Review: The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson

The Remnant Chronicles #2

Publisher: Henry Holt

Publication Date: July 7, 2015

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Purchase

Pages: 470

Summary (from the back of the book):

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country...and her own destiny.

Ahhh! This series is so good! I really enjoyed this book! Not quite as much as the first one, but it was still really good.

Lia and Rafe are prisoners of the Komizar that come to live among the Vendans at least until they outlive their usefulness. They are both weaving lies to stay alive until Rafe's band of four soldiers can figure out a plan to break them out of Venda.

It really doesn't feel like a whole terrible lot actually happens in this book. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. You get to see a lot of Venda and their culture and hardships and you see that maybe they're not quite as barbaric as everyone had always thought they were. Lia builds unexpected relationships with some of the Vendans who see her as some kind of divine sign from the gods because of her gift. She really catches their interest. 

Something bad is brewing in Venda. All the patrols they have going out and slaughtering whole groups of soldiers from the other kingdoms are just the beginning of what the Komizar has planned for Morrighan.

I still just love Lia. She's smart and sassy and brave and just awesome! She tries to do everything she can to keep Rafe safe from the Komizar. She grows to care for some of the people of Venda even though she was always told such horrifying stories about them. She is forced to make some pretty tough choices, but she's really strong so she can handle it.

Rafe is still pretty much perfect.

I liked Kaden a little bit more in this one than the first one, but just a little bit. I feel like he gets kinda butt hurt that he can't make Lia feel about him what he feels about her. But he still does a lot to keep her safe so he's not all bad. You learn a lot more about his background and where he came from and how he ended up as Venda's Assassin.

The Komizar is pretty awful. All he cares about is his power and how he can get more of it. There were some parts where it seemed like he was trying to not be so awful, but no, he was just plain awful. When you learn about his past, he doesn't seem like he should be soooo bad, but all that power must have gone to his head.

The secondary characters that you meet in this book are pretty great as well.

The romance... For a little bit, I kinda felt like Kaden was being pushed at me more and maybe that love triangle was making a comeback, but that was not the case. Rafe is still the one. I hated that Lia and Rafe pretty much had to pretend to hate each other in front of everyone, but I liked that they both understood that it was all a show for the Komizar and the rest of the important Vendans. It kind of seemed to spark a bit of rage within them at first, but they knew they loved each other and and no matter what awful little lie they had to tell the Vendans that they would be fine. I hate when this happens in books and they take it all personally and get all offended when it's CLEARLY being done in the best interest of one of the characters, but they just can't see it. If that makes any sense? Anyways, I also liked the moments they manage to be alone together in the Sanctum. There better be a lot more Lia/Rafe love going on in the last book!

Overall, this book was wonderful. If you haven't read this series yet, what are you waiting for?! I will be slowly dying as I wait for the next book now. Because fit is going to hit. The. Shan. I don't see how anything really good can happen for Lia in the next book after the events of this one! It seems like everyone who was ever on her side in Morrighan is not going to be anymore and ugh, I just need to know how that all works out!!