Review: Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers

Release date: November 4, 2014
Author info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 444
Format: ARC
Source: Publisher provided for review
Buy the book: Barnes & Noble | Amazon | The Book Depository

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... 

What a great way to end a wonderful series! While Sybella's story will always probably be my favorite, Annith's was a great way to finish out the trilogy. Not only does the overarching story come to a satisfying close, but Annith was such an interesting character to follow.

While Mortal Heart is slow in action--but for bits and pieces here and there--and relies a little more on machinations, it's never boring. It took me a while to read, but it's one of those books I wanted to savor--though I flew through the last hundred pages, desperate to see how everything would work out. It's actually really hard to talk about this one, because there are some really big reveals that I wouldn't dare spoil (one in particular I didn't see coming in the least!).

But, needless to say, Mortal Heart gives you everything that was great about the first two books in another heaping serving, especially the romance. I loved what Robin LaFevers did with this, and it felt so fitting to Annith and how she grew up. (Plus, there's quite a bit of Ismae and Sybella--meaning Duval and Beast, too!)

Like I said, it's hard not to spoil, and to spoil would ruin the book for you. However, if you've started this series, you know it's good, so you need to finish. Obviously. If you haven't, you're being silly and you should! While Dark Triumph is my favorite of the series, there's not a weak link in the three.

About the author:

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. You can learn more about those books at www.rllafevers.com.