Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers Review

Mortal Heart (His Fair Assassin #3) 
By Robin LaFevers

Rating: 5


'"Your love cannot change a man or a god. All it can do is open a door, create a new path for him to choose. One that has not been open to him before. That is what the power of your love can offer him - all of that, and no more. 

(...) Your love makes him happy. Whether it will give him the courage to step through that door remains to be seen."'


Without freedom, even the walls of a home can turn into those of a prison.

Annith has lived as a novitiate at the convent of St. Mortain for as long as she can remember. Many of her friends and fellow novitiates have come and gone, leaving the convent's confines to serve Death and fulfil their destinies. 

Everyone except for Annith.

Annith knows in her heart that she is destined to serve as Death's handmaiden, outside of the convent's walls. So when the abbess tells her that she is to be groomed to take on the role of Seeress, Annith is devastated. A life spent locked away inside the convent seems like the cruelest kind of punishment, after all of the years she's spent training to be the perfect assassin. 

Sometimes we need to take our fate into our own hands.

Praying that Mortain will guide her on the right path, Annith sets out - leaving the convent behind to find the answers to the burning questions surrounding her past and the mysterious workings of the convent.

A journey filled with hellequins, unexpected alliances, bitter truths, and difficult decisions lies ahead. Annith must find the strength to save those she loves...no matter the cost. 

The truth can be deadlier than any poison or blade. 

Mortal Heart is an emotional and thrilling finale to what has been a deeply captivating series. Robin LaFevers has worked her storytelling magic once again, to produce a book that you will not be able to put down. 

My thoughts on the book:

Obviously Mortal Heart was filled with everything that makes a great read: assassins, strong and witty females, gorgeous males, twisting and turning mysteries, and fantastic battle scenes.

But I want to focus, not on those elements, but on the truly imaginative (and OMG moment-worthy) twist.

Robin LaFevers is a genius.

Only after I'd re-read the twist a hundred times (pg. 304 and/or the end of Chapter 44) did I stop and realise that it wasn't actually a shock. Well, it shouldn't have been. Because there were so many clues! 

Looking back, I could see the trail of breadcrumbs she'd left us readers. But we saw them as small details to be overlooked - or as pieces of a different puzzle, to be solved later. But when you put those pieces together, it leads to one of the biggest twists in the series! 

Reading that twist, I was completely in a state of half shock, half 'OMG this is actually happening!!'

A truly perfect end to this series. I can't think of anything that could have been added to this book to make it better - it is literary perfection at its best :)

Have you read Mortal Heart? Did you enjoy the twist? Let me know below!