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Tabat Quartet #2
Hearts of Tabat
In the second book of The Tabat Quartet, Nebula award-winning author Cat Rambo expands the breathtaking story from Beasts of Tabat with new points of view as Adelina, Sebastiano, and others add their voices. Tabat is a world, a society, and a cast of characters unlike any you have read before.
Fireworks.
Riots.
Rousing speeches. All markers of the vast societal upheavals taking place in the city of Tabat.
But personal upheavals reflect the chaos. Adelina Nettlepurse, noted historian and secret owner of Spinner Press, watches the politics and intrigue with interest, only to find herself drawn into its heart by a dangerous text and a wholly unsuitable love affair with a man well below her station.
The match offered by Merchant Mage Sebastiano Silvercloth would be much more acceptable, but Sebastiano is hampered by his own troubles at the College of Mages, where the dwindling of magical resources threatens Tabat itself. And worse, his father demands he marry as soon as possible.
When Adelina's best friend, glamorous and charming gladiator Bella Kanto, is convicted of sorcery and exiled, the city of Tabat undergoes increasing turmoil as even the weather changes to reflect the confusion and loss of one of its most beloved heroes.
Meanwhile the Beasts of Tabat—magical creatures such as dryads, minotaurs, and centaurs—are experiencing a revolution of their own, questioning a social order that holds them at its lowest level. But who is helping the Beasts in their subversive uprising?
"a fascinating world of magic, intrigue, and revolution.”—Publishers Weekly on Beasts of Tabat
Fireworks.
Riots.
Rousing speeches. All markers of the vast societal upheavals taking place in the city of Tabat.
But personal upheavals reflect the chaos. Adelina Nettlepurse, noted historian and secret owner of Spinner Press, watches the politics and intrigue with interest, only to find herself drawn into its heart by a dangerous text and a wholly unsuitable love affair with a man well below her station.
The match offered by Merchant Mage Sebastiano Silvercloth would be much more acceptable, but Sebastiano is hampered by his own troubles at the College of Mages, where the dwindling of magical resources threatens Tabat itself. And worse, his father demands he marry as soon as possible.
When Adelina's best friend, glamorous and charming gladiator Bella Kanto, is convicted of sorcery and exiled, the city of Tabat undergoes increasing turmoil as even the weather changes to reflect the confusion and loss of one of its most beloved heroes.
Meanwhile the Beasts of Tabat—magical creatures such as dryads, minotaurs, and centaurs—are experiencing a revolution of their own, questioning a social order that holds them at its lowest level. But who is helping the Beasts in their subversive uprising?
"a fascinating world of magic, intrigue, and revolution.”—Publishers Weekly on Beasts of Tabat
- GenresFantasy
435 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 2, 2018
10 people are currently reading
38 people want to read
About the author
Cat Rambo
249 books584 followersF&SF writer Cat Rambo lives and writes in the Midwest. They have been shortlisted for an Endeavour Award, Locus Award, World Fantasy Award and most recently the Nebula Award. Their debut novel, BEASTS OF TABAT, appeared in 2015 from WordFire Press, the same year she co-edited AD ASTRA: THE SFWA 50TH ANNIVERSARY COOKBOOK. Their most recent book is DEVIL'S GUN (novel, Tor Macmillan). They are a former two-term President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) and still volunteers with the organization.
They run the popular online writing school focused on fantasy and science fiction, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. (academy.catrambo.com)
Sign up for Cat's newsletter at
They run the popular online writing school focused on fantasy and science fiction, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. (academy.catrambo.com)
Sign up for Cat's newsletter at
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 6, 2018
So once again, a lot of my issues with this book were due to incompatibility rather than actual bad writing. So keep in mind that, while I will be honest about the things I didn't like, what rubbed me the wrong way might still appeal to someone else, and "X didn't appeal to me personally" isn't necessarily a criticism of the writing, or of X itself.
In this case, X being that most of the characters are huge assholes.
