Mortal Heart

Starred review from September 29, 2014
This final volume in LaFevers’s much-praised His Fair Assassin trilogy centers on Annith, the most brilliant of the young women brought up in the convent of St. Mortain, an ancient Celtic god still very much present in the tale’s 15th-
century Brittany. Despite being unequalled with knives and bow, Annith has been refused assignment as an assassin by the Abbess even though her close friends, Sybella and Ismae, have already made their first kills. When a much younger and underprepared girl is sent out in her stead, probably to her death, Annith rebels, fleeing the convent. She hopes to aid the endangered Duchess of Brittany whose meager forces must protect their country from a French invasion. On her way, however, Annith meets Balthazaar—a Hellequin, one of the damned souls charged with bringing the recently dead to Mortain, but also “breathtakingly handsome in a dark,
almost broken way”—and her life is changed forever. Both a powerful tale of political intrigue and a heady supernatural romance, this memorable adventure will entirely satisfy devotees of this series. Ages 14–up. Agent: Erin Murphy, Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Narrator Jennifer Grace gives voice to Annith in the concluding title of LaFevers's His Fair Assassin trilogy. Though Annith has spent her life training to be an assassin in the convent of the God of Death, she has yet to receive any assignments. Growing frustrated, she makes her own mission and flees. Grace uses a courtly, articulate style that is similar to the narrators of the preceding titles in the trilogy, giving the listening experience a sense of continuity. However, she tends to focus heavily on Annith's bitterness and anger. This focus brings out some engaging moments when the drama is high and plot twists are revealed but leaves Annith sounding a bit one-noted otherwise and sometimes results in a labored pace. E.M.C. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine