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booksaremyadventures · 2 years

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Series Reivew: The Remnant Chronicles

The Remnant Chronicles, by Mary E Pearson, follows Princess Lia who is determined to make her own destiny when she ditches her arranged marriage ceremony to start a new life of her own. With her best friend/lady maid in tow, Lia sets off to a new town ready to lay low and build a regular life. Two males, her jilted prince and an assassin sent to stop the marriage, work to track her down while keeping their identities secret. Cue a mysterious love triangle while you (the reader) work to puzzle out who is who in a multi-POV trilogy!

I really enjoyed Mary E Pearson's writing style, but I do think the love triangle in this trilogy falls a bit short. Fear not, this is not a back-and-forth bounce between love interest story. I was just hoping for a bit more in the conclusion (maybe I also liked the other guy better 😉). Each book takes place in a different location, so the world building is pretty good. I would not call this an epic fantasy and the magical elements are minimal, but I still think it’s a great and entertaining series, especially if you enjoy snarky dialogue!

Strong female characters ✅

Character development ✅

Multiple points of view ✅

DO NOT BE LIKE ME - Read this series first before enjoying Dance of Thieves (which I think is better). Even though the two series follow different leads, characters from The Remnant Chronicles are in DOT.

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bigbookslilreads · 5 years

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Review - The Heart of Betrayal

The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson (The Remnant Chronicles #2)

Publication date: 2015 Read by me: March 31st and April 1st 2019 (I’m a binge reader, I found...) Full review on Goodreads. Recommended to: fans of dark fantasy, slight dystopia, royalty, political intrigue, strong female characters, character-based novels, love triangles, sanctified characters. Rating: 4 stars.

Link to other entries in the series:

Morrighan (The Remnant Chronicles #0.5)

The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles #1)

The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles #3)

Blurb (from Goodreads):

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen. Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country... and her own destiny.

What I liked

Exploration of heavy themes, namely captivity, harassment, emotional manipulation, violence against children, poverty... This was a lot heavier book than the first one, and I appreciated it for that. It felt like the stakes were high and it got me to connect with the characters a lot more.

Political intrigue, a lot more explore in this book also! Contrary to the first book, this one is set in a ‘court’, in the epicentre of power of Venda, and the characters are playing a very dangerous game throughout. We also get a lot more set up about what is happening in the other countries in the meantime and/or as a consequence of the events in Venda. Manipulation and secrets abound, and I loved it.

Character development, which we get SO MUCH. I especially liked Lia and Kaden’s development. Lia no longer seems to hold on to a certain innocence she had in the first book. She becomes very hardened in this book, mostly because she is forced to put on masks in order to protect those she cares about. It is great seeing her use her “soft power” for this as well, and not just stick everyone with the pointy end of a dagger like most strong female characters out there. But really... My fave was Kaden in this entire book. There was a lot more scenes with him and his past is more fleshed out, making me fall in love with him, truly. I think he is a lot more interesting at this point than any other character.

Plot and tension, all the intrigue and the what ifs in this story, even if slow-paced, kept me at the edge of my seat! I don’t know how that is possible, but there. I was just thinking “how are they going to get out of this one” the whole time, and kept it interesting.

Surprising twists, there were a lot of things I DID NOT see coming. Only as the story progressed was I thinking, omg, that was what that was? WOW, makes sense.

Gut-punching ending, which made me weep for all the characters, honestly. If I didn’t have the next book I don’t know how I would survive, because this made me depressed for days. I’m still recovering. But don’t let that thwart you, it’s just very emotional and well-done (sad, though, too).

What I didn’t like

Clear parallels to other YA books, especially with some characters. The Komizar reminded me of a bad version of the Darkling, and Lia in this one had a similar progression to Alina in Siege and Storm. I think it’s normal for inspiration to be drawn from other works, but here the parallel seemed a bit too great.

Confusing twists or plot-lines. I mentioned some were surprising and well-done, yes, but there was a particular plot point in the story that I felt was rushed and contradicted even something in the first book. I will just say that it relates to the catacombs of the Sanctum. Lia was connecting things far faster than me, and I think it should’ve been explained better.

What I took from it

Finding your place in the world and discovery of the self, something that Lia is figuring out in this book the most. She is thrown into a place so remote, that she had hardly ever learned about, and she is finding people that seemed so foreign to her had a lot more in common to her, and even a lot more to teach her about her past. She grows from that, and she develops a part of herself that she has suppressed for a long time.

Protecting the oppressed, but not using that as an excuse to oppress others. The whole story of Venda vs Morrighan and Dalbreck really sustains that. It’s what made the story so gray at times, because you see that Venda deserves more, but in that world that would mean getting it through more violence. So, what to do?...

Getting what you need, not what you want, and having the patience to get it. Lia, Rafe and Kaden are especially confronted with this idea, trying to adjust to a dangerous setting where any move they make can result in someone’s death. They had to overcome that, and it really shaped their characters in this book. Makes me so excited for the next one.

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