The Crimson Moth Series
I’ve been a member of Book of the Month since 2017, and I’ve rarely been disappointed by anything they’ve sent. It’s one of my favorite days of the month, honestly! I love coming home from work to find a blue box on my porch and cutting it open to reveal the scent of a freshly printed and bound book. And, they’ve recently gone from five book options to seven book options every month—who only ships one? I usually wind up with two or three books in my shipment.
Heartless Hunter
This was my first time reading a romantasy novel. Quite frankly, I’m not particularly keen on the genre; I’d rather read regular fantasy like “Game of Thrones” or “The Eye of the World.” However, I tried the booktok trend and read “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. A. Maas, and it was not my cup of tea. There was so much work put into romance and spice that there wasn’t enough effort put into the world-building or plotline. I also consider Maas to be on a different writing level than Martin, Jordan, or Sanderson.
“Heartless Hunter” by Kristen Ciccarelli did not fall into these pitfalls. The spice was contained to a fairly small portion of the novel and, at times, actually helped the plot move forward. I found the world building was well done, with a gothic vibe of isolation and darkness mixing with the main characters aristocratic birthright creating a fun, while maybe not unique, atmosphere. Personally, it was the magic system that intrigued me most, the use of blood being integral to spellcasting, and the morality of where that blood came from dictating the types of spells that could be cast.
The character development was fun to watch as some seemed rather 2D at the beginning but they quickly became multidimensional by the ending, and one person turning out to be someone else entirely (and actually surprised me!). “Heartless Hunter” was a tastefully done romantasy, rather than just being a smutty read. And I couldn’t wait for the follow up book!
Rebel Witch
I was so excited to add “Rebel Witch” to my Book of the Month box as an extra in February—even skipping the next book in the my TBR pile to read this one instead. To say I was disappointed, would be an understatement. The sequel underdelivered in everyway possible.
To start with, lets talk about all the travel. Half the book she felt like we were following the characters around, ping ponging from one location to the next. For instance, the first 50 pages were in basically in a bathroom, where different characters came and left
every other page. Then we get on a boat and take a three day sail. We arrive. Oh wait, nope. We get back on a boat and go back. AND then, back on the boat and go back a third time! Just pick a location already.
My biggest issue is the book felt rushed. Ciccarelli had some great ideas that she wanted to fit into the storyline, but she needed to make this a trilogy to pull it off. Instead, “Rebel Witch” was crammed to the brim with too much commotion and too much character “growth” for any of it to be believable. For instance, the Crimson Moth endures a near death experience that supposedly demoralizes her, and it only takes her about a week to get over it. There’s a curse, that the reader is introduced to by about page 100, but then by about page 300 it’s already been broken. Then there’s all the lore about the Ancients, none of which is hinted at in book one. We’re introduced to this world building around page 300 and then it has an important role to play in the ending—this should’ve been worked into book one and built all through book two, not just thrown in at random.
It was just too much in too short of a series. Highly disappointed in the sequel. However, if you don’t mind a cliff hanger, I do think the first book is totally worth the read.
