Heart on Fire (The Kingmaker Chronicles, 3)

***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***

Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet
Book Three of the Kingmaker Chronicles
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication Date: January 2, 2018
Rating: 2 stars
Source: eARC from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads):

Who is Catalia Fisa?

With the help of pivotal figures from her past, Cat begins to understand the root of her exceptional magic, her fated union with Griffin Sinta, and Griffin's role in shaping her destiny.

Only Cat holds the key to unlocking her own power, and that means finally accepting herself, her past, and her future in order to protect her loved ones, confront her murderous mother, and taking a final, terrifying step--reuniting all three realms and taking her place as the Queen of Thalyria.

What doesn't kill her will only make her stronger...we hope.

What I Liked:

Heart on Fire was not a fun ride for me. It wasn't all bad, but it definitely wasn't all good. I found myself more annoyed with the book than anything else, despite enjoying parts here and there. The book felt lackluster compared to the previous two books - in fact, I think it's safe to say that the series went straight downhill after book one. Book two was good but not as good as book one... book three lacked a lot of quality.

In this sequel novel, Cat and Griffin must defeat Cat's mother once and for all. But to do so, Cat must reach into her powers and control them, which she has yet to do. The kingdom of Thalyria is in her hands. If she can't find control, everything falls.

Things I liked... I enjoyed the romance. Griffin and Cat are a strong, solid pair, and this book proves that they are good for each other and good together. There are moments when Cat is afraid of how much the Gods interfered with their lives to direct their fates, but nothing ever comes between Griffin and Cat. I love how devoted they are to each other - it's absolutely not one-sided, not by far. Their trust and respect for each other really grows and strengthens in this book.

I adore Griffin, though he seemed to be a little one-dimensional in this book (i.e. only obsessed with Cat's safety and well-being). On the one hand, this is great theoretically... on the other hand, the man should have other priorities and interests. I love Griffin, with his strength, loyalty, and warrior/warlord overprotective, dominating nature, but I wish he had more to him besides being up Cat's a**. Boys today have hobbies like video games and sports. Griffin needs hobbies. I still love him. He's my favorite character of the series. But. One-dimensional.

The pacing of the story is good - I never got bored and I rolled right along to the end. I didn't necessarily like the story but I had no trouble getting through the book. So that's a plus! The author's writing has improved with each other. (I can't say the same about other things).

Cat is something I will talk about in the next section. I couldn't stand her. However, I will say that I'm glad she finally realized her potential and got over herself (girlfriend has been moping and wallowing for the entire series).

Hmmm, I thought there was more that I liked. I'll have to reconsider my rating. I didn't even really like the ending!

What I Did Not Like:

I could not staaaand Cat. I understand that the author was trying to portray her as feminist and strong and kickbutt and blah blah blah but Cat came across as very self-centered and self-involved in this book. Everything was about her, especially with the amount of wallowing and self-pitying she was doing. Throw in the fact that she is suuuuuper special on all fronts and we have a girl with a massive ego! Take it down a notch, sweetie! I don't like it when male protagonists have huge egos. I like it just as little when female protagonists have huge egos.

And on that note -- why is it that Cat has every single special power conceivable? She has the powers of the Gods, just because? How is it that she is so magical and powerful and a special snowflake? I didn't understand this - it seemed like a lot of deus ex machina. Cat had absolutely no flaws when it came to her abilities - abilities kept manifesting and manifesting and again, it seemed to be a lot of deus ex machina. I wasn't buying the whole "hard to kill" thing. I wasn't buying the "child of the Gods" thing. It seemed like a lot of luck and a free-for-all when it came to Cat claiming abilities left and right.

Back on the whole egoistical thing - please explain to me why Griffin was so wholly and utterly obsessed with Cat and only Cat. The man lived and breathed for her - I don't understand why? It was beyond obsession - I mean, he was literally created for her therefore he is her puppet? Like I said in the previous section, men tend to have hobbies... why is Griffin only focused on Cat? Isn't he the one conquering realms, leading his (royal) family, etc.? He seemed so one-dimensional because his priority was only Cat, and that to me is FAKE. Not sexy.

