Intense

Surprising

Unpredictable

Children of Fallen Gods The War of Lost Hearts #2

Carissa Broadbent — 2021

No war can be fought with clean hands. Not even the ones waged for the right reasons. Not even the ones you win. Tisaanah bargained away her own freedom to save those she left behind in slavery. Now, bound by her blood pact, she must fight the Orders’ war -- and Max is determined to protect her at all costs. But when a betrayal tears apart Ara, Max and Tisaanah are pushed into an even bloodier conflict. Tisaanah must gamble with Reshaye’s power to claim an impossible victory. And Max, forced into leadership, must confront everything he hoped to forget: his past, and his own mysterious magic. All the while, darker forces loom -- far darker, even, than the Orders’ secrets. As Tisaanah and Max are ensnared in a web of ancient magic and twisted secrets, one question remains: what are they willing to sacrifice for victory? For power? For love?

Reviews

Paige Leitner@pleitner

Sep 4, 2024

This book got better as it went on! It's a little long-winded but by the end, all the little threads tie together and become important to the central plot. The ending definitely sets up the plot for the third book in the series and leaves you on the edge of your seat!

This review contains a spoiler

Sasha@salsasunshine

Feb 11, 2024

A lot of nothing happened. Liked the characters but the book overall was very depressing.

samantha lias@chzypotatogrl

Aug 12, 2023

i did not realize i could feel so many things at once and additionally i did not know i could feel so much rage towards a fictional character until nura decided to exist

Lyndsy Argento@lyndsyc32

Jul 26, 2023

I love the storytelling in this and I love the complexities of the characters but for me, this book was way too long overall. I’m still gonna read the last one because I think it’s definitely interesting and I’ve enjoyed the reveals along the way but yeah I feel like this could have been at least 100 pages shorter in order to keep the pace fun and exciting throughout

grayson gruber@graysunnicole

May 17, 2023

holy plot twist. this book had some of the best plot moments i’ve ever read. her writing and character development is just impeccable. the way she creates these villains and have you rooting for them??

this series is not for the faint of heart it is all about war and trauma and just hardship after hardship. there is little to none happy moment for these characters.

love love love will be starting the final book asap

ariah west@riahjoy

Apr 10, 2023

this is an amazing trilogy and although i’m in love and obsessed it was a little harder to get through the second book, but i’m so glad i did! blew me away for sure

Katie Buchanan@katieirene

Apr 1, 2023

Okay okay so I definitely DNF’ed this book and came back because I was thinking about it. Man, what a ride. I could never have guessed how the separate narrative some together. It was a little long winded, but overall a good story.

Moa@moaeson

Mar 29, 2023

It’s so clever. I'm in love with the characters and I am TORN! I just want everyone to get their happy ending 😭 except for Nura. She crazy. Most of all I want Thisaanah to fuck ‘em up ❤️‍🔥

This review contains a spoiler

+11

Cheyenne Willis@cheyennew

Mar 24, 2023

I give it .5 star off because it did take me about a week to get through the first 100 pages, but once I finally made myself sit down and read- I could not stop. I am obsessed. I am devastated. And I am in love with these characters.

Katie Allard@ktallard

Mar 9, 2023

This book is so hard to rate, but probably ends up at a 3.75 ⭐️. For me, this book was a real slog to get into and had glaring issues. People rave about this world-building, but honestly, I think they’re just overwhelmed by the sheer size that they don’t see it’s really sloppily built. In the first book, we don’t hear anything about Fae. Then all of a sudden in the second book we get a POV from the Fae?? Nothing about how humans and Fae related to each other, this history there, nothing. Honestly for most of this book it was like reading two separate stories that weren’t connected to each other even remotely. I think Broadbent kept the reader in the dark intentionally to make the reveal have more of an impact, but honestly I was so frustrated that I accidentally guessed both major plot twists. Plus, these were things the reader shown have known. However, the last third of this book finally drew me in. This is when Broadbent’s ideas began to come together and I can see the creativity in the story. It was compelling, emotional, gut-wrenching, and the ending was heartbreaking. I’m really hoping the finale is better put together than this installment and finally shows me why people are feral for this series.

This review contains a spoiler

Liv N.@cinnamonsunshine914

Mar 7, 2023

Absolutely fantastic. Amazing characters, great twist, and very strong writing. I’m so excited to read the third book but I’m not ready for it to be over. Please go pick up this series. You won’t regret it.

Jordan H@jordanh

Feb 7, 2023

4.5 ⭐️. I was going to give this 4 stars, but the last 20% really WENT NUTS so I’m upping it to 4.5. Fantastic series - on to the last one.

Kennedy Eitmann@kennedyeitmann

Jan 30, 2023

the SCREAMS i SCRUMPT reading this book 🤯 I am completely in love with Tisannah and Max. The twists and turns were more than I could have hoped for. SJM level plot building and foreshowing! A must read!

N.@nma

Dec 9, 2022

This book immaculate. Finally something that took me out of my SJM reading Slump! The character Development, the pacing and don’t get me started on the PLOT TWISTS that I did NOT see coming at All!, and this book made me cry so that’s a bonus.

