Tears of a Heart

So excited to be doing another review request!  

This review is for Tears of a Heart, by Chase Blackwell.

A continent on the verge of war.
A boy who is destined to become a legend.
A truth waiting to be uncovered.

A powerful coming-of-age tale of a young man destined to become one of the most powerful men Verold has ever known.
It’s a unique tale of adventure, adversity, and strength. Written with the hand of a poet and the heart of a warrior. The book’s action and depth will astound as the reader delves deeper into the masterful world painted in detailed strokes.

The prologue piqued my interested and by the first chapter I was sold.  The language is expressive and at times achingly beautiful and almost bardic.  A previous reviewer remarked that the style is similar to Tolkien.  I have to disagree.  I think the style is more reminiscent of Patrick Rothfuss.   Fans of Rothfuss will love this book.  

The sense of world in Tears of a Heart is just fantastic.  In some books it is easy to pretend that the culture the protagonist belongs to spans across the entire world.  Chase Blackwell does a fantastic job of showing how big and varied Aeden’s world is.

Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I ADORE Brandon Sanderson.  One of my favorite things about his writing is how well he lays hints.  Tiny, tiny hints that only register in the subconscious that make that big reveal that much better.  Blackwell has the same talent.  The way he laid hints and prods at the future was fantastic.  That red door… even if I had not enjoyed the book I would have been forced to keep reading to figure out what is behind that door…

Seriously…it’s killing me.

Writing good and bad developments in a story is a delicate balance.  Too many awful, soul crushing developments and the reader no longer wants to read the character’s pain.  Too few and the reader gets bored.  Blackwell walks the line really well, the moment you think nothing worse could happen to Aeden is the moment all hell breaks loose.  And I loved it.

I love gray characters.  I often pull out Nabokov’s Lolita to reference the trust placed in a main character.  The main character in Lolita is a child predator, and yet he lulls the reader into a false sense of security, often causing us to forget that he really is a bad guy.

I am not entirely sure yet if Aeden is a hero or villain in this world, and I find that so compelling.   I love how we know a bit about his future, just enough for us to question our trust of him as the protagonist.  But with each section as Aeden as narrator I was won over again- completely trusting that Aeden was a good guy.

Two things I did not love so much:

The language sometimes seemed a bit awkward, and used passive voice quite a lot.  But I was willing to overlook these instances because in other sections the language was beautiful.

The story starts out really strong, setting up our main character, the world he is living in, and the main conflict.  But when he enters the monastery the story got a bit slow.

My favorite lines:

This line was brilliant.  Wisdom rolled into a sentence.  

 This line will not make sense to those who have not read the book, but I got goosebumps.  It is amazing how words can evoke feeling.  These are the perfect words placed in the perfect moment.