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A review by chrisistrangerthanu
Tournament of Hearts by Dustin Bilyk
4.0
I receive this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
I was torn as to whether I would rate this book as a 3 or a 4 star read, but the world building and character development definitely deserved 4 stars. I found some parts of this book very frustrating, particularly the 'tournament of hearts' aspect, but most of the story was a brilliant concept and I loved the relationship between Neven, Talpus and Delgato.
I found that the story felt like it had two parallel tales, one which was the tournament, and the other which was the greater story of Nev's destiny as 'the chosen one'. I'm not a huge fan of that trope in general, but Nev was quite an intriguing character, with empathy and intelligence, rather than toughness and brashness. Some of the character arks were pretty tragic too and I actually shed a couple of tears.
I felt that with some improvement the book could have been a solid 5 star. I would have abandoned aspects of the tournament, stop shifting character perspectives so there was a bit of mystery regarding loyalties and intentions, worked on editing the first half of the book to streamline it, and brought in a few more histories for Neven to learn snippets of the past from. Having said that, this book had one of the best last quarters of any of my favourite books. The author really hit their stride and it was both engaging and heartrending, as all great books should be. The scene with Smoke and the Steel soldiers after the battle was so amazing. I really liked that the book didn't have a romance either, but rather focused on the bonds of family and friendship. It was a genuinely enjoyable change from a lot of other books and I found all the relationships to be nuanced and really enjoyable.
I am definitely considering reading the next book in the series.
I was torn as to whether I would rate this book as a 3 or a 4 star read, but the world building and character development definitely deserved 4 stars. I found some parts of this book very frustrating, particularly the 'tournament of hearts' aspect, but most of the story was a brilliant concept and I loved the relationship between Neven, Talpus and Delgato.
I found that the story felt like it had two parallel tales, one which was the tournament, and the other which was the greater story of Nev's destiny as 'the chosen one'. I'm not a huge fan of that trope in general, but Nev was quite an intriguing character, with empathy and intelligence, rather than toughness and brashness. Some of the character arks were pretty tragic too and I actually shed a couple of tears.
I felt that with some improvement the book could have been a solid 5 star. I would have abandoned aspects of the tournament, stop shifting character perspectives so there was a bit of mystery regarding loyalties and intentions, worked on editing the first half of the book to streamline it, and brought in a few more histories for Neven to learn snippets of the past from. Having said that, this book had one of the best last quarters of any of my favourite books. The author really hit their stride and it was both engaging and heartrending, as all great books should be. The scene with Smoke and the Steel soldiers after the battle was so amazing. I really liked that the book didn't have a romance either, but rather focused on the bonds of family and friendship. It was a genuinely enjoyable change from a lot of other books and I found all the relationships to be nuanced and really enjoyable.
I am definitely considering reading the next book in the series.