Seguing into my next complaint - WHY is Cat the queen of Thalyria and HOW is she such. I don't understand. She literally does N O T H I N G for Thalyria (other than face her mother three times in the book and hesitating every single time and letting her mother the evil witch escape every time). Everyone else fights for Thalyria, dies for Thalyria, goes to the ends of the earth for Thalyria, but Cat... Cat lets everyone do the work for her. Instead, she drags Griffin on some merry quest to find a magic potion that will magic help her control her powers... meanwhile her powers are utter crap and when they find the potion, it doesn't work (you'll see what I mean). Cat. Is. Useless. The author elevated Cat to Queen (and put her over Griffin even though he is King) because that's the ~feminist~ way to write fiction these days -- bulls**t. Cat has no experience being a royal and no business being a queen. She. Is. Useless.

Let me repeat: U S E L E S S.

The author has YET to address Kato's trauma from book two! Helloooo, the man went through rape and we don't see any kind of PTSD or lasting emotional or mental impacts? Did he just magically forget about the experience? There is no mention of it, and Kato pretty goes about his business as usual. This is TERRIBLE storytelling. You can't put a fairly "main" character through some serious trauma and NOT ADDRESS IT.

The ending was awful! It was one of those endings in which the war is over and la dee dah, the book is over! Everyone lives happily ever after! Never mind that they are uniting three realms, which is ALWAYS very peaceful and happy. Sure, Jan.

This book was a mess.

Would I Recommend It:

I actually do not recommend this book. I mean, don't leave the series hanging, if you've read books one and two. If you've only read book one, I would recommend stopping there. Book one is the best of the series. Book two is okay but not amazing. Book three is crap and a big mess. Of course, these are my opinions. I'm pretty upset that the series is concluding badly (for me), with this mess of a book. There was a distinct lack of quality, and I think that comes from a lack of experience and a desperate needs to force a "feminist" character with feminist themes into the book. Instead we have a Mary Sue that gets all the credit but does no work.

Rating:

2.5 stars -> rounded down to 2 stars. I tried! I really did. This series had so much potential. Now I'm glad I didn't preorder the book because I would have surely cancelled the preorder. I'm not sure I'll read anything by this author again - maybe? Maybe not.

Was anyone else just as disappointed as I was about this third book? I loved the first two books. I re-read them multiple times just to get my Cat-Griffin-Beta Team fix while waiting on this third book to come out. I loved Cat in the first two installments. She was fierce, snarky, fearless and didn't take BS from anyone. What happened to her in book 3? I felt like she the Cat I knew was nowhere to be found. In book three she complained all the time, froze up when facing her mother, whined about not being able to access her magic. PATHETIC. I was so annoyed I almost did not finish the book. Over half the book was Cat complaining about how she couldn't access her magic to defeat her mother and complaining to the Gods that nobody would show her how to access it. I also felt like this book was rushed when writing. I mean there's big bad Alpha Fisa we were all scared of in books 1-2 and all of a sudden in book 3 she gets taken down in one chapter. Really?!?!? And what happened to Kato?!?! There are so many loose ends and I felt like Amanda rushed through the ending. I'll go back and read books 1-2 to get my Beta Team fix. They definitely deserve 5 stars. Only finished this book to get some sort of closure, however small it may be.

