Review: Of Tainted Heart (The Quatrefoil Chronicles #2)

Author: Olivia Wildenstein & Katie Hayoz

Started reading: March 27th 2022

Finished the book: April 26th 2022

Pages: 430 / 13:24:00

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Published: July 29th 2021

Source: Audible

Goodreads score: 4.48

My score:

Synopsis

SLATE
Somehow, we survived. It was supposed to be over. No more curses. No more magic. Just a calm, little life in Brume. For the first time ever, I’m ready for calm. So. Damn. Ready. Just so happens that the girl I love doesn’t like to leave things unfinished. Fine. So our little crew will assemble the Quatrefoil and bring magic back to the world. We’ve already faced death. This can’t be worse.
Or can it?

CADENCE I could have let things be. Maybe I should have let things be. My crew is alive. Slate is by my side. And life is returning to normal. Except the university is a giant pile of rubble. Papa is still stuck in a wheelchair. And a girl is dead. If magic can change all that, I want to try one last time to bring it back.
Hopefully, I won’t regret it.

My thoughts

Listening to the first audiobook was such a treat, that I was immediately excited for the second book. I couldn't wait till it came out and was really happy to see it appear on Audible! I'm actually a bit confused at how little people have read the first book in this series, and I feel like these two authors deserve much, much more!

Pros

• Adventure: TThe adventurous part in this series is so much fun. It really is one of those books where there is a joint goal between all the characters and they have to do whatever necessary to get to that goal. There are quests and deaths and riddles and alternate realities. After the first book I was a bit scared and felt like, how are they going to throw in more quests and riddles, because I felt like the first book could have been a standalone; I felt like it was finished. But the way they were able to bring that adventurous feeling back into this book was really great!
• Get thrown right in: It's so satisfying when authors write more books in a series and they don't spend any time setting the characters or worldbuilding again, because they assume you've read the first book. That was what was happening in this book. I felt rewarded for reading the first book and after 2 chapters the adventure and action kicks right back in and the story picks up where it ended.
• Ending: The ending was so good and I felt fulfilled and satisfied and happy and elated and all these good emotions. I loved the prologue so much and now I feel like this series of two books has ended, but the prologue does leave room for maybe other books in this series about other characters, which is really smart and makes me hope for a bit more in the Quatrefoil Chronicles.

Cons

• Hard tine: Sometimes I had a hard time with what was going on, especially in the middle part. Not with the quests or anything, but I couldn't picture the Quatrefoil and the part with the leaves and all that didn't make sense to me and took away a little bit of the reading fun.
• Characters: When I see a new book in a series I'm like; "I'm so ready to meet all these new characters!" Which wasn't the case in this book, it's the same cast of characters and somewhere that made me a bit sad, because I would've loved for more amazing characters written by these authors!

Overall

The Quatrefoil Chronicles is such a fun series of (for now) two books that are easy and quick to read. If you love those adventurous quest kind of fantasy books, this is definitely your cup of tea. I also love how these two authors could just easily blend their writing into something that feels so smooth!

Other opinions on this book

"Magical, romantic, and full of jaw-dropping moments, Of Tainted Heart has everything I could ever want in a sequel."

- Candace Robinson, bestselling author of Faeries of Oz

Thanks for reading!

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