Book Review: Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers

“Mortal Heart” (His Fair Assassin #3) by Robin LaFevers (2014)

Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Fiction, Romance, YA

Page Length: 444 pages (hardcover pages)

Synopsis:

Annith has watched her gifted sisters at the convent come and go, carrying out their dark dealings in the name of St. Mortain, patiently awaiting her own turn to serve Death. But her worst fears are realized when she discovers she is being groomed by the abbess as a Seeress, to be forever sequestered in the rock and stone womb of the convent. Feeling sorely betrayed, Annith decides to strike out on her own.

She has spent her whole life training to be an assassin. Just because the convent has changed its mind doesn’t mean she has.. 

(description from Goodreads)

Review:

Upon finishing this amazing book, I came under the sudden realization that this was the final book in the trilogy and I became overwhelmed with sadness and began to sob uncontrollably. Okay… so maybe that’s not all entirely true, but to find out that this was the end to the His Fair Assassins trilogy was soul crushing. I would definitely claim this series as one of my top favorite YA trilogies and historical fiction books of all time. The writing is fantastic, the characters are well-developed, and even though the historical timeline is crunched to fit the novels story line, the history aspect is really interesting.

The last book in the trilogy focuses on Annith, who is stuck behind at the convent, while Isame and Sybella are out and about fighting evil by moonlight. She knows she’s ready and feels that she has a greater purpose in life than to stay at the convent and train new novitiates. She ends up learning some revelations that cause her to put plans in actions, sneak out of the convent, and find the real truth of the covenant’s mysteries while testing out her assassin skills.

Once again, like the other novels in the trilogy, I found myself doing a bit of research for historical events and figures used in the novel. Like I stated above, the history in these novels are intriguing and I enjoyed that while reading I am being exposed to new things I had never learned before. Like Ismae and Sybella did in their perspective stories, we get to see Annith’s past and why she presents a tough girl image and builds a wall between her and others. We also learn more about Mortain, in which LaFevers drops a bombshell mid-book, and left me with my mouth hanging open in shock.

I felt that Mortal Heart ended the His Fair Assassins trilogy well. They tied up the loose ends from the previous books, and everything came around full circle. As much as I hate to see this series end and wish that they were more novels, I do appreciate where the series ended and the overall quality of these three women’s tales.

Final Verdict:

A thrilling, but satisfying end to the His Fair Assassins trilogy. 5 out 5 stars! 🙂