From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

The Heart of Betrayal (The Remnant Chronicles, #2)

Mary E. Pearson

Start date: June 1, 2017

Finish date: June 30, 2017

Discussion: Series

Why we're reading this: Won the series in progress BOTM
[close] Won the series in progress BOTM

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 509 topics — 19,076 comments total

Series

* Continuing Series- Accomplice to the Villain
By Bailey · 4 posts · 40 views

last updated Sep 02, 2025 08:28AM

* New Series- The Cheerleaders
By Bailey · 4 posts · 52 views

last updated Sep 10, 2025 07:31PM

showing 6 of 6 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Oct 23, 2017 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, wish-list-physical, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, own-ebook-read, reviewed, romance, cover-love, young-adult

Rating: 4.5 Stars

This review MAY contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

This book was truly magnificent! I almost feel bad for having qualms about the first book. This book has solidified this series as a definite favorite on my bookshelf.

What a turn this series has taken. Seriously. From characters that I could not connect with in the slightest to ones that I adore and are extremely passionate about. Pearson has really stepped up her game. No kidding.

The first thing that pleasantly surpr Rating: 4.5 Stars

This review MAY contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

This book was truly magnificent! I almost feel bad for having qualms about the first book. This book has solidified this series as a definite favorite on my bookshelf.

What a turn this series has taken. Seriously. From characters that I could not connect with in the slightest to ones that I adore and are extremely passionate about. Pearson has really stepped up her game. No kidding.

The first thing that pleasantly surprised me was the extreme character growth. We get a deeper glance into Lia, Kaden, and Rafe. Where they felt almost bland to me in the first book, they are now vibrant and compelling. They have their own agendas and histories. We find out so much more about them in this book. Lia really grew on me in this one. I felt her to by whiny and selfish in the first book, and now she is brave, determined, and courageous. I simply adored her in this book. We see more into Kaden and Rafe as well. Kaden's conflicting emotions between his loyalty to Venda and his feelings for Lia. Rafe's determination to save Lia no matter the cost. I also felt that the Komizar was a really great villain. He resonated with me so much. I liked the new side characters introduced in this one as well.

The political intrigue gets even better in this one. We get to step inside the enemy kingdom and see their way of life. I like how Pearson differentiated between the Komizar and his reign to the simple countrymen of Venda. They had different priorities, and it showed how very different they were. It was easy to see why Lia fell in love with Venda's people and hated the Komizar. We find out that there are betrayals running rampant, with traitors in Morrighan.

I loved the additional world building in this. I didn't fully understand "the gift" and the religious aspects of the different kingdoms, but they worked. They were fully worked through and brought so much to the story. I liked seeing the nation of Venda. The descriptions of its terrain and of the devastation left behind from the time of the ancients were intriguing. I am hoping that we find out that their world is just a far-off future from our own. The more that I read the more it sounds like a nuclear war wiped out most of the world, and the scavengers and remnants left behind are what their kingdoms spring from.

I liked how some things really surprised me in this. I did not see the scholars from Morrighan and their betrayal coming. I loved how Pearson kept things hidden and exposed them at just the right time. So many shocking things come to light in this book, and it was such a great journey finding them all out. I love when a book keeps me guessing.

I think that what I liked most was Lia and Rafe's journey as being captives. They endure so much at the hands of their captors, and the drama that ensued during their time in Venda was highly entertaining.

Overall, I was blown away by this book! Just wow! I implore you to read this series if you have not already. Following all the chatter about this series, most either love it or hate it. I had some issues with the first book and almost stopped reading the series, but decided to continue it. I am certainly grateful that I did, because this series is so intense and so, so good! I implore you to give this one a chance, but don't listen to me, and don't listen to the hype or the haters. Make your own decisions about this series. If I had listened to all the haters, I would have missed out on a new favorite series! Sometimes you just have to trust your gut. I so look forward to the next book in The Remnant Chronicles!

