Review: Heartless by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Title: Heartless
Series: Tales of Goldstone Wood, #1
Author: Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
ISBN: 0764207806
Tags: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Source: Bought
Hearts: Did Not Finish

Princess Una of Parumvir has come of age and will soon be married. She dreams of a handsome and charming prince, but when the first suitor arrives, she finds him stodgy and boring. Prince Aethelbald from the mysterious land of Farthestshore has traveled far to prove his love–and also to bring hushed warnings of danger. A dragon is rumored to be approaching Parumvir.

Una, smitten instead with a more dashing prince, refuses Aethelbald’s offer–and ignores his warnings. Soon the Dragon King himself is in Parumvir, and Una, in giving her heart away unwisely, finds herself in grave danger. Only those courageous enough to risk everything have a hope of fighting off this advancing evil.

Review

Princess Una has finally come of age! Now she only has to wait till suitors arrive. But where is everybody? *SIGH* How long will she have to wait? Fortunately the Twelve Year Fair arrives at that moment, with lots of amazing and weird creatures of Goldstone Wood. Thank God, finally some distraction from the waiting and her lessons!

When she arrives at the fair, she’s lured into a tent by a creature. He’ll show her future to her! When the creature seems to have some bad intentions she’s saved by a very normal looking young man, who turns out to be the prince of Fartestshore. And her very first suitor! But even though he managed to save her, she lashes out to him before she knew who he is. And now she’s to ashamed to face him. Prince Oeric, however doesn’t waver. He plans to stay until she accepts his hand and hart. But then the dreams start…

What a book! And I don’t mean it in a good way. I’ve tried and tried and tried to finish this book, to no avail. I made it halfway through the book before throwing it away. My repulsion for Una was just too big. I just can’t stand her. Once in a while I get something like this. And if I can’t stand the hero / heroine it’s always hard to finish a book. In most cases there are funny / great /handsome / etc…. minor characters who help me get through it. Alas, that wasn’t the case here. The minor characters are too underdeveloped and didn’t appear clearly enough to be interesting. So I threw in the towel.

The story itself was pretty good, at least the part that I read. We’ve got weird-looking creatures, who come from an ancient and mysterious forest. An even mysterious bridge no one may cross… It really piqued my interest! Unfortunately Una ruined everything… She’s snobbish, haughty, conceited, arrogant, spoiled…. The title of this book is a very good description of her personality: heartless! Furthermore, when someone tries to help her, mostly prince Oeric who can feel something is wrong with her, she just insults him and runs him down. Just because he’s not pretty enough for her taste. Who cares how he looks like? There’s something wrong with you and you need help! This was just an example of Una’s behavior. Can you imagine why I quit?

Conclusion

DID NOT FINISH. I’ve tried so many times to read this book, but stranded after a couple of pages. Una is too vain, conceited, haughty, spoiled, etc… to really enjoy and to read the story. The story on its own was engaging, but because of Una and her behaviour spoiled. What a shame!

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Tales of Goldstone Wood

1. Heartless
2. Veiled Rose
3. Moonblood
4. Starflower
5. Dragonwitch (Not Yet Published)