Heart on Fire (The Kingmaker Chronicles, #3)

by Amanda Bouchet

WITH THE POWER OF THE GODS AT HER FINGERTIPS

Catalia Fisa's destiny has finally caught up to her. Sinta and Tarva are now under her control, but fully accepting her fate means taking a final, terrifying step―reuniting all three realms and taking her place as the Queen of Thalyria. But forging one kingdom can only mean going to war with powerful, severely oppressed Fisa and its violent Alpha―Cat's homicidal mother.

Although Cat herself used to be Andromeda's sole weakness, that isn't true anymore. Cat's usefulness to her mother has run out, and while Andromeda seems to know every trick and spell, Cat's own magic refuses to work like it should. When tragedy strikes, Cat unleashes the power she's been afraid of all her life, but her misuse of the Gods' gifts lands her in Tartarus, a realm reserved for eternal punishment.

Now Cat's only option is to unlock her power permanently, and that means finally accepting herself, her past, and her future in order to return to her loved ones, confront her murderous mother, and finish the task of restoring her kingdom.

Discover the thrilling, white-hot fantasy trilogy that broke all the rules.

• Publish Date: July 2023 (first published 2 January 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Edition: Dark and Quirky Exclusive
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English
• Special: Exclusive Design Sprayed Edges

Reviews

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

So, we are at the end of the Kingmaker Trilogy. So I grabbed the first book of this series when I saw a ton of great reviews going around. I enjoyed the first book, A Promise of Fire, I don’t think I loved it as much as others. I thought it was good, not great (I gave it 4 hearts, so a good rating). When I listened to two the second book, Breath of Fire, I didn’t enjoy it as much (3.5 hearts rating, still not bad). I thought Breath of Fire had a rocky start, but ended well. So, now I’m at this book, Heart on Fire, the third and final book in the Kingmaker Trilogy.

So, I had a hard time getting started on this book. It sat on my iPod for a long time before I finally decided to tackle it. At one point, I was pretty excited to listen. I had seen better reviews for this one than book two. However, this one was still hard for me to start.

Once, I started to listen, I was just not that into this story. Cat does a lot of whining and second guessing herself over and over. There isn’t as much action and a lot more dialogue. I don’t mind a lot of dialogue, but I just didn’t love this dialogue. I think it was a lot of Cat putting herself down.

There’s a scene with Cat and some gods. It seemed to go on forever. That scene could’ve been cut in half and been better, in my personal opinion. Gods and goddesses are even larger in this book. Cat keeps getting a ton of help from them.

I don’t know. I wanted to like this series more than I did. I thought it started out good, but just didn’t stay strong for me. There are a ton of people who really loved this series. I liked it, but didn’t love it. So, I think if you like urban fantasy with the Greek Gods, this is something you should look into.

Narration
I love Mia Barron. She did a great job with the narration of this series. I think I got through this book because her narration (though I did speed up the listening speed, but that was more that the story seemed slower to me, not because of her narration). I love her male and female voices. I love her pacing and tone. If you haven’t tried Mia Barron, I would highly recommend you check her out.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley]

I'm heartbroken that I didn't love this more!

There were three things that killed it for me:

1) Cat is pregnant and keeps referring to her unborn child as Little Bean. This term just grated on me. She's always "checking on Little Bean" and people are asking her, "is Little Bean okay?" I got to the point where I was ready to throw something if I heard "Little Bean" one more time.

2) Cat's insecurities drove me nuts. She keeps doubting her abilities and the lack of confidence causes her magic to waver. But there were so many times when I thought she'd finally conquered those insecurities, only to see her fall apart again. There were literally like 3 or 4 times where Cat thinks, "I finally understand my magic now! This is the answer! It all makes sense!" And I'd sigh with relief that her fumbling around is finally over... then two chapters later her magic gets snuffed out again and we were right back where we started. In fact, someone in the book actually commented on this and it was so accurate: "Repress. Explode. Repress. Explode. On endless repeat." That's exactly what happened.

3) The ending felt anti-climactic. Cat confronts her mom and given how horrible and evil her mom was, I expected her to cling on until the bitter end. I thought there was no way she wouldn't go out fighting. But instead, her mom does a complete 180.

"I envy your choices. Now, when it's too late, I wish I could have made them myself."
"I've taken from you. So much. I understand that now."

In the span of two pages, her mom went from holding Cat's friend's ransom to the above quotes?? What villain does a 180 that quickly??

I didn't hate the book... I still quite enjoyed parts of it and I loved seeing more of the gods. But the Kingmaker Chronicles was one of my all-time favourite series up until now and I'm pretty devastated that I didn't love the final book. I think I was hoping for a lot less fumbling in the dark with confidence issues, and more dominating badass.

Also, I kind of can't believe this book didn't have an epilogue. After all that horrible Little Bean stuff we couldn't at least see the kid born?

[stacey_is_sassy]

I thought about changing this review as I knew I didn't describe my thoughts well when I initially wrote it. I think what I was trying to get across is that we see a lot more heroes (male) leading than heroines (females). That we're almost conditioned to have a hero lead or step in and save the day. I think we're seeing (movies more than books) where most of the heroines are the side-kick.

Whether it be a book or a movie if you see the terms hero and heroine -or- heroine and hero, who do you think is the leader/person in charge? Sad but true, I automatically think the hero is the lead and the heroine is the support. Maybe, if the gender is removed from the term hero and heroine, it wouldn't matter if the person who leads is a male or a female or the person following is male or female.

