Book 863: The Hollow Heart (Forgotten Gods #2) – Marie Rutkoski

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. After really adoring The Midnight Lie, I thought it was a shoe-in this one would be just as good. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.

The publicist reached out to me a few months ago and I was immediately drawn to the story because of the slow reveal of the magic and the love story aspect.* And Rutkoski really delivered on that in book one, but it just fell short for me in this book. Some of it may have been the narration, but I think the ending was what really sealed it for me as being meh.

The Hollow Heart picks up immediately after The Midnight Lie and we’re seeing the aftermath of Nirrim’s discovery of her power and resetting of Herath (kind way of saying bloody revolution). We also spend time with Sid in her homeland. And oddly, at first at least, we have a third narrator that is just called The God who is slowly revealed to be Nirrim’s parent and to have broken the pantheon’s ban on interacting with mortals even if they were forced into it by another god.

The addition of The God narrator was interesting and I found their story compelling, especially after I figured out the connection, but where I really struggled was with Nirrim’s narrative. So much of it was in her head this book and it was a struggle to read. Whereas in comparison you have Sid where she is interacting with her parents, god father and childhood nurse and we experience what Sid is going through. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of action with Nirrim, but it’s all seen through the light of who she is and who she was and it just gets annoying and monotonous after a while.

This novel is definitely more mature than the first novel, but I still don’t think reaches full maturity. It almost feels as if Rutkoski may have been planning a trilogy but then got scared halfway through and wrote short chapters for what could’ve been two books and it ultimately left me disappointed. Specifically, I’m referring to the sections after Sid and Nirrim “reconcile”. So much seems to happen but it’s glossed over. Why ignore the siege of Nerreth? Why not actually talk about what happens when Sid returns from the realm of the gods? There was so much that just felt glossed over in a sentence or two that it was frustrating and disappointing.

I had two favorite scenes of the novel. The first is when Sid talks to her father about marriage equality. It’s definitely a little clunky, but real conversations like this are just as clunky.

‘You are saying that your real problem with me is not that I want women, but that I can’t stay true to one.’ A slow irritation grows inside me. ‘You advise me not to treat women lightly, as playthings, but rather to be faithful, to find a love blessed by the god of souls, to have what you and Amma have.’ As I speak, my frustration becomes clear, and my father’s face changes as he begins to understand why, even before I say it. ‘But marriage is between men and women, Etta, in every known country in this world, including Herran. What you want for me is impossible. And you, a king, have helped make it impossible by your inaction.’
He looks stricken. ‘Sid, I am sorry. This never occurred to me.’
‘Why not, I wonder? Because you thought I would change? Grow out of it? Or because your love with Amma is so perfect you can’t imagine a different way?’
‘I will make such marriage into law.’
I shake my head. ‘ There is no woman I plan to marry. I am already engaged, and will keep that engagement.’
‘I will write the law anyway. I should have done it long ago. For everyone, not just you.’ (“Sid” Chapter 18?)

My second favorite scene is actually one of the more brutal scenes of the novel when Nirrim murders her former “lover”, Aren(?). The scenes leading up to it were the only interesting scenes of the book because of his very obvious desire to rule the country and subjugate Nirrim to his desires. When he attempts to murder her and usurp the throne I figured out what was going to happen only a second or two before it happened and that’s a well written scene.

Recommendation: If you desperately want to know if Sid and Nirrim get back together after reading The Midnight Lie, then read this one. If you’re okay with the ambiguity and the cliffhanger of what happens next then I’d say skip this one. In the end I was disappointed and the further away I get the more “meh” I feel about this one. It felt rushed and not as polished as the first book in the duology.

*I received a copy of The Hollow Heart from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “You have my heart. You know you do.”

Closing Line: “She listens, waiting for more, and I give it to her, for the god of lies is also the god of stories.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)