the very first chapter, Heart of Mist grasped me and pulled me into its dark world of warrior queens and tyrannical kings. There are many secrets twining together, questions you want answers to. It is this that makes you want to read on. This world is dark yet beautiful, described so well it paints clear pictures in your mind. And the characters, all complex, carry deep pasts and many secrets.
Besides this rich world of magic and mischief, I also absolutely love Helen's writing. It is dazzlingly beautiful and has a way of pouring into me, displaying each and every scene clearly in my mind.
As you get further into the story you peel more and more layers of each off each character, getting to know their secrets, their pasts, the things that shaped them to become the person they are now. You slowly come to care for them and understand the reasons for their behavior and actions. It is so perfectly entwined into the whole story that it comes at you naturally, at the right time.
I myself am a sucker not only for badass female warriors but also for great character development. And this book has both. Each and every character undergoes a great, well crafted, development. It changes the way you feel about them. You start by disliking some of the characters because you do not agree with their actions and then as you get to know them better and watch them grown, that opinion changes and you start to grow fond of them. I personally love it when my view of a character changes because of how they change. They grow stronger, less ignorant, more open to what is happening if the world. They stop turning a blind eye and decide to fight rather than watch from the sidelines.
Also, I feel the need to address this because I was so happy to discover that Helen included a blind character in her novels and a badass one at that. I have never before read a book that includes a blind character and I'm all for representation so this was an amazing surprise. I am so happy that she decided to include this as this does not happen often.
Now that the world is shaped and we have met the characters. A whole world of potential and possibilities opens up for the next book. I'm super excited to read Reign of mist and watch these character grow even stronger. I'm excited to watch the politics unfold and the worlds come together. I'm ready for some super intense battle scenes.
to sum it up for you, you will love Heart of Mist if you like:
- Badass female characters, (warrior queens, headstrong girls,...)
- Lgbt romance
- amazing magic
- Representation of different races, disabilities, addiction
- A dazzling and unique world
- Great character development
- Cliffhangers
- Beautiful writing
Heart of Mist is a book that you do not want to miss out on and will definitely want to add to your tbr.
Reign of Mist comes out September 13th!