I really liked the idea of this book.
But it’s so cliche and odd. I couldn’t stand the weird medical talk (NO ONE talks like that) and the queer rep felt awkward and forced. Along with the over correctness of the male characters everything was just...uncomfortable.

I really enjoyed this book, I felt like I was there on the journey the MC Mia went on and really felt for her when she found out she was the one thing she hated most in her world and was training to hunt. I liked how the author developed her relationships with others around her and that she questioned a lot of her own emotions and the awkwardness she had when trying to understand her feelings and those of others. This book really surprised me as it had a few twists and turns I was not expecting. I cant wait to read the next book to hopefully get some answers to the millions questions buzzing round my head right now.

Did not finish. Was this the author's debut novel? The writing style seemed very basic and inexperienced -- lots of telling the reader what was happening and not much letting the characters show the reader what was happening. And feminism is great, but things get boring very quickly when a book beats you over the head with it.

This review was originally posted on That Book Gal.
Y’all. This book is WILD. From page 1 I could tell this was going to be a favorite and DANG. This book legit says that the things you love the most hurt you and then it just like REALLY HURTS YOU.
At least it keeps its promises
We need to first talk about the three dimensional amazing dashing wonderful human that is Quin. He’s just like amazing?? HE IS AN ACTUAL NATIONAL TREASURE.
I fell in love with Mia from page 1. She’s an absolutely badass in every way. She’s book smart and street smart and THIS GIRL CAN FIGHT. also she has magic but I love how that’s not treated as the thing that makes her special. She’s dang special before and after the whole magic thing!
Now that I’ve mentioned magic I absolutely have to talk about the amazing magic system!! It’s like so complex. And super empowering too!! It’s complex but it doesn’t make my brain hurt. Like yes please???
So much goes down in this freaking book. I think it gave me whiplash but tbh I’m not even sorry? Every time it get comfortable or you feel like maybe the character might be safe Bree is like “um no” and tosses a terrifying curveball.
NO ONE IS SAFE IS BASICALLY WHAT IM TRYING TO SAY. (which by the way??? not cool???)
The women in this are really the star of the show. This tackles women’s issues that are relevant and important and addresses them with badass magic that tbh I wish I had! There’s so many strong females in this I could honestly cry.
This is the book I needed when I was younger. I grew up with so many male heroes in every form of media, and I absolutely needed to see some badass girls kick butt with their own magic and their brains.
I am SO HAPPY with the amazing enemies to lovers romance here. ITS SUPER GREAT. Chapter 52 is (ahem) *coughs* *fans self* really well written and beautiful and—-THERES A TON OF KISSING AND ITS SUPER STEAMY AHAHAHEH OKAY BYE
BY THE WAY MAY I MENTION THAT THE ENDING WAS JUST NOT OKAY LIKE WOW HOW RUDE CAN YOU BE CRUSHING MY HEART AND SOUL LIKE THAT???
So to summarize. I fell in love with this amazing book. I had many feelings. They don’t translate well so I’ve done quite a bit of yelling. This book is great but will 100% break your heart. Read it.

I liked it, but I hate endings like this, poor quin, he just gets no breaks.

Yawn.

This review will try to remain spoiler free and any spoilers will be hidden.

Again... yawn. There is nothing new in this book, I have read the same thing a hundred times it seems.

"Once upon a time, in a castle carved of stone, a girl plotted murder." How good does this seem! I was excited for this but it was so so disappointing.

Mia is a huntress who hunts female 'demons' shes betrothed to the crown Prince but doesn't like him, there's an attempted assassination and they both have to escape and go on the run where they find out lots of secrets.

This book begins where the readers are just supposed to know everything and how the magic system works and all the details without actually being told all of this. The start of this book could be the start of a second book where you have had the first one to build up what is what. But we get thrown into all the action without actually being told what's what and how things work. Are we supposed to just know these things??

