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| Received Heartless from Owlcrate--it is a YA book monthly book subscription box. It came with the book, Carroll's original story, and other bookish goods. |
The story Heartless, by Marissa Meyer, is a part of the Lunar Chronicles—which are a series of books with modern adaptation and whimsical spinoffs of our favorite classic fairytale stories, like Cinderella called Cinder, Snow White called Winter, and so on and so forth.
It tells the tale of the untold story of the Queen of Hearts—inspired by the fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—and the events that led to her wretched transformation. The story begins with introducing the main character as a regular teenage girl, named Lady Catherine, or also known as Cath to close friends and family. Cath is filled with an abundance of innocence, hope, has a talent for baking scrumptious pastries, and desires to pursue her dream of starting a bakery with her close friend and maid, Mary Ann.
The unwise King of Hearts and her parents believe that they know what is best for young Catherine. Her mother’s only goal in life is to watch her daughter wed the King of Hearts—honor and reputation are very important to Catherine’s mother. Catherine’s parents also disapprove of her unladylike ambition and passion for baking pastries.
In the kingdom of Hearts, Catherine is the most desired lady and has captivated the king, as well as the new court joker, Jest. But when a marriage proposal from the King of Hearts surfaces, in which holds Catherine’s destiny and fate, she begins to find herself conflicted. She wants to honor her reputation and parents, even if marrying the king may make her eternally unhappy—since she does not love him, or to follow her heart and live a blissful life with Jest. Catherine understands the consequences of her actions and choice, but finds herself enter into a secret courtship, with the mysterious Jest.
Not only is Catherine conflicted with personal problems, but also the kingdom is confronted with the reality of a legendary monster called the Jabberwock, in which has invaded the kingdom and taken many innocent souls for sustenance.
The main character is strong-willed and is greatly determined to control her own fate and destiny, regardless if this Wonderland she lives in is filled with magic and dark creatures. Unfortunately for her, Catherine finds herself unable to choose her own fate, and because of that, she turns into the infamous queen that we have all came to know from Carroll’s story.
Researching about the book and the author, I have attained a newfound respect for Meyer’s creative work. I love how she takes classic and timeless fairytales, and turns them into something more interesting, by exploring new angles with them. Also, I’ve come to admire her inspiration and literary references in Heartless, as well as for the characters, like with the character Raven. The Raven is Jest’s loyal friend, companion, and is the Rook to the White Queen of Chess (once you read the story, you’ll understand). Apparently, the Raven was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s story, called The Raven (as you might’ve already guessed). According to the author, Carroll also used literary references in his stories, so Meyer felt somewhat compelled to do it for her book too. Of course the Joker card, which is considered to be the most useless card in a deck of playing cards, inspired the creation of Jest—although the card is useless, it is always there (as you will come to learn in the story).
I find this particular story to be unique, because it doesn’t end with a sappy happy ending—even though that I was clinging to the hope that it would. Readers will fall in love with Catherine, pity her, and will ultimately understand her. Although we all know the inevitable, we can emphasize with Catherine through this untold tale and can also see ourselves being friends with if she was a real person. She was a happy and normal girl; events that played in her life took a toll on her, therefore, leading her to be the mean and angry Queen of Hearts, that loves to say her famous four words, “Off with his head.”
The reason why I gave it three stars was because in the beginning of the book—it sounded so childish. I understand it is based on a fairytale story that was made for children, but this a YA novel; therefore, it shouldn’t necessarily contain a hint of childishness. I don’t know if “childish” is the proper word to describe what I am trying to convey; maybe I felt that certain parts of the book felt ridiculous. Usually, I am the type of person to read more serious books and not necessarily YA novels. It was a new and different kind of read for me, which I did admire and appreciate, I just didn’t entirely love it.
In the middle, and of course towards the end, the story made me feel a huge array of different emotions. There was excitement, thrill, anticipation, agony, and so many more. Ultimately, I felt disappointed by the very end, because like I said before—I was really hoping that Meyer would change the character’s fate, but of course it didn’t turn out that way. Although I love to read books with happy and inevitable endings, I truly liked the fact that we as readers knew all along that it was not going to end with a “happily ever after” ending (I feel like I sound a tad redundant).
I would recommend this read to those who love their classic fairytales and who want to revisit their favorite childhood stories, but with a new and modern twist. It is a good story, but it’s not a story for me.
x, Kayla
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