More often than not, this story reads like a horrible parenting handbook—emotional manipulation is rampant, there's no small amount of religious abuse, "but-but-but family!" is often cited to cow children into blind obedience to their asshole parents or siblings, and even the adults are unable to break free from their DNA donors. Sebastiano is an asshole who takes it in turns to play the downtrodden underdog card or act magmanimous depending on what suits him, but then takes undue pleasure from committing unexpected acts of cruelty and kicking people when they're down. Eloquence is an asshole who cares more about shoving his religion down other people's throats than he does about his loved ones' wellbeing, and whether he's completely oblivious to their activities or is deliberately turning a blind eye as his sisters wantonly abuse the youngest among them, neither speaks well to his qualities as either a dutiful guardian or a good person. Not even halfway through the book I was fervently hoping that Adelina would end up with neither.
Speaking of Adelina, she's also an asshole who upon hearing of Bella's arrest cares more about how her association with Bella is going to affect her business than she does about the fact that her best friend is now in the torture chamber, and lays the blame for on a child who made an honest slip of something that she failed to emphasize was a big deal. News flash: if you don't want your employees blabbing about something that from where they're standing seems completely innocuous, it is your job to make that clear to them and your fault, not theirs, if they inadvertently blow your cover because you never told them that that self-evident fact of the workplace is actually your Deep Dark Secret. Even Obedience, the youngest and most sympathetic of the cast, still shows some signs of being an asshole-in-training who blames everyone who rejects her for not seeing her wonderful potential rather than stopping to consider that getting a good position takes time and effort, and she can't expect her dream job to be handed to her on a silver platter just because she wants it.
I know the author explained her reasoning for following a different group of characters this time... but given that the last book ended on a cliffhanger for both Bella and Teo, this still feels like kind of a dirty cheat. The author suckered you into buying the sequel with the ending of the last book just to find out what happens, only to learn that no, you don't get to find out what happens, the author is just trying to sucker you into buying the next book by putting that resolution off.
One other thing that wasn't a huge deal but was definitely annoying was that, even accounting for the fact that she's a celebrity and even accounting for the fact that one of the main voices in this installment knows her personally, every single one of the characters in this book spends a disproportionate amount of time either thinking about or talking about Bella Kanto. Sure, this makes sense in the cases where Bella Kanto is relevant—such as the characters who are watching a match, or a friend who's worried about her after hearing some bad news. Yet even if Bella Kanto isn't relevant, she'll somehow manage to worm her way into the conversation anyway—I dunno about the author, but I generally don't go out for tea with a friend only to spend the entire outing talking about another mutual friend who isn't even there. That actually strikes me as being kinda weird. We even see this from the character who's professed repeatedly to have zero interest in gladiatorial matches, and the girl who's aspired to be pretty much anything but a gladiator—it doesn't matter, because the author will still find some way to work in a mention of Bella Kanto.
This actually reminds me of a few fan writers I've seen, who have one favorite character they're completely obsessed over—which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They know what they like and they're happy writing it, good for them, and a writer who's really invested in a character is a writer who's best suited to bring out the potential and truly make that character shine. The problem happens when such a writer branches out a bit and attempts to write a story that's centered on someone else, only to keep bringing the focus back around onto their pet favorite every other paragraph, so that even when they're trying to expand their horizons and give a nod to the rest of the cast it's still dead obvious what they really want to be writing. That's exactly what seems to be happening with this book, and given the number of setbacks in publishing it (difficulty writing due to flagging interest, perhaps? One can only guess), it seems that despite the author's claims that she changed the focus in this book because giving the other characters a voice was important, the only character she's really interested in writing about is Bella Kanto.
Speaking of Bella Kanto, one thing that's a bit more serious is the sheer amount of excuse-making and apologism the other characters expend on her behalf.
