Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Narrator: Jennifer Grace
Series: His Fair Assassin #3
Published by Recorded Books on November 4, 2014
Genres: Fantasy
Length: 17 hours, 53 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble
In the powerful conclusion to Robin LaFever's New York Times best-selling His Fair Assassins trilogy, Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own. She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind, doesn’t mean she has.
Read It, Rate It and Record
A short review to update challenges
Robin recommended this His Fair Assassin series to me for assassins and she also just reviewed Courting Darkness, which is the first in the related series. I loved Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph which I was able to get at my library through RBDigital. Oddly, Dark Triumph, is the only one in the Audible Romance package. (I don’t have it).
Mortal Heart is the third in the original trilogy set in Brittany. I didn’t feel we knew Annith really well until her story. Parts felt predictable, since she had always been the “good girl” it wasn’t surprisingly she would need to rebel to find her way in life. I didn’t expect the far-reaching consequences of her choices or how everything had some connections though. I was thrilled to see Ismae and Sybella again, along with many others.
I enjoyed Annith’s emotional progression but thought she was kind of slow to figure out some things. The battle strategies are always exciting to me.
The overall trilogy arc about the war between Brittany and France concludes here. The Courting Darkness Duology, set in France, continues the overall journey, paralleling the real life story of Anne of Brittany. The second in the duology, as yet untitled, is expected in 2020. I can’t wait.
Narration:
This narrator was new to me but very enjoyable and she felt well-suited to the primary character, Sybella. Most of the story is from her point-of-view so the consciousness is her thoughts. The other voices, both male and female, felt right and each was distinct. I settled in to 1.5x speed comfortably. I am excited to see she also narrates the new Courting Darkness, which also features Sybella.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Robin LaFevers
Robin LaFevers was raised on a steady diet of fairy tales, Bulfinch’s mythology, and 19th century poetry. It is not surprising she grew up to be a hopeless romantic.
Though she has never trained as an assassin or joined a convent, she did attend Catholic school for three years, which instilled in her a deep fascination with sacred rituals and the concept of the Divine. She has been on a search for answers to life’s mysteries ever since.
While many of those answers still elude her, she was lucky enough to find her one true love, and is living happily ever after with him in the foothills of southern California.
In addition to writing about teen assassin nuns in medieval Brittany, she writes books for middle grade readers, including the Theodosia books and the Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist series.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2019 Audiobooks
- 2019 Library-Love
- BTB 2019
Nice review!
Thanks I am really enjoying the series much more than expected for a fantasy series but Robin loved it. Women with weapons!
Now this is the one I own but haven’t read. Reviews early weren’t good, and I got nervous and shoved it to the bottom of my tbr pile. While it doesn’t sound nearly as good as the first two, it doesn’t sound bad either. I will bump it back up.
I get that. I would agree the first two were better but I liked this one. It really ties up a bunch of things. Things I wanted to know. Annith’s own story, well I didn’t like her at the beginning so much as she seemed a bit selfish but then I found that wasn’t it, but more about learning about herself and making her way in the world. I’ll be interested to see what you think.
This sounds like such an engaging and unique fantasy series, Anne! Wonderful review!
Thanks! I really loved this trilogy. I’ll move on to the next duology in the same world when I get a chance.
I love books set in places I have actually been to so thank you for mentioning this series on my Vannes post. I’ve got the first book now on my Amazon wishlist 🙂
I was SO excited with your post because it was all the places I was reading. The stories follow history but of course are fiction with romance themes but I loved them so much.
I’m glad you are enjoying the series so far Anne. I’m very interested in what you think of the Duology following this. Especially since this series is more fresh in your head.
Thanks again for recommending them. I like the tie to actual history. But most of all I like strong women.