More reviews on my blog: Novel Nerd Faction ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 26, 2020 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I'm shocked that I never picked this series up before now. I know I heard all kinds of praise for this series and listened to booktubers give rave reviews and still I didn't pick this series up. Why is it when you hear all these trusted people telling you a series or books is amazing, why then do we or I still put off reading it. Well I didn't put it off any longer and I swear it's like they all said the book and story was incredible.

Lia is the princess that was to be married to the prince of Da ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 23, 2014 Katerina rated it it was amazing

Main Review on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kats_bookre... ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 10, 2015 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015, high-fantasy, 2020, ya-fantasy

WARNING: Because of the nature of this series, this review will unavoidably spoil the first novel, The Kiss of Deception, if you haven’t already read it. You’ve been warned.

As always, it has been far too long since I’ve read this book to just be sitting down to write the review for it now. Nonetheless, I will endeavor to communicate my love for The Heart of Betrayal.

When I finished The Kiss of Deception, I hoped for more. I enjoyed it and it left quite the impact on me but I hoped Pearson would WARNING: Because of the nature of this series, this review will unavoidably spoil the first novel, The Kiss of Deception, if you haven’t already read it. You’ve been warned.

As always, it has been far too long since I’ve read this book to just be sitting down to write the review for it now. Nonetheless, I will endeavor to communicate my love for The Heart of Betrayal.

When I finished The Kiss of Deception, I hoped for more. I enjoyed it and it left quite the impact on me but I hoped Pearson would dive further into the world of The Remnant Chronicles. What makes these nations tick? Who are these people really? For months afterward, I hoped that the stakes would increase with the sequel. The Remnant Chronicles had so much potential and I wanted to see more.

I wasn’t disappointed. Actually, I can’t think of a negative thing to say about this book. I’m still just as torn as ever with who Lia should be in love with. On the hand, there’s Kaden and on the other there’s Rafe. Both are good people at their core, but Kaden has made a lot of mistakes.

Kaden has a trouble past. However, Kaden did his best to protect Lia while she was in Venda. He isn’t heartless and that’s what makes this so difficult. Yes, he is the reason Lia is there in the first place but he also loves her and doesn’t know how that fits in with the lies that have been repeated since he was a young boy. There’s quite a lot vying for his attention. Kaden’s heart is his most redeeming quality. It’s also the one thing that puts him at the most risk.

Rafe… well, who can’t like Rafe? He’s perfect without being annoying. I don’t mean literally perfect. Yes, he makes mistakes but Rafe didn’t have to end up in Venda. Rafe could have turned away but he went looking for Lia and goes through a lot because of that. Through it all though, he never blames her. He never hates her for it. He only wishes he could get her to safety. I like Rafe and I won’t be sad if Lia ends up with him; but I won’t be sad if she ends up with Kaden either. As it is though, I have my own predictions for Kaden…

Venda is an interesting place, wrought with poverty. The commoners are welcoming but the elite are cruel and many of them barbaric. I actually found each exploration into the desert country quite interesting and enlightening.

I’ve already delved into the Komizar quite a bit so I’ll keep it short. The Komizar has deceived an entire nation. He wants power and pretends to want to save his people from such debilitating starvation, but he starves them in his own way and it’s marvelous to see how much he can contradict himself. Despite his obvious issues (what with his being evil and all), I liked the Komizar. He was the perfect addition to the Remnant Chronicles and brought an interesting dynamic to the book that kept me guessing as to what type of person he would end up being. Was he really the monster Rafe believed? Or was he flawed yet good in his own way as Kaden saw him for much of the book? Lia was caught in this web as well and I basically mirrored her as she ping-ponged between her opinion.

As far as the actual world building goes, bring it on. Pearson really explored The Gift in this book quite a bit and wove it into Venda and Morrighan’s history. Lia is skilled at translating ancient texts and she continues to do so in The Heart of Betrayal, revealing a much more complicated world than I had anticipated.

I’m not quite sure what the author plans on doing with all of this information but I do know that a) she wrote a novella based on some of it and b) she surpassed my own hopes and expectations so I have complete trust in where she takes The Beauty of Darkness. I’m extremely eager to see how it all ends. ...more

Like · see review