The Heart Trials out now from G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers; 400 pages
Content Warning: Oppression, death, murder, fantasy racism, assault
About the Author: “J. Elle is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of multiple books. Her debut duology, Wings of Ebony, dubbed “an incredible debut” by NPR was a 2022 NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literary Work for Youth and Teens and a First Novelist American Library Association Honor Book. Her international bestselling series, House of Marionne, translated into sixteen languages across five continents, explores oppressive systems of power through a romantic fantastical lens” (Bio from author’s website).
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Axira Merreri is seventeen years old, almost eighteen, and one of the best smugglers in the Saltblood district of Skyhaven. Her specialty? Stealing Heartfillers—replacements for positive emotions—and distributing them to clients in her district and even the Citadel. Everything comes crashing down, however, when she gets a request from a member of Skyhaven royalty for all of her heart fillers. She’s caught after an unlikely encounter with Prince Caelus, whose attempts to help her escape are rebuffed. Axira is instead forced to enter the Tournament of Hearts to regain her freedom, and must navigate the new and terrifying realm of connection—a privilege denied to her all her life. With Caelus also being forced by his father to enter the tournament, and the connection between them creating enemies left and right, Axira needs to learn who she can trust to make it out of the competition alive.
What drew me to The Heart Trials was emotions being used to control an entire nation—literally. The idea that people can’t show that they feel anything, be it grief or love or excitement, was fascinating. I also wanted to see how a character who was denied feeling emotions for her entire life would grow, with suddenly being able to express emotions with people. However, while I find the concept of the story interesting, I ultimately did not enjoy reading it. The story was clearly inspired by The Hunger Games—which by itself is not a negative thing. But, as I was reading, the similarities were a little too uncanny for me. Serafina, the younger-sister character, didn’t come off as endearing and innocent as I suspect she was meant to be, and the concept of separating a nation into “districts” that then provide the main city with goods was very reminiscent of Panem. I found the relationship between Caelus and Axira to be predictable with how their first few interactions went, but they—alongside the concept of the Heartfillers and how that developed—did end up being really enjoyable to read about. While I saw it coming from miles away, it was still fun to read Axira and Caelus getting to know each other and seeing how their priorities shifted the longer the Tournament went on. The Heart Trials ended up not being to my taste, but if you enjoyed The Hunger Games and love romantic reality shows, this will be a very enjoyable read.
Pine Reads Review would like to thank NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers for sending us an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Any quotes are taken from an advanced copy and may be subject to change before final publication.
Grace McCool, Pine Reads Review Writer & Editor