Heart on Fire

The finale of the Kingmaker Chronicles is action-packed and really puts our heroes to the test. Cat is pregnant, has unreliable magic, and is building an army to defeat her mother who is the most evil of evil villains.

Cat's main problem is that she doesn't have confidence in her magic. All the people around her see her as the embodiment of hope for a new better future but she has her doubts. Those doubts are magnified when she finds out how much the gods have interfered with her life and with Griffin's.

When Griffin's brother Piers calls a god to ask him to take her away from Griffin, she learns that her main protector when she was a child was actually Ares, the god of war. Of course, Piers's actions don't go quite as he thought. He show more missed the part of the scroll that said "call a god, lose a soul." Since Ares won't take a pregnant Cat, he has to choose between Griffin, who the gods want right where he is, and Kaia, his own innocent younger sister. Griffin sees Piers's actions as a major betrayal of him and his family. When Piers is sent off with Athena, Griffin is angry and betrayed and has his faith in his family tested.

That is only one test the Cat and Griffin have to deal with here. When searching for a potion to make her unreliable magic more reliable, she and Griffin run into her mother who is posing as the hermit and, when poisoning her fails, throws her into a volcano. Only the sudden appearance of wings she didn't know she had save her. However, those same wings fail her when she is sent to Tartarus by Zeus for trying to assume a gods powers. Cat needs to finally believe that she has what is necessary for her magic to work reliably before she can escape and get back to Griffin.

This was a great conclusion to a series that has been filled with action, adventure and romance from the very beginning. I like the worldbuilding and I really like the characters in this series. I love the relationship between Cat and Griffin. Fans of epic fantasy won't want to miss this series. show less

The third and final book in Amanda Bouchet’s Kingmaker Chronicles, HEART ON FIRE, comes out today. (January 2, 2018) Since it’s the series finale, it’s virtually impossible to write this review without spoilers for the previous books, but I am going to try my very darndest. To that end, I have composed a list of five things I think readers should know about HEART ON FIRE. Here goes.

The Women (and there are many) are Badass

If you put a book up to the Bechdel test, this would pass with flying colors. In addition to Selena (her healer friend from the circus) and Griffin’s sisters, Cat added another two women to her family in the second book, BREATH OF FIRE. Bellanca, a princess in her own right, is a fire mage and pretty much my show more favorite character in the series. She’s prickly and intense, never hesitating to call out her companions for their nonsense. She’s also a source of comic relief at times, often batting at her flaming hair or “accidentally” hitting Carver. Ianthe, Cat’s sister, is a water mage and possesses the same sort of compassionate strength that makes Cat so heroic. (She gets a bit of her own HEA and I would like their book now please and thank you.)

Then there’s Cat. She’s a bit of a Mary Sue, designed to be such, but also… not? In all three books, Cat messes up with surprising frequency. The number of times she nearly dies or is bleeding, broken, or otherwise impaired is impressive. Bouchet really puts her through it. As with the other novels in the series, this book is about Cat finding her strength. Not strength despite adversity, but because of it. In this novel, Bouchet gives us women to admire, to emulate, to want to be friends with.



Bouchet Amped Up the Godsauce

“Suzanne, what is godsauce? It sounds dirty.” Godsauce is my way of saying “crazysauce but with Greek gods.” Bouchet packed this book full, moreso than the previous two, of gods, goddesses, and mythical figures and places. I can’t give you too many details without spoiling the book, but let’s say you could draw a chart that shows godsauce and romance over time. As the series progresses, godsauce rises and romance decreases.



You May Miss the Romance

Which brings me to my next point - the romance is probably lacking if that’s what you’re after. While I appreciate that Bouchet shows Cat having a physical relationship with her husband and fighting her ass off while pregnant, there’s no denying that this is more of an epic fantasy novel and less of a fantasy romance. Cat and Griffin’s relationship was thoroughly solid early into Book 2, and I think I would have resented it if Bouchet continued to make them doubt each other. Their love and the strength they both take from that love is still a driving force, however. (And Bouchet gives us a couple of secondary romances as well!)



It’s Relentlessly Hopeful

If you ever need to read a story about strength and triumph over adversity, here’s a book for you. Cat’s put through just about every possible emotional and physical challenge and, through it, finds a path forward that works for her. It doesn’t have to make sense to the rest of the characters, but it’s the only way she can maintain her core values and also save Thalyria. Hope is such a strong characteristic of this book that I would have no problem describing it with just that single word. For example, this line:



“Compassion and ruthlessness have always danced around each other inside me like wary partners, but I know the music they spin to, and I’d rather have a heart to break than no heart at all.”



Matt Swore About the Ending (But I Didn’t)

Originally, Matt and I were going to do a joint review for this book, both of us offering our thoughts. However, he read the book start to finish as soon as he got his hands on it (months ago) and I chose to put it off and savor the last book in this brilliant series. The end result is that I’m writing this review with just my opinions, with one caveat - the ending. Matt wanted the ending to go a different way, cursing a bit about it. I had the opposite reaction. I was wondering how Bouchet could possibly reconcile the inevitable defeat of Cat’s mother (the Big Bad) with the recurring motifs of hope and goodness. I was quite happy with the way things turned out. show less

Not nearly as good as the first two books in this series. But, it wrapped up Cat and Griffin’s story reasonably well. They did what they set out to do and got their happily ever after-ish ending. It was a bittersweet ending, because of some of the events in the book. But I do hope certain things are addressed in any upcoming books. That thought is the only thing that’s keeping me from being completely heartbroken. Also, if we could get Carver and Bellanca, that would be great. Also, we HAVE to meet Little Bean. So there’s lots of future potential.

