A Heart of Betrayal (the Remnant Chronicles #2)

Synopsis

Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape. Desperate to save Lia's life, her erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komizar that she has the gift, and the Komizar's interest in Lia is greater than anyone could have foreseen.

Meanwhile, nothing is straightforward: There's Rafe, who lied to Lia, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom Lia has always believed to be savages. Now that she lives among them, however, she realizes that may be far from the truth. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her sense of self, Lia must make powerful choices that will affect her country . . . and her own destiny.

Loved

• The world. I loved getting to know Venda through Lia's eyes. She was raised to see Vendans as savages and barbarians, but I love how she learns to love these people as she learns more about their culture. I love how she embraces them, learns their language, and starts following their customs, such as giving thanks for sacrifices before meals and wearing bones around her waist.

• The mysticism. This world doesn't have a magic system, but it does have some really fascinating mysticism. Throughout Lia's story is woven a story from long ago that initially seems disconnected from the events of the book, but Lia slowly starts understanding how that story connects with her own. It is very well written and provides depth, mystery, and even a little delicious eeriness to the story.

• Lia's character development. As I said in my review of Kiss of Deception, Lia and I did not start out as friends. I just short of hated her in the first book because I felt like she was selfish and impulsive. However, she gains perspective in this book by experiencing another culture and becoming a prisoner. I really started to like Lia in this book as her stubbornness becomes strength that becomes refined against the brutality of the Komizar.

• Speaking of the Komizar, he is a beautiful villain. For those who like the sadistic, sexy type villains, this is your man. He is so brutal that you start biting your nails when he enters a scene, but you secretly love his interactions with Lia because she is so strong against him. His relationship with Kaden is also very interesting and keeps us on our toes.

• Rafe. If you read my spoiler in my review of Kiss of Deception, you will know that I never connected with Rafe in the first book because I thought he was Kaden! But now we know who is who, Rafe's character really takes off and he is every bit the selfless, strong and fearless prince we want him to be. I love his dance with deception throughout this story as he weaves lies in an attempt to save Lia's life. I was able to enjoy their romance in this book much more than in the first.

Didn't Love

• I enjoyed this book much more than the first. However, I still had a hard time with the Kaden-Rafe-Lia thing. I hate, I repeat, HATE love triangles, and this one was no different. I felt so torn for Kaden who had saved Lia's life, but had tried to assassinate her, and now he loves her, but she's in love with the prince locked in the basement. . . . it's as complicated as it sounds. Love triangles are just frustrating- anyone with me?

Content

• Language: 
• Fairly frequent uses of bastard, hell, damn, ass, and b****.

• Sexual content: 
• Kaden lets his men think Lia is sleeping with him to earn special privileges, when he is really letting her sleep in his tent to protect her. His men make many bawdy comments about this arrangement.
• Mentions of brothels and leaders of the city having affairs with women.
• Romantic kisses where Lia runs her hands over Rafe's chest, he takes off her cloak, etc. No sexual encounters implied or described.
• The Komizar manipulates Lia into kissing him in front of many onlookers while she pretends to be his bride.

• Violence:
• The Komizar is extremely brutal and violence is his answer for everything, therefore, there is a lot of violence in this story.
• Three young boys are beheaded for deserting the army. Their heads are put on pikes as a warning. Lia watches them up until the beheading and perceives how frightened they are.
• A child is run through with a knife and killed.
• Lia stabs a man in a fight.
• Many descriptions of soldiers being stabbed and killed with knives, swords, and arrows.
• A child loses a finger for stealing, and another loses a whole hand as punishment.
• A horse is exploded as a demonstration of new weapons.
• Mentions of childhood abuse, a father killing a lover, and a man killing his father.

 Overall Thoughts

I definitely enjoyed the Heart of Betrayal quite a bit more than Kiss of Deception. I still was bothered by Lia's fierceness a few times, but I loved how she developed empathy and compassion for the Vendans and embraced their culture. I loved seeing the story of the Ancients start to connect with Lia's story. I felt like this sequel was heavy with drama and character development, without as much action, but the development provided depth for the characters, the plot, and the world. It definitely whet my appetite for the third book!