HEART ON FIRE is the eagerly awaited completion to The Kingmaker
Trilogy by Amanda Bouchet. Reading this series in
order is
crucial. Bouchet takes to heart the phrase Go Big or Go
Home; she definitely goes all out big for her finale!
This book
gave me all the feels. I cackled with laughter, I got
incredibly tense
at the fight scenes, and I cried oh so many times over
things both
sad and joyous. I tweeted my dismay to Bouchet when I got
to the
beginning of the big showdown near the end of the book,
telling her I
was "so amped up, yet I don't want to read it because that
means the
end is nigh."
Cat is a powerful clairvoyant who was kidnapped by Griffin
in book 1
to help his family reign justly when they first came to
power in the
magic-starved south. Cat and Griffin fall in love, and then
Cat finds
out it's her destiny to change the world (with a little or a
lot of help
from the machinations of the awful Olympian pantheon). Cat
is now
pregnant, and she and Griffith must fight to keep their
unborn child
safe while battling to unite all three realms so Cat can
peacefully
reign as the Queen of Thalyria.
Cat's mother has a lot of page time here as the big baddie,
and she is
a fantastic villainess. Delightfully creepy and
chill-inducing. And the
Greek gods and goddesses are very much out in force in HEART OF
FIRE, blithely manipulating things in Cat and Griffin's
lives to force
the occurrences that they wish to have happened in the
world. I love
the tension between the fated mates trope versus free will
that Cat is
forced to work through. Incredible, steadfast Griffin with
his great
and loyal heart isn't worried about such details; all that
matters to
our hero is that Cat is his. I adore Griffin in this last
book. He backs
up Cat and supports her however he can, and acknowledges
that she
gets to choose how she wants to handle saving the world. He
shows
Cat how much faith he has in her ability to save the world
too. Now
THAT is sexy!
HEART ON FIRE is stuffed full of adventure and emotion, but
never
seems overblown. The pacing is excellent, and the love
between Cat
and Griffin is strong and supportive. This whole trilogy
has been a
joy to read, and Bouchet's touch deft and compelling. I
hope she
swings back to this world in future books, but no matter
what she
turns to next, I guarantee it will be on my
auto-buy list
for my eReader.
The riveting conclusion to the Kingmaker Chronicles, available January 2018!Who is Catalia Fisa? With the help of pivotal figures from her past, Cat begins to understand the root of her exceptional magic, her fated union with Griffin Sinta, and Griffin's role in shaping her destiny. Only Cat holds the key to unlocking her own power, and that means finally accepting herself, her past, and her future in order to protect her loved ones, confront her murderous mother, and taking a final, terrifying step—reuniting all three realms and taking her place as the Queen of Thalyria. What doesn't kill her will only make her stronger...we hope.