Earlier on in the book, Adelina and Leonoa make an observation that anyone who's involved with Bella inevitably ends up getting hurt, but oh, she can't help it, that's just how she is, and isn't it cute that she's so independent? No. No, that's not cute. It doesn't matter whether or not she means it, that doesn't change the fact that people are still getting hurt, nor does it change the fact that Bella knows it yet still keeps on waltzing through life leaving a trail of broken hearts and strained friendships in her wake because she doesn't care to make even the slightest effort to change her behavior—this while Adelina has been bending over backwards to avoid hurting her.
Good things:
Much as I was hoping that Adelina would end up with neither Sebastiano nor Eloquence, the resolution of the love triangle was actually kind of a breath of fresh air.
The climax of the story was also well-done.
In this case, X being that most of the characters are huge assholes.
More often than not, this story reads like a horrible parenting handbook—emotional manipulation is rampant, there's no small amount of religious abuse, "but-but-but family!" is often cited to cow children into blind obedience to their asshole parents or siblings, and even the adults are unable to break free from their DNA donors. Sebastiano is an asshole who takes it in turns to play the downtrodden underdog card or act magmanimous depending on what suits him, but then takes undue pleasure from committing unexpected acts of cruelty and kicking people when they're down. Eloquence is an asshole who cares more about shoving his religion down other people's throats than he does about his loved ones' wellbeing, and whether he's completely oblivious to their activities or is deliberately turning a blind eye as his sisters wantonly abuse the youngest among them, neither speaks well to his qualities as either a dutiful guardian or a good person. Not even halfway through the book I was fervently hoping that Adelina would end up with neither.
Speaking of Adelina, she's also an asshole who upon hearing of Bella's arrest cares more about how her association with Bella is going to affect her business than she does about the fact that her best friend is now in the torture chamber, and lays the blame for on a child who made an honest slip of something that she failed to emphasize was a big deal. News flash: if you don't want your employees blabbing about something that from where they're standing seems completely innocuous, it is your job to make that clear to them and your fault, not theirs, if they inadvertently blow your cover because you never told them that that self-evident fact of the workplace is actually your Deep Dark Secret. Even Obedience, the youngest and most sympathetic of the cast, still shows some signs of being an asshole-in-training who blames everyone who rejects her for not seeing her wonderful potential rather than stopping to consider that getting a good position takes time and effort, and she can't expect her dream job to be handed to her on a silver platter just because she wants it.
I know the author explained her reasoning for following a different group of characters this time... but given that the last book ended on a cliffhanger for both Bella and Teo, this still feels like kind of a dirty cheat. The author suckered you into buying the sequel with the ending of the last book just to find out what happens, only to learn that no, you don't get to find out what happens, the author is just trying to sucker you into buying the next book by putting that resolution off.
One other thing that wasn't a huge deal but was definitely annoying was that, even accounting for the fact that she's a celebrity and even accounting for the fact that one of the main voices in this installment knows her personally, every single one of the characters in this book spends a disproportionate amount of time either thinking about or talking about Bella Kanto. Sure, this makes sense in the cases where Bella Kanto is relevant—such as the characters who are watching a match, or a friend who's worried about her after hearing some bad news. Yet even if Bella Kanto isn't relevant, she'll somehow manage to worm her way into the conversation anyway—I dunno about the author, but I generally don't go out for tea with a friend only to spend the entire outing talking about another mutual friend who isn't even there. That actually strikes me as being kinda weird. We even see this from the character who's professed repeatedly to have zero interest in gladiatorial matches, and the girl who's aspired to be pretty much anything but a gladiator—it doesn't matter, because the author will still find some way to work in a mention of Bella Kanto.
This actually reminds me of a few fan writers I've seen, who have one favorite character they're completely obsessed over—which isn't necessarily a bad thing. They know what they like and they're happy writing it, good for them, and a writer who's really invested in a character is a writer who's best suited to bring out the potential and truly make that character shine. The problem happens when such a writer branches out a bit and attempts to write a story that's centered on someone else, only to keep bringing the focus back around onto their pet favorite every other paragraph, so that even when they're trying to expand their horizons and give a nod to the rest of the cast it's still dead obvious what they really want to be writing. That's exactly what seems to be happening with this book, and given the number of setbacks in publishing it (difficulty writing due to flagging interest, perhaps? One can only guess), it seems that despite the author's claims that she changed the focus in this book because giving the other characters a voice was important, the only character she's really interested in writing about is Bella Kanto.