The one thing I do love about all the books is the relationship between Cat and Griffin. They had such a deep and solid love and you don’t have to worry about any cheating or break ups show more or anything like that. And any separations are definitely not voluntary. I like my couples to stick together no matter what happens.

Overall, this was a really fun series to read. The third book petered out to a bit of a fizzled ending. But overall it was a really good series. And just because of some of the loose ends, I am eagerly awaiting any future books. show less

I hate to say it but this was a bit of a disappointment. I really expected to love this book. I wanted to love this book. I didn't like this book nearly as much as the two previous books in the series. I thought it was okay and I am glad that I read it. This is the third book in the Kingmaker Chronicles and this review may contain spoilers from previous installments in the series.

My experience with this book goes back to when I first saw the cover. I immediately thought that it wasn't the real cover and someone had uploaded fan art or something to Goodreads. I kept checking to see when the real cover would be uploaded. Weeks went by. I decided to go to the author's website to see if she had the cover posted and discovered that what I show more was seeing was in fact the real cover. I was shocked. I think that the covers for the first two books are awesome. This one is not. I kind of hate this cover. I decided that it was just a cover and it was just a cover and I could ignore it and focus on what was in the book. I think it might have actually been some kind of sign.

Cat kind of drove me nuts in this book. I don't know why but she annoyed me. I didn't enjoy being in her head and I felt like this book spent a lot of time there. Cat is pregnant which puts everything in a new light. I understand how focused an expectant mother can be when it comes to her baby but all the talk of the little bean was too much for me.

Don't get me wrong...I did like the book. There were some pretty awesome scenes in this installment and I had no idea how Cat would get herself out of some of the situations she found herself in. There was some real excitement in the story and I was happy to see all of the characters that I have grown to love over the course of the series play a role. There were some pretty major revelations that really explained a lot.

I do recommend this series to others. This book does wrap up Cat and Griffin's story and has some great scenes. I did enjoy the two books leading up to this one a whole lot more but found this to be a satisfactory conclusion. I would not hesitate to read more from Amanda Bouchet in the future.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from Sourcebooks Casablanca via Edelweiss. show less

I really enjoyed this series and was really looking forward to the final book, but this one just felt flat to me. It was constant back and forth between Cat's powers working and not working, and the romance between Cat and Griffin just seemed to be there because it was expected at this point.

Then there was the stuff about Thalyria just being another realm, along with Attica (modern-day Earth) and Tartarus. It didn't really sit well with me, feeling too much like a sci-fi trope in what had been a great medieval-style fantasy until then.

Altogether I thought this book was a fine ending to a great series, but really nothing special.

A PROMISE OF FIRE reeled me in and BREATH OF FIRE kept me wanting more, but if HEART ON FIRE wasn't the last book in the trilogy I might not have picked up the next book.

One of the things that drew me to this series was Cat and her kick-ass attitude and way of doing things, but I actually found her to be whiny and annoying at most times throughout HEART ON FIRE. I honestly felt like I was reading about someone else, because this was not the Cat I fell in love with.

The plot, what the heck happened? Everything dragged so much that by the time it got to the meat of any situation I was just ready for it to end. We hardly see any of our favorite secondary characters as there is a lot of alone time with Griffin and Cat. In previous books, show more that might have been fine, but with HEART ON FIRE, I was just bored without them. Everything about HEART ON FIRE was off to me.

My final let down of the final book was the fact that that there is no HEA epilogue after all that has happened in this series. It was very disappointing to make it through the final book with it's issues and not even get that. I'm sad that a series with such a promising start, crashed and burned in the end.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

Heart on Fire concludes the Kingmaker Chronicles series by Amanda Bouchet

I was hooked on the Kingmaker Chronicles series from the moment I read the first page of A Promise of Fire and each additional book has been a delight. I’m sad to see it end and I’d love to see a spin-off, because their are so many wonderful characters that have potential to do their own stories.

Heart on Fire starts right where Breath of Fire ends. So their is no time wasted in getting us back into the story and the coming war to deiced the fate of the lands. We are taking on an adventure, full of heart-break, enlightenment, and hope.

The book opens us to a very heart-breaking moment of betrayal that changes the lives of the Sinta family. For Griffin family is show more everything and to have one of your own betray you. Well, that leaves an everlasting impress on everyone. Cat has grown as a character and in Heart on Fire she has several realizes and enlightened moments, where she realizes her destiny, and that she is the personification of Hope for everyone.

Their is a lot more talking then action in this installment. It slowed things down a little for me. Everything has been leading up to Cat’s destiny. War is coming and not everyone will survive the war. I will say the ending battle happened with very little fanfare. I’m spoiled with the Andrews team and how they write their battle scenes, so I was a bit let down with how the whole ending battle turned out. It wasn’t written bad. It just didn’t have all the action-packed battle I was hoping for. Thou we do get some action battle scenes earlier in the book.

I have loved the friendships made with all the secondary characters we meet. I’m hoping we get spin-offs for several of the secondary characters. Their are so many wonderful possibilities and story threads to explore with all of them. Some things where left open on the secondary characters, so it gives me hope we might be returning to the Kingmaker world.

Heart on Fire is packed full of adventure going from one situation to another with no chance of letting go. I couldn’t stop reading and just kept turning the pages to see what would happen next.

To wrap it up, Heart on Fire, was a splendid read and a nice conclusion. I’m happy to see Cat and Griffen have a good ending. The whole series has been entertaining, the friendships and romance have been pleasurable, and the new world created by Bouchet is marvelous. All of this combined together gives us a fantastic new fantasy romance.

Rated: 4 Stars

** You do need to read the Kingmaker Chronicles in order.

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