Spoiler-Free Review
The Heart of the World is the sequel and conclusion to the story started in The Isles of the Gods. Click below for my review of the first book:
What’s The Heart of the World about?
The slumbering gods have awoken, and our main characters are right in the line of fire.
It was fine, but not as good as book 1.
Compared to book 1, this sequel felt a bit…boring. There was a lot of talking and very little action. This story seemed to fall into the same trap that many duologies fall into: stretching into two books a story that probably could’ve been just one long book instead. Or, possibly, truncating a story that could’ve been a trilogy if book 2 had gone a little differently.
I was intrigued just enough to keep going, but I was never super invested in either the characters or the outcomes. I suppose my resounding thought while listening to this one is that it was pretty average YA fantasy, if not a little disappointing compared to book 1. Plot points felt too easy at times, especially toward the end. I also wanted more from the gods’ characters.
It wasn’t all bad. Relationships had time to flourish and develop in this installment, and we got to see a little more from the side characters’ personal lives.
On another positive note, this sequel brought back all the same audiobook narrators from book 1, and they did a great job. And like book 1, I think this writing style works better for me on audio than eyeball reading.
Side note: I tend to pad up my ratings for YA books, since I’m not the target audience. So, I give this 3 stars.
Should you read The Heart of the World?
All of my notes and addendums in this section for book 1 still apply here. I recommend this duology if you liked Divine Rivals and enjoy adventure stories. You’ll like the second book if character-focused stories are your jam.
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