Speaking of Bella Kanto, one thing that's a bit more serious is the sheer amount of excuse-making and apologism the other characters expend on her behalf.
Earlier on in the book, Adelina and Leonoa make an observation that anyone who's involved with Bella inevitably ends up getting hurt, but oh, she can't help it, that's just how she is, and isn't it cute that she's so independent? No. No, that's not cute. It doesn't matter whether or not she means it, that doesn't change the fact that people are still getting hurt, nor does it change the fact that Bella knows it yet still keeps on waltzing through life leaving a trail of broken hearts and strained friendships in her wake because she doesn't care to make even the slightest effort to change her behavior—this while Adelina has been bending over backwards to avoid hurting her.
Good things:
Much as I was hoping that Adelina would end up with neither Sebastiano nor Eloquence, the resolution of the love triangle was actually kind of a breath of fresh air.
The climax of the story was also well-done.
November 25, 2018
Hearts of Tabat is the second book in the Tabat Quartet, but you can start with the first book or with this one, as they both tell different stories focused on different characters. As the title indicates, this installment of the fantasy series centers on romance, but it is a dark romance, laced with the rumbles of revolution, power, and cruelty. This second story also features one of the most compelling characters I've read in a long time! The world is intriguing and immersive and now I’m so curious to read the rest of the series.
May 28, 2023
While BEASTS OF TABAT gave us an entry to this new fantasy realm, HEARTS OF TABAT takes a deep dive into three main characters, their families, and how their lives weave together. As before, Cat Rambo does a great job of worldbuilding, her prose is clean, and there are familiar notes of social and political conflict. It's apparent there are more mysteries to be revealed as the quartet unfolds. A gentle, lovely read.
March 25, 2019
This book was around 3.5 stars for me.
I haven't read the first of the Tabat Quartet books but was told this was a good introduction to the series. I enjoyed the prose and unique characters. Rambo does some incredibly detailed world building and introduces a plethora of magical characters and their struggles with family and expectations.
This struck me as a sort of political fantasy series that has me intrigued.
I haven't read the first of the Tabat Quartet books but was told this was a good introduction to the series. I enjoyed the prose and unique characters. Rambo does some incredibly detailed world building and introduces a plethora of magical characters and their struggles with family and expectations.
This struck me as a sort of political fantasy series that has me intrigued.
October 16, 2021
At first I was worried that this would be an aside that lingered too much on familiar territory, but Cat Rambo's question about the form of epic fantasy is here answered with gorgeous, expansive, delicious story going sideways in all the right directions.
April 16, 2019
Another visit to the not that weird 'new weird' city of Tabat.
Where the first book focussed on the gladiator Bella Kanto, this books focusses on Adelina Nettlepurse, a Merchant and secret publisher and Merchant Mage Sebastiano Silvercloth: two characters stuck in their Merchant class while having other ambitions. While I liked their stories, the characters are sometimes a bit self absorbed.
While Bella Kanto does make some appearances, her shadow looms over the story: she should have been involved in a bit more scenes, it now feels like too constructed.
The class war/revolution that's brewing in the background mostly stays there: in the background. It never really feels the characters have a part in the political area of the city, even when they are explicitly involved. One of the main political issues is the emancipation of the magical creatures like dryads and centaurs. Weirdly enough none of the main characters is non-human...
These remarks don't mean I didn't enjoy the story, I'm really curious where the next installment takes us, and how the story lines of the first two books will meet.
Where the first book focussed on the gladiator Bella Kanto, this books focusses on Adelina Nettlepurse, a Merchant and secret publisher and Merchant Mage Sebastiano Silvercloth: two characters stuck in their Merchant class while having other ambitions. While I liked their stories, the characters are sometimes a bit self absorbed.