The writing isn't the worst i've ever read but it isn't fantastic, there are places where there is so much unnecessary description that your head swims and it doesn't actually add anything it is just annoying. The characters are forgettable. I would have quite preferred Prince Quin to be the main character as he wasn't too bad of a character. Mia became annoying. She's meant to be a bad ass huntress and independent but she actually isn't that independant, she relies on everyone for everything. She is too arrogant to accept the fact that she might not know everything in the world and maybe... just maybe... someone else might know something she doesn't. She also seems to talk in scientific verses. This is weird and just does not happen at all in real life. Such as: "Your clavicle throws the most beautiful shadows" WHO SAYS THAT?! ooo your collar bone is gorgeous.

Cliché's EVERYWHERE.

-Female protagonist who is a huntress
-betrothed to the Crown Prince of the Kingdom
- She is against this marriage
-Girl and boy don't like eachother
-Power hungry King
-Prince turns out to not be so bad after all
-lots of secrets
-fights
-magic

The main character, Mia, goes through some training that goes on and on and you feel like a week or so has passed but it turns out it was 1 DAY. 1 day. And after a mere 1 day she needs no more of course... The timeline of events is just a mess to be honest.

I love the premis of a female protagonist smashing down barriers in the patriarchal society and coming out on top and being fierce. Which is what I expected this to be but it just didn't deliver. It was forced, boring, nothing new and the girl was annoying and pig-headed.
I also love the idea of a book that has more feminist elements and LGBT inclusion as I don't think there is enough in YA fiction right now but it got completely rammed down your throat. It was too forced it made it unbelievable. It is just told to us but its not shown to us in any way where is the evidence of all this? There isn't any! It's meant to be a book with a great feminist character with female power throughout... but then she belittles and makes fun of her sister for wanting a husband, children and a family life. Not all girls have to want to be a kick ass huntress heroine. What is wrong with wanting a husband and children?? Why is that something to make fun of and bring someone down over?

"You're beautiful when you lie." He quickly added, "Not to diminish you or suggest that beauty is an indicator of your worth."

The sentence above is so forced why not just have him say something different? cringe & eye roll.

Similarly... “I don’t know. I’ve never had a husband. Or a wife,” she added.
Why not just have her say "I've never had a husband or wife" why be so blantantly obvious pointing it out. We get it, one of the characters is bisexual (amongst others) but why try so hard is pointing it out. Just put it normally.

It is like she wrote this story then needed to add in feminism and LGBT inclusion so went back and dotted it in here and there rather than having it flow nicely within the story.
I did like the twists that came throughout the book as they were unexpected, which i like, and unpredictable. The book ended well and would lead well into a second book. I also enjoyed the backstory of Mias mother and her journey, especially through diary pages.

Overall: boring, nothing new, clichés everywhere, feminism shoved down your throat, forgettable characters, messy timeline, not the best cover, eveything is so forced and shoving in your face, it is trying too hard and failing, it needs so much more editing and refinement.

I really much liked the themes in this book. I especially loved how feminism was incorporated; the importance of sisterhood and how the magic started, and so on. The plot twists at the end were great. I just feel that it could have been a little bit more edited. The writing needed a little more work in my opinion, just so the story would flow a little bit better and the plot points and the magic system would be more developed. I truly enjoyed the book and pass the mid point, I couldn't put it down ! Can't wait for the sequel !!

A fantasy in which women are the only magic users and also are basically considered demons— Heart of Thorns covers A LOT of ground in a little over 300 pages. The problem is that in order to cover everything, I felt like a lot of necessary information was skimmed over, while some trivial scenes were stretched too far.
Was it an interesting read? Yes.
The mix of science and blood with magic is not entirely new, but the way Barton uses them in her story is unique and fascinating. My favorite part of this book was the fluidity of the characters to love whomever they want, and the addition of some very big twists in the last few chapters.

Nice pacing, interesting plot, and oh my god the ending!