Heart Readers

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Stashie is a heart reader. She wields a dangerous magic: one that reveals the truth at the heart of a person. So when the old king needs to know which of his sons has he pure heart, and which must be killed, he turns to heart readers to tell him the truth. But Stashie is a victim of vicious Gerneral Tarne, the country's military leader. The empire's killing machine ruined her life - this is her chance for revenge.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists –even in London– and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.

Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. In the past year, she has been nominated for the Hugo, the Shamus, and the Anthony Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction.

In addition, she's written a number of nonfiction articles over the years, with her latest being the book "A Freelancer's Survival Guide".

She has also published as:
Sandy Schofield (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kristine Grayson - romances
Kathryn Wesley (collaborations with husband Dean Wesley Smith)
Kris Nelscott - mysteries
Kris Rusch - historical fiction
Kris DeLake - romances

Reviews

[Alex Fayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first full book that I've read by KKR. I'm addicted to her blog, so thought I'd give one of her books a try. This has not one but two prologues and they both work beautifully. I'm not a fan of prologues generally as they too often are used to dump information the author hasn't figured out how to put into the rest of the novel or add a sense of puffed up importance to the tome, but in this case the prologues give us a reason to care about the main characters. We see what the problems are and then spend the rest of the book spinning madly towards the eventual confrontation.

Definitely worth the read.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. A stand-alone fantasy novel that was actually enjoyable!

Set in a desert world, where war is waged over the water sources and the villages that control them. It has a royal family that always produces twin heirs and with the current King dying, thoughts of succession weigh heavily ... a ritual involving Heart-Readers is the only way to guarantee the next ruler has a pure heart.

Stashie is a Heart-Reader, but wants nothing to do with the King or his soldiers, after she was brutally raped and her family killed when her village was raided. But dragged into the ritual, she realises that this might be her only way to get revenge and maybe change the Kingdom for the better.

Very brutal in places, but a good story. The world-building is maybe not as detailed as you'd get in a longer novel, but it certainly is one that intrigues. I would have liked to find out more about how the Heart-reading worked, as there was just enough to make the story work, and the idea of other magic was mentioned in passing, but not explored.

A pleasant bit of entertainment.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked how the book started, but it just got more and more convoluted as the story went on. Far too many actions and reactions just didn't make much sense to me. Heart Readers are an interesting concept, but this whole book felt woefully put together, like this was two or three separate stories mashed together. Like pieces from a couple different puzzles jammed to form something else. Something that really doesn't work for me.

[Cirrus Minor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die Idee der Herzleser finde ich grundsätzlich sehr interessant, die Erklärung bleibt aber leider sehr dürftig, insbesondere darüber, wieso dies die einzig wirksame Magie zu sein scheint. Ebenso kommt mir die Welt farblos vor, da immer nur wenige Orte besucht werden, man aber im Grunde nie wirklich erfährt, wie es hier eigentlich aussieht und abläuft, von einigen kleinen Einblicken mal abgesehen.

[Myra · Rating 1 out of 5]

The intro page mentioned that this was first a short story, and the author was encouraged to turn into a full book.
...Nope. It's still a short story at heart.
The beginning is grim and depressing and it doesn't really get better. The prologue is about the king and the birth of his twin sons so I thought the story might be about them but it's not.

[Aurora · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent enough story that I'm not sure if I want to keep it or get rid of it.
There are definitely parts that could be fleshed out more, like the heart reading itself and the other majiks. But I'll keep it to reread again.

[Unsettledink · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Started grim, got more grim. Apparently I'm not up for pushing past rape and corpse desecration to see if things improve anymore.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heart Readers was an interesting read, though I felt a bit let down by the ending. It's almost the perfect outcome after a story in which almost nothing else goes perfectly. Despite that, the story is entertaining and kept my interest throughout.

Full thoughts on my blog here.

[Nigel Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first novel read by this author. Well written with memorable characters. It’s the story of accession to the throne in a fantasy world. Given the amount of sex and violence, definitely an adult story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Kristi Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather a grim little book. I cared about the relationship between the princes more than that between the heart readers.

[Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a quick read but not very enjoyable. Starting off with a rape certainly didn't help. The characterization felt very thin and they only briefly touched on the heart reading ability.