While Bella Kanto does make some appearances, her shadow looms over the story: she should have been involved in a bit more scenes, it now feels like too constructed.
The class war/revolution that's brewing in the background mostly stays there: in the background. It never really feels the characters have a part in the political area of the city, even when they are explicitly involved. One of the main political issues is the emancipation of the magical creatures like dryads and centaurs. Weirdly enough none of the main characters is non-human...
These remarks don't mean I didn't enjoy the story, I'm really curious where the next installment takes us, and how the story lines of the first two books will meet.
August 23, 2021
A 2 nd book even better than the 1st!
Unlike other reviewers I was happy to leave the previous hero and discover more viewpoints to the first book. I found the heroine of this far more relatable and my sense of wonder for the city seem through the eyes of this books characters broader. I imagined it might be a bit boring going over events that happened in the first book again but was happily swept up in events all over again as the different viewpoints painted a fuller and new picture. I often find the second book of a series the dragging one, here events swept me up and I flew through the story.
I would recommend this for fantasy loved who like their characters fabulous but relatable and their romance realistic and complicated.
The world is gritty and believable while still brimming with amazing creatures and insightful glimpses into the darker side of human behavior in respect to slavery, class and greed.
I am looking forward to the rest.
Unlike other reviewers I was happy to leave the previous hero and discover more viewpoints to the first book. I found the heroine of this far more relatable and my sense of wonder for the city seem through the eyes of this books characters broader. I imagined it might be a bit boring going over events that happened in the first book again but was happily swept up in events all over again as the different viewpoints painted a fuller and new picture. I often find the second book of a series the dragging one, here events swept me up and I flew through the story.
I would recommend this for fantasy loved who like their characters fabulous but relatable and their romance realistic and complicated.
The world is gritty and believable while still brimming with amazing creatures and insightful glimpses into the darker side of human behavior in respect to slavery, class and greed.
I am looking forward to the rest.
Read
August 11, 2018The Hearts of Tabat is rich in emotions and description, though it revolves around a murder mystery as well. We experience the imaginary port city of Tabat through the eyes of four narrators, two merchants and two siblings from a poor household. Adelina, the secret publisher of a newspaper, and Sebastiano, a member of the Mages’ College who handles trade negotiations, both come from Merchant families with high expectations. Neither Sebastiano’s critical father, or Adelina’s overbearing mother, are pleased with the careers their offspring have chosen. Into their lives come two people from a very different background, Eloquence and his sister Obedience. Like most of the poor, they worship at the Moon Temples, and therefore receive names based on personality traits. While Eloquence, who has the good fortune to become a fresh-water pilot, does have a gift with words, Obedience doesn’t fit her name. She struggles to escape the miserable apprenticeship the Temple finds for her.
As the novel begins, Adelina is still obsessed with her former lover, the famous female gladiator, Bella Canto. When she meets the charming Eloquence, it seems she might finally move on. But will Eloquence’s rigid ideas about his younger sister, Obedience, ruin their relationship?
Though the Hearts of Tabat has romantic elements, it offers suspense against a background of political unrest. The book plays out against a richly developed world, one in which mythical animals serve mankind and fuel machines. Revolutionary ideas about the magical beasts are developing; the murders that take place serve as a testament to that. Far from being mere “beasts”, the wonderful magical creatures that populate Cat Rambo’s world have feelings and needs that human society will ignore at its peril.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
As the novel begins, Adelina is still obsessed with her former lover, the famous female gladiator, Bella Canto. When she meets the charming Eloquence, it seems she might finally move on. But will Eloquence’s rigid ideas about his younger sister, Obedience, ruin their relationship?
Though the Hearts of Tabat has romantic elements, it offers suspense against a background of political unrest. The book plays out against a richly developed world, one in which mythical animals serve mankind and fuel machines. Revolutionary ideas about the magical beasts are developing; the murders that take place serve as a testament to that. Far from being mere “beasts”, the wonderful magical creatures that populate Cat Rambo’s world have feelings and needs that human society will ignore at its peril.
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews