Heartless Hunter | Review

Heartless Hunter Published by Wednesday Books by Kristen Ciccarelli
Series: Crimson Moth #1
on February 20, 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Enemies-To-Lovers, YA, Witches
Pages: 416
Source: Publisher
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

ISBN: 1250866901
Rating:

A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history.
On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe - a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution - who she can't help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch...is falling in love.

This was my first read by this author and I instantly connected to the way she writes. It’s YA, so it’s all very easy to read. But even for YA, I felt that Ciccarelli’s very good at writing a story with both well-written plot and character development. It’s not always easy to do both.

Heartless Hunter was darker story about a man who hunts witches believing they’re all evil and a young woman, who saves her fellow witches, knowing they’re not all the evil that everyone believes them to be.

There was once a time when witch queens reigned and witches roamed freely; feared and revered all at the same time. However, after an uprising against the witch queens, there are new rules. The most basic: All witches, and their sympathizers, must be captured and killed.

For Rune, this started with the murder of someone close to her. And now she takes it upon herself to free those witches that are captured by witch hunter, Gideon.

Oh but things aren’t so simple. Rune, in her quest to find a missing witch, decides to get closer to Gideon to garner information. And this is where things get tricky. The two of them don’t always fully trust each other but that doesn’t mean that feelings don’t start to form.

I really enjoyed the build up of Rune and Gideon’s relationship and each of them being confronted with opposing viewpoints. Each of their prejudices are challenged by the other and it forces the two to grow, evolve. However, because this is a series, there’s quite the cliffy at the end and it served to leave me completely wanting more of their story.

The magic system was original and one of the things I liked most about the story. The characters are grey–just how I like them. I can’t wait to continue on with Rune and Gideon.

 

 

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