I seem to do this thing where I’ll be super-excited for a book, buy it the day it’s released…and then never get around to reading it. Or read it much, much later than originally planned. I think part of that stems from knowing once I’m finished, I’m back to waiting for the next/final book in a particular series. That’s pretty much what’s happened here. I made a point to buy this the second it came out because 1) I’d bought Bring Me Their Hearts in hardcover when it was released, despite already owning an advance reader copy ebook and 2) it’s better to immediately support authors rather than do the wait-and-buy-them-all-at-once thing (seriously, it is). Note that it’s also a big plus that I bought them in hardcover. I have to really enjoy a book to buy in that format, though to be fair, I had to buy this one in hardcover because I like my books to match. Oh, and I almost forgot — this one is part of my 2020 Resolution.
Find Me Their Bones (2019)
Written by: Sara Wolf
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 400 (Hardcover)
Series: Bring Me Their Hearts (Book 2)
Publisher: Entangled Teen
The Premise:
No one can save her.
In order to protect Prince Lucien d’Malvane’s heart, Zera had to betray him. Now, he hates the sight of her. Trapped in Cavanos as a prisoner of the king, she awaits the inevitable moment her witch severs their magical connection and finally ends her life.
But fate isn’t ready to give her up just yet.
With freedom coming from the most unlikely of sources, Zera is given a second chance at life as a Heartless. But it comes with a terrible price. As the king mobilizes his army to march against the witches, Zera must tame an elusive and deadly valkerax trapped in the tunnels underneath the city if she wants to regain her humanity.
Winning over a bloodthirsty valkerax? Hard. Winning back her friends before war breaks out? A little harder.
But a Heartless winning back Prince Lucien’s heart?
The hardest thing she’s ever done.
A few tiny spoilers for the previous book.
Discussion: These books are so much fun to read, although I will say that at times Zera absolutely drives me up the wall. It’s mostly because the classic trope of “We can’t be together so I have to make you hate me” is going on hard in this book and I kind of hate that trope. I would have much rather Zera just go off on Lucien and remind him — repeatedly if necessary — that she’s Heartless, she eats people (messily, I might add), he’s a prince, and they 100% should not be together. Do that instead of being snarky and sassy and trying to do things that make him hate you. It’s obvious it isn’t working. Especially with the occasional backtrack. At one point she’s doing the “hate me” thing and then when he fires back with “ok fine, nothing that happened meant anything to me,” she blows her cover with shock and disbelief in “that kiss meant nothing?!” Zera. Girl. Seriously? Or every time Lucian goes to touch her in some fashion she pretty much turns to jelly and Lucian easily picks up on it. Just admit that you’re into him but say, “Sorry, can’t, my heart’s literally in a jar and there’s a voice in my head that helps me turn into something that looks like Pumpkinhead and tells me to EAT PEOPLE.”
Then there’s the “I can’t explain anything to you for your safety” trope. Zera’s defense mechanism is her sass and jokes, which is fine, but at some point I can’t believe she didn’t just tell Lucien, Malachite, and Fiona that if they really wanted to know what was going on they should just ask Varia, because she’s obviously the one in charge. There are a lot of things I wish Zera would have done instead of just ooze sarcasm and whatnot. She’s got a lot of anger and frustration and it’s a wonder she didn’t ever go off on anyone about being a slave. Because she is. She is a slave in every way — if her witch commands her to do something, she has to do it, no matter how awful it might be. Fiona sees this firsthand and yet still doesn’t seem to have any sort of grasp on how shitty Zera’s situation is. What’s more, she never once brings up the other two Heartless she would have freed if she’d taken Lucien’s heart. I wish she had.
I also don’t know why she keeps beating herself up about killing the guards that were with Gavik in the previous book. Yes, I understand killing is bad in general, but those guys were going to straight up help murder Lucien. Perhaps it’s just me, but maybe don’t try to kill your crown prince and not expect a teensy bit of karma? I still don’t think she should feel bad about the first group of people she killed, either. They murdered her entire family. Fuck those guys.
As much as I grumble about those bits above, I really did love this book. The plot took a turn I didn’t expect given what the summary is. I thought Zera was going to have to go underground to find and then tame a valkerax. I wanted a story about Malachite taking on valkerax — I thought maybe the two might be forced to team up and that sort of story would happen. Instead, Varia’s request of Zera is completely different…and now that I think about it, almost the opposite. And I really didn’t expect the speed at which Varia’s goal might appear. As I neared the end I thought I might know what the final book would be about and now I’ve got only the vaguest of guesses. Which I like. Things have certainly changed, and boy what a cliffhanger I find myself stuck on.
Quick note for anyone looking for books featuring inclusion, in Bring Me Their Hearts it’s implied that Fiona had a thing for Varia. Here it’s made clear that they’re both very interested in one another, which is nice, although Varia’s aspirations may put a bit of a strain on that relationship. But to say more would be spoilery.
In conclusion: Absolutely go read this series if you’re in the market for some new fantasy. Even if those tropes drive you buggy, you’ll be able to power through them for everything else this book has to offer. The only real frustrating thing now is the fact that I have to wait until the third book is out — and that might take a while.
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