I admit some of my favourite paranormal series have kick-ass heroines that I've loved but even in some of those cases, there's a hero lurking to help or save the heroine.

So read the rest of the review with the understanding that I'm not trying to offend womankind or kick-ass heroines out there. It was just my thoughts on the term hero and heroine, not the role they play.

**********

The heroine leads and the hero follows...

Is it strange that I started this review contemplating the term hero? In a lot of the books I read, I’m looking for the hero to save the day. Well, in this series it’s not the job of the bloke to do the hard work, it’s the female’s job to save the world and kill evil. So, in some ways, she’s the lead, the conqueror and saver of the world.

In my head, I’m now having a debate on whether I’m insulting womankind by thinking less of a heroine. I see “hero” as being the one in charge, focal point, and lead, while the “heroine” supports, guides and helps the hero in the quest. Is this a societal thing that has me confused? A gender-based confusion? Or, maybe it’s just hierarchy labelling that has me mixed up?

To be honest, I think it has more to do with one person leads and the other follows (supports) and my head automatically puts a label of hero for the lead and heroine for the follow. I think it’s what I’m expecting to see in most M/F romance. There also seems to be a similar dynamic when it comes to M/M but I’m not sure how you separate the heroes. Is it Hero 1 and Hero 2, or maybe it’s Alpha Hero and Beta Hero. I personally don’t read F/F but is it the same in that case too?

Whatever the case, I need to break that mindset, though because Cat is definitely the lead and she’s obviously the heroine and Griffin follows and he’s definitely the hero. What once would have made a hero seem weak as a follower to his heroine's leader, is not the case in the Kingmaker Chronicles. Griffin's strength is obvious and his ability to follow and love his role at her back makes him even more desirable as a partner to Cat.

Heart on Fire was all about Cat learning how much power she holds and how to use it. To be honest, the lessons learned were HARSH!! I found myself shocked at how many times Cat had faced torture and heartbreak, to later learn it was a lesson from the gods. The lessons were to harden her heart, trust wisely and look within herself to find the way. On the flipside, she also had to express her love, give trust to those who earned it and look around to find support.

Griffin again steals the show for me. He is loyal, thoughtful, kind and caring which balances out his strong, bossy and possessive nature. Griffin’s devotion to Cat is steadfast and I never doubted that she was his whole world and he would die to protect her. What at times comes across as a dangerous need to save the world, is really just a need to make his family safe. Griffin is a champion to his people and a truly deserving leader.

One of the hardest things to get my head around while reading the Kingmaker Chronicles was that a mother could be so evil. Seriously, this woman made my skin crawl with her self-serving, power-hungry ways. Sure, I know there is evil everywhere and mothers are not exempt, but it’s still hard to get. My mind struggles to compute how a woman who has grown and given birth to a child, can torture and watch them suffer. I struggled, even more, knowing that only death would end her rule and the person tasked by the gods to do it, was her own flesh and blood.

I have really enjoyed the Kingmaker Chronicles and Heart on Fire was an excellent addition to the series. I loved the first in the series, enjoyed but was a little disappointed in the second and the third left me thoroughly satisfied. At times I was a little frustrated that we seemed to be stalled and not moving forward to our goal. Like Cat, I was impatient to unlock the secrets to her magic and angry that the ones she hoped would guide her seemed to disappear in her time of need. There is one particular part towards the end of the story that will have readers sitting up in alarm but have no fear as nothing is as it seems.

Cat is the protector, defender, leader and hope for her people. Griffin is the strong, resilient, loyal and loving partner to light her way. Together, they are everything that is needed to right the wrongs. Their love story is amazing and I hope this is not the end of the journey.

As per usual, I've rambled all over the place, so, if you've made it to the end, CONGRATULATIONS!! All the best to everyone over the holidays and to all those who celebrate MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Stacey is Sassy, received a complimentary copy of this story. The copy provided is not the final copy and may be subject to edits and changes.

[lizarodz]

Where to start the review for Heart of Fire? I liked the last installment in the series, but at the same time I was disappointed by some aspects of the story.

First, the good. I still loved Griffin, although he seems to be obsessed with Cat (I mean, more than usual), but with good reason. Griffin and Cat are a strong couple and grow more in love all the time.

It pains me to say this but Cat became a whiner. Indeed, it seems that’s all she did.

I have powers, I don’t know how to use them…

I don’t know what I’m doing…

I which my power came with instructions…

I can do this…

I can’t do this…

And so it went around and around. It took a lot from the story and it was unnecessary. Also, how is she getting all these weird powers, without notice, without reasoning. It’s like all the gods put powers in a big pot, stir them together and voila: one nice Cat was born.

The ending was a disappointment. So much hype about the Fisa, the war, how horrible Cat’s mom was, to then end up with a non-conflict. A lot of plot points were tied with a nice pink ribbon and I don’t like this type of ending. It’s lazy, to say the least. Also, there were some loose ends without resolution and at the end of the series didn’t give closure to all of it.

Something was just missing… and I’m sorry for it, since the Kingmaker Chronicles was otherwise a great series.

[Cocktails and Books]

My rating may change after giving this one a little more thought. But after having just finished, I have to say I'm a little disappointed in this book. She was more emotional, less bad ass and spent far too much time alone rather than her Beta team. Then there are all the loose ends to the storyline. I'm hoping the author comes out to say wait....there's another book.

Full review to come.