Book Review: Heartless Hunter by Kristin Ciccarelli

Pages: 416

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pub. Date: February 20, 2024

Publisher: St. Martin's

Source: Personal Copy

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

Goodreads says, "On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch… is falling in love."

 

 

 

Rune Winters, at first glance, appears to be a flighty socialite who bounces from party to party. But she is so much more than that and hides her secrets from everyone but her best friends, Alex and Verity. Rune is a witch, but it's a dangerous time to be one.  The Blood Guard took over, killed the Queen/witches in charge and is now killing witches one by one. During this time the elusive Crimson Moth has rescued witches from imminent peril and hasn't been caught yet. This Moth is Rune and she does this to avenge her grandmother's death who died at the hands of the Blood Guard. Gideon Sharpe, Alex's older brother, is a well known witch hunter and has very personal reasons why he loathes witches, starting with the fact that they destroyed his family. He has his eye on Rune as he thinks she may be the Moth or in cahoots with the Moth. Rune has her eye on Gideon as she is now eighteen and must marry. She could really use Gideon's connections to help rescue captured witches and find out where they are being held. A cat-and-mouse game ensues between Rune and Gideon, but what they don't expect is for real feelings to develop between the two. Kristin Ciccarelli's Heartless Hunter is a fantastic romantasy that kept me flipping the pages.

Rune is such an interesting character in Heartless Hunter; Ciccarelli did a great job developing her. Her backstory about life with her grandmother and what life is like as a witch in hiding was also done well and added to the story. It also explained her motivation as the Crimson Moth. Gideon's backstory is also complicated and I am glad Ciccarelli told the story from his point of view as well. Readers get the history surrounding his  family and how they were wronged by witches, which gives legitimacy to his motivations as a Blood Guard. Rune and Gideon's relationship is the usual enemies to lovers trope, but Ciccarelli gives it a fresh twist. Plus, matters get complicated when Rune's best friend, Alex, reveals he also has feelings for Rune-- cue the love  triangle! While that isn't my favorite of situations, I think Ciccarelli did a solid job making it seem not only authentic, but original, too.

My only issue with Heartless Hunter was some decisions the characters made towards the last quarter of the novel. A few choices made seemed very out of character as they didn't always align with the character's motivation, but overall, it didn't bother me as I was hooked. There are some twists in the novel, which definitely added to the suspense and while this is a YA novel, I think many fans of the romantasy genre will appreciate this one. I enjoyed Heartless Hunter's fresh take on The Scarlet Pimpernel and all the Bridgerton vibes within the novel. I will definitely be reading book two, which comes out this winter.

Are you a fan of Kristin Ciccarelli? Have you read Heartless Hunter? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.