Sixteen-year-old Ember Williams has seen firsthand the damage the Red Court can do. Two years ago, they caused the accident that left her older sister paralyzed. Now, Ember is determined to hold them accountable...by taking the Red Court down from the inside.
But crossing enemy lines will mean crossing moral boundaries, too--ones Ember may never be able to come back from. She always knew taking on the Red Court would come at a price, but will the cost of revenge be more than she's willing to sacrifice?
This is a strange read. The idea of it is brilliant; a high school mafia running entirely on favours, rumours and promises. Individually, the favours aren't that big, either; suggest someone for a part in a show, leave a door open, spread a helpful rumour. It's how the Court puts them together that makes the plans work.
For me, though, I thought some of the characters were unlikable. Gideon was lovely. Ember, although she did try to avoid hurting people, she still took part in missions that did upset and hurt some of her friends. Chase was flirting with another girl days after breaking up with his girlfriend; we're supposed to be ok with that because she's painted as unreasonably jealous and he's a nice guy. Hayley, like Ember, is mostly ok but has hurt people. But maybe that's the whole point; teens can be selfcentered, sometimes, and good, well meaning people can do bad things. The road to hell, and all that.
I did like one particular action of Ember's that runs contrary to most teen dramas, though. It was very refreshing.
Apart from the characters, I did enjoy this read. It's well written, tense, and although I had my suspicions I wasn't *quite* right about them. The sequel hook is good, but not too annoying, I enjoyed it overall and I'll be watching out for the next book to see what else Ember does.
These Vengeful Hearts publishes on the 8th September, 2020 in the US and on the 12th November, 2020 in the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment