Andrea Berthot

The Heartless City

Briar Rose

*Review also posted at Briar Rose Reads

The Heartless City had so much promise.

After a bit of a slow start, I really loved the beginning. Then, to my complete confusion and ultimate disappointment, the story jumped ahead years, and I realized I'd been engrossed in a prologue. That prologue was the tale I most wanted to read: Virginia, smart and brave and traumatized, desperately trying to raise and keep safe a young daughter with unnatural gifts. Sadly, we jumped ahead to said daughter's teenage years instead.

I initially liked Elliot, the main male character, very much. That mostly continued throughout the story. I didn't connect so well with Iris, Virginia's gifted daughter. She was a bit... too much for me. A little too overwhelmingly beautiful and special to feel real, and her first connection with Elliot felt like insta-love. (Keep in mind that I am very picky about romantic relationships. I'm sure a lot of people would like that kind of powerful immediate connection.)

There was some gorgeous prose, swirled together with the blocks of angst and overwrought, unconvincing character interaction. The book was also set against a background of some very interesting possible conflicts (the Hydes being the most obvious example), but those aspects were mostly dropped or underused. Paired with the fact that many of the secondary characters (Virginia; Elliot's friend Cam; amazing, tough, tiny Philomena) were far more interesting overall than the leads, this felt a bit like the first draft of a really, really amazing book.

Bottom line was, The Heartless City didn't quite work for me, but there was a lot of promise hidden in its pages. I very much hope the author one day writes that truly incredible book.

Many thanks to the author for providing a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Eleanor Luhar

Read my original review: https://bookmarkedreading.wordpress.c...

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return of my honest opinion.

The Heartless City is based on the infamous story of Jekyll & Hyde, with a wonderful new plot. 

London is infested with Hydes thanks to Dr Henry Jekyll. Jekyll is also responsible for Iris; an American girl with a unique talent.

Buckingham palace is home to the Lord Mayor, as well as his son Cam and the doctor and his own son, Elliott Morrissey. Elliott also has a strange gift, but not one he was born with. After taking a serum intended to remove his empathy, Elliott found that it did quite the opposite. Instead, he became an empath - able to feel the emotions of those around him as if they were his own.

The characters in this old-fashioned story are all very different, including the strong, independent female figure of 15-year-old Philomena Blackwell. She refuses to fit in with the typical norms of her time, which I really liked.

Elliott's new empathy is also used to confront the negative opinions on homosexuality when he feels his friends love for each other and realises that it is no different to the love he himself would feel for a girl. I absolutely loved this little sub-plot.

The book is written to sound like it was written in the 1900s, when it was set. However, I found the story a little slow at times, and then far too fast toward the end. Everything just kind of happened all at once. That being said, the conclusion was very clever and interesting.

It was definitely an interesting read. I tend to just read more modern novels, so this was a refreshing change. But there are definitely a few things that could be changed, so I'm going to give 3.5 stars to The Heartless City.

The Heartless City

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