Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
His Fair Assassin, bk 3. Andersen Press, 2014. ISBN
9781783441785
(Age: 15+) Recommended. Historical fantasy. Brittany - History.
Romance. Assassination. YALSA 2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults.
Annith has watched Ismae and Sybella leave the convent, going on
their dark business to serve Mortain, the god of Death. She is
distraught when she realises that the abbess has no intention of
sending her out into the world. Instead she is being groomed to be
the convent's Seeress, closeted in a tiny room and unable to go
anywhere. Annith decides to leave the convent and travels across
Brittany, but as she searches for answers she finds that everything
she has believed in has been false. These secrets threaten not only
her security but that of her country.
LaFevers is a master at weaving together a strange fantasy
background with real historical facts and people. As with the first
two books in the series, Grave mercy and Dark triumph,
the reader begins to build up a picture of what life was like in
Brittany in medieval times and what the politics of the times were.
The plight of the young duchess and the events surrounding the war
with France are expanded and brought to a conclusion in Mortal
Heart.
Life in a convent is also vividly described and it is easy to
empathise with Annith's dismay at the idea of being confined to a
cell for the rest of her life. The old religious beliefs, centring
on the god of death Mortain, and Annith's certainty that she is a
daughter of Mortain add to the complexity of the plot, but also make
for an interesting and challenging book.
While introducing entirely new ideas and a new romance, Mortal Heart
also re-introduces characters from the previous books, so the reader
of the series is pleased to find out how Ismae and Duval are getting
along, as well as Sybella and Beast, but it Annith, with her
devotion to Mortain, her steadfastness and determination to find the
truth about the abbess and her machinations that dominates the plot.
I really enjoyed this series. The historical background made it
stand out, and the adept writing, world building and great
characterisation make it a stand out in the fantasy genre.
Pat Pledger