Heartless

Heartless

By Marissa Meyer

19 ratings 26 reviews 26 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 9 - 12Grades 3 - 6n/a5.6127167

The #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestseller that Gregory Maguire (Wicked and After Alice) calls "full of heart."

Long before she was the terror of Wonderland, she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.

Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.

In her first stand-alone teen novel, the New York Times-bestselling author dazzles us with a prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Publisher: Square Fish
ISBN-13: 9781250148186
ISBN-10: 1250148189
Published on 9/1/2018
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 480

Book Reviews (25)

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I was consumed by this book from the moment I opened it. I was so enthralled by the story, wishing that I could somehow be a part of this world, this romance, this story.. <3

Not quite as charming as Cinder, this book still has lots of fun twists and imaginings. For example, a boa constrictor performing a Heimlich maneuver. Kathy is charming and an excellent baker, but she does not want to marry the king. She loves the court Jester. Her parents are pushing her to accept the king's proposal. But will she?

"Off with his head," the first quote that we juxtapose next to the heartless Queen of Hearts, and the quote that the book ends in. She seems like a merciless sociopath, cutting off heads if the roses aren't red. The only reason? Because she's from Wonderland. And why is the Mad Hatter so mad? Because he's from Wonderland. At least, those are the only explanations that we allow ourselves to believe in. "Heartless" by Marissa Meyer explores the concepts of the nuanced grey scale of good and evil, and I think her theme is that all humans are fallible, and that no one person is to blame. Watch Catherine as she morphs from the starry-eyed girl who dreamed of impossibilities to one of the most iconic villains in literature history. Get strangled in Cath's constant struggles and get ready to get your heart wrenched out of your chest. Watch yourself become entangled in the constantly resetting wars in the Land of Chess, and watch even the most innocent nursery rhymes become a haunting tale to grab onto your nightmare until the end of Time. And most of all, come to understand why the Queen of Hearts would cut off heads for the sake of keeping her roses red. If you don't read this book, I guarantee you will miss out.

well. that pretty much sums up the book...

I love both Alice in Wonderland and Marissa Meyer's books (including the Lunar Chronicles series!) so I'll definitely be looking into this one!

I've read Marissa Meyer's previous series, Lunar Chronicles, and every one of the books in that series was outstanding. Marissa Meyer's literature skills were evident in all the books she had written. Unsurprisingly, I had high expectations of this book. The book did not fall short, but rather it exceeded my imagination though the amount of talent and thought put into this book. I must say, this was a unique story. I have never read anything like this, and the style that Marissa Meyer used was distinctive and refined. The plot was unlike anything I've ever known. Many books I have read in my lifetime fall along the same storyline with very little notable differences. Heartless, however, was written by a very creative author. You begin the book expecting "this to happen and that to happen ", but it isn't long before you begin to realize how wrong your predictions are. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and a nice twist to the classic Alice in the Wonderland.

Yes! I love the queen of hearts!