In the Kingdom of Hearts, Lady Catherine Pinkerton is acclaimed for her delicious delicacies, with the King himself her greatest connoisseur. Catherine is a lovely young woman, she's passionate and considerate, appeasing her mother the Marchioness who is determined to ensure her daughter becomes the Queen of Hearts while being forced to cast her aspirations aside.
The Kingdom of Hearts is imaginative and lavish landscape, wonderfully portrayed with enchantment and whimsy. Set within the confines of Wonderland, Heartless is a reimagined narrative of the Queen of Hearts from Catherine's origins, to her portrayal as a ruthless Queen. Her relationship with her parents consists of Catherine placating her mother, an often mean spirited woman living vicariously through her only child. Catherine's only friend and confidante is the kindhearted and intelligent Mary Ann, who is employed as a servant within the family's estate. Their warm and compassionate friendship was lovely despite her mother's disapproval, but it was Catherine's rivalry with Margaret where readers may foreshadow an indication of a ruthless Queen.
Although the King of Hearts is frivolous and whimsical, Catherine is apathetic and yearns for a passionate courtship, not anticipating Jest, the King of Hearts' enchanting Court Joker and the two engage in a tentative love affair. I absolutely cherished Jest, his character was so incredibly precious. But behind his jovial and dashing persona lies a boy on a covert mission.
The easiest way to steal something, is for it to be given willingly.
Although I enjoyed the attraction between Catherine and Jest, Jest was an enigma and the romance was seemingly that Catherine had fallen in love with the adventure and freedom Jest provided rather than the character himself.
Sometimes your heart is the only thing worth listening to.
The secondary characters were lovingly crafted, a reimagining of the original characters from Alice's Adventure's In Wonderland. The Jabberwock terrorising the residents of Hearts, extraordinary tea parties, Cheshire and the White Rabbit. Although the storyline was wonderful, the characters themselves felt superficial, leaving me unable to invest in Catherine and Jest as a romantic partnership. Regardless, it was incredibly entertaining.
My first foray into a world recreated and reimagined by Marissa Meyer was captivating and delightfully charming. The prequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is delicate, enchanting and deliciously spectacular with a fusion of fantastically vivid imagining and childlike wonder.