The Hanging Heart Review

This one was chef’s kiss ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The characters are complex with well-developed backstories and heaps of trauma to go around. I don’t know how people measure spice, but ”The Hanging Heart” has plenty of it (not until chapter 40 though; talk about a slow burn).

Frankly, I’m having a hard time writing a review that captures how awesome this book is without spoiling anything. It’s an intense yet fun read.

The prologue doesn’t really make sense until much later in the book, and that’s kind of the whole point. It’s a brilliant teaser that you won’t even fully understand until you reread it a second time after finishing the book. While it doesn’t make much sense chronologically, I think you’ll agree with me that it’s clever the second time around.

Simmons uses a four person POV to tell this story, but two of the narrators only get one chapter each. The chapters themselves aren’t weird that they are told from these narrator’s perspectives, but it is odd that they don’t get more chapters to tell. Most of the story is told from our FMC’s perspective. Elorie weathers the plot twists like the champion survivor she is, and there are plenty of plot twists. A few of them I didn’t see coming, others were more obvious, but collectively, they keep the pace fast and the anticipation high.

Which makes this the kind of book you read in a single sitting because you have to see what the author puts her characters through next. And what they go through is, in fact, the ringer. Simmons develops her characters so well that you feel as if you’re going through it with them. Always my favourite way to experience a story.

The world building is on point, though the magic system does seem a bit unlimited. Unlimited in that the wielder doesn’t seem to have a limit on how much power they can manipulate and for how long. Other than that, I thought the details and mythology and gods were all fantastically fleshed out.

Our FMC and MMC are giving Violet and Xaden from Fourth Wing, so if that’s your cup of tea, or if you like murky origins, surprise magic, world-ending stakes, and fated mates, The Hanging Heart is for you. Run, don't walk, to get your copy. I have a feeling this one's gonna need a second print run.