Catalia Fisa has much to accomplish in this adrenaline-charged, emotionally rich and sometimes heartrending, roller coaster conclusion to The Kingmaker Chronicles, HEART ON FIRE. Cat faces fierce battles, not all of which are physical, a challenging quest, and finds herself thrown into one particularly dark and difficult ordeal. Together, Cat and Griffin are forging a new world between the three previously separate and often warring provinces of Tarva, Sinta, and Fisa. Cat’s greatest struggles result not only from her seriously evil and vicious mother’s actions, but her own fears and lack of confidence. Cat desperately needs to figure how to use her frustratingly erratic God-given powers which will enable her to be triumphant. Her path to victory comes with many hard choices. In Cat’s realm, doing what is right and honorable is rarely easy and often dangerous. She has the perfect man at her side in Griffin whose love and confidence helps Cat become everything she is meant to be. With his unconditional love and unwavering support, Griffin shows Cat no matter where the journey takes her, he will be there. Her own worries and self-doubt are perhaps the truest enemy if not the most tangible one. Cat sees herself as too damaged to be the queen she is destined to be. Griffin's love and support empowers Cat to overcome self-loathing and crippling uncertainty giving her the strength to take wing and fly.

By embracing her true purpose instead of fleeing it, Cat becomes the embodiment of “Elpis” which means hope; her destiny is to unite Thalyria. She wants the people to see life can be good when lived with joy and peace rather than brutality, neglect, and the abuse they have known. Cat must convince herself though as well that the Gods are on her side. However, the Gods are often far from benevolent; Cat finds their interactions less than helpful and frequently maddening. The capricious meddling Gods have quite a few surprises, not all of them pleasant, in their plans for her and Griffin. Cat’s family, those who are blood and ones claimed as such, also figure greatly into this epic tale. The harder Cat fights, the more her mother, Andromeda, unleashes her immense abilities as Cat’s most powerful and painful enemy. Soon to become a mother herself, Cat has even more reason to fight with every fiber of her being to establish a new world order.

Cat embodies my favorite kind of fantasy heroine. I love the combination of her courage, strength, stubbornness, and self-sacrificing loyalty thrown together with a little bit of crazy, but laced with humor to lighten a very heavy load. Cat never gives up or loses hope though she may falter in the darkest places. I thoroughly enjoyed this exceedingly well done book. Truthfully, there are some very painful places further demonstrating Amanda Bouchet’s skills as a writer who can elicit all variety of emotions from readers taking them on a journey to places of deep joy interwoven with heartbreaking agony, and other equally intense feelings along the way. The world and characters Amanda Bouchet has created hit all the right marks of action, adventure, and romance. It is such a pleasure to read a very satisfying and well-wrought end to this most enjoyable trilogy. I am left thinking about the characters long after the story has ended and longing for more. I can think of no higher compliment.

I LOVED this series!

I was really looking forward to this book. I liked the first two books in the series very much. This one did not meet my expectations. It was slow and the pacing was off. The book starts off in an exciting way but then slows down considerably and doesn't really seem to pick the pace back up. And at times it feels repetitive. The heroine spent a lot time wallowing in self-pity and that seemed out of character for her and was frustrating/annoying to read. There were scenes that I did really like which is why I'm rating this a 3 and not a 2.

The final novel in the series, narrated by Cat.
Cat strongly reminded me of the title character: Xena Warrior Princess.
A big flaw, the action and story line seems repetitive.

Phenomenal series! Great writing with witty repartee between characters. As good as Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series.

I am a little frustrated with this book. The first two were great. This one felt rushed. The ending was very to the point. It had almost 100 pages less than the other two books. Stop reading my review now if you want to avoid spoilers.

Sort of spoiler alert:
What happened to Kato!?!? I’m guessing he went straight to the Elysian Fields but it doesn’t make any sense what-so-ever that his body disappeared. Griffin should have been able to burry him. What’s up with that?

Also, why make such a big deal out of saving Prometheus if you’re not even going to use him in the end battle between Cat and her mother? It felt like a big lead up to absolutely nothing. I didn’t mind the lack of detail in the first book or the second book but the lack of detail in this book was astonishing and not in a good way.

I was so excited about this book, I accidentally pre-ordered two! It didn't disappoint. Great action, steamy romance, and compelling characters! Bouchet is my new favorite author, and I can't wait for her next book. She's an auto-buy, a must-read, and an author I will follow into any genre!

I thought this was an emotional, satisfying, and beautiful end to an amazing series. I'm envious of anyone who reads these books for the first time.