+11

Mae Morton@mae_xoxo

Nov 28, 2022

OMGGGG THIS BOOK WAS MAGNIFICENT!!!!!

“No war can be fought with clean hands,” he said. “Not even the ones waged for the right reasons. Not even the ones you win.”
✅The war aspect of this book was soooo well written and intriguing. It had me on the edge of my seat and interested to see what happens next but it also made me think and really deep life.

“Home was a pair of mismatched eyes, an accented voice, and a heartbeat that followed the same cadence as mine. And I was so, so homesick.”

✅The romance part of this book was also wonderful. The way they understood each other so well and we’re so connected, i loved reading about every moment they were together. This however makes me DREAD the next book…

✅Maxantarius Farlione - I LOVE HIM SM. He’s actually such a king, even with all his trauma and loss he pulls through and leads an army into a war he doesn’t even want to fight yet he is still so good and caring and just brilliant at what he does. The way he thinks is funny, realistic and entertaining, he’s so grounded and written so mf well.

✅ Tisaanah Vytezic - I LOVE HER AS WELL. She’s driven, powerful and still caring through it all. She really went through it in this book but she did everything with good intentions. She’s in my prayers because the events in this book were heartbreaking for her, her world is crumbling around her, all her beliefs all her hopes. Yet she still carries on through it all

✅Aefe - Aefe or should i say Reshaye was such a mystery through the whole book but also so interesting. I knew from close to the beginning that her story had something to do with Reshaye and i was on the edge of my seat the whole book working to see how all the characters interconnected. Gonna love seeing her in the next book.

✅ The triple POV i thought would be confusing but it wasn’t !!! It was really well written and i loved it.

✅ The side characters as in the last boom were very interesting and engaging and i really wanted to find out more about every single one, there was the perfect amount.

✅Same as with the last book, the magic system is so fascinating but also easily understood (although a lot is still a mystery but i think that’s the point). I love the levels of magic and the different types it’s captivating reading about it, it truly transfers you to different world while reading.

✅ Everything about this book was perfection!!!! I’m equally terrified, excited and dreading the third book because of how this one ended …

This review contains a spoiler

Genevieve @laviedegin

Oct 7, 2022

We are the children of fallen gods and lost empires. We are the memories of bones in the plains. And we are more than they ever thought we would be.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Oh... wow. I am speechless. I'm not even sure what to type here. Children of Fallen Gods is the most beautiful, heart-wrenching, epic book that I have read all year, and possibly that I have ever read, ever. I'm not sure I can find a single fault with this, I am completely and utterly in love with this series.

Sooo much happens in the book - it is completely action packed, we go from epic battles, armies, war, politics to stunning professions of love, of deep connection, of understanding and support to heart-breaking, soul destroying moments, the angst, the anguish - oh my word.

“No war can be fought with clean hands,” he said. “Not even the ones waged for the right reasons. Not even the ones you win.”

Tisaanah and Max are perfection, maybe too perfect, but even that isn't enough to mar this story. You cannot help but fall absolutely in love with these two - and it doesn't help that every few chapters one of them goes and does something insane that'll have you tearing your hair out and praying for their survival. I am not sure how many near-death experiences I can live through.

“I like to live an exciting life, Max. This is part of my charm.”
“When all this is over, maybe we’ll take up hiking. Something scenic with a low mortality rate.”

We also are introduced to a new character POV in Children of Fallen Gods, Aefe (I'm choosing to pronounce this Ava - does anyone know the correct way??) who is Fey and the daughter of one of the Kings in the Fey land. Her added perspective adds another fascinating layer of intrigue, and the moment where the intertwined stories overlap is just breath-taking, I was in so much shock I had to put the book down and process it. I thought I was smart guessing my way through and then, now, reading back through the quotes I highlighted I am struck by how much the actual truth was forewarned. I could literally feel my heart being dragged out through my stomach when I realized what was happening. There were so many twists like this throughout this book, it definitely isn't for the weak of heart.

Perhaps once I was something. But I do not remember what. And maybe I have never been anything but the discarded remains of others.

Here are a few more of my favourite quotes, because I'm not sure I can possibly say anything else that would live up to what I just read.

“The temples were beautiful,” Caduan said, quietly. And he paused, as if remembering, a mournful smile at his lips. Then he looked back at the fire, and it was gone. “But when the humans came, they crumbled just as easily as the brothels. And the scholars and the whores ended up in the same graves.”

"I showed these cities exactly what I was capable of doing to them. My spectacles embodied the shattering of their greatest strengths. I collapsed the stone around the most fortified district, as if to whisper to them, I can tear your walls like paper. In the one sheltered by the sea, I roiled the waves until they were ten, twenty, fifty feet high, to show them, I could swallow you whole. I made mountains shudder and fields wither; I filled the sky with smoke and snarling eyes. Upon every target, I unleashed hell."

"No one deserves to be put on a pedestal. They won’t climb down to save you, and if you’re looking up at them, you’re not looking ahead at what’s coming for you."