Alexander Delacroix

The cover for Heart of the Impaler by Alexander Delacroix is amazing. The story itself is not. I have SO many issues with this butchering of Vlad Dracul II. First of all, the timing is wrong. Delacroix does not have Vlad and Radu becoming prisoners/wards of the Ottoman Empire until their teens. WRONG. Granted, the author does admit to playing with the timeline to prove his point that Vlad had issues before he was a prisoner. (I think there is a strong argument for the opposite, but it’s not my novel.) Even worse, Delacroix does his best to create strong female characters but ends up using every single cliche and stereotype there is about such characters. Strong-willed but submissive to parental figures, chafing at the injustice, intelligent beyond the pale, skilled at something stereotypically unfeminine. His female characters end up being one-dimensional and weak. As for Vlad, I can’t even talk about it. I usually can give a book the benefit of the doubt, but the liberties the author takes with one of my favorite historical personages leaves this firmly in the NO column for me.… (plus d'informations)

I was really looking forward to diving into this one. The cover definitely caught my attention and the blurb had me more than a little excited to discover what adventure was in store. And this is a well written novel with wonderful world building.

Belonging to a once powerful but now weak family, Ilona lives with her parents and siblings under the care of the Voivode, who values her father despite whisperings. When her father is praised with a special honor by the Voivode, she's also given to the oldest prince as a wife. She has one year until she turns of marriage age and is determined to find a way to avoid becoming this heartless man's spouse. But she's not alone and finds herself aided by the younger prince, Vlad, who has plans of his own when it comes to his bloodthirsty father.

The world building in this one drew me right in. It's rich and inviting and well-constructed. The Voivode is wonderfully horrible and so easy to dislike. It's hard not to root for Vlad as he begins to conspire against his father and older brother. Ilona's situation is obviously difficult, and that does make her easy to sympathize with and, from the beginning, fever that she finds away to avoid everything. Then, as the intrigue, battles, and plots settle in, it has everything to become a fantastic read with a thick plot to get caught up in. So, I did enjoy many aspects of this novel in many ways.

There is a love-triangle, and it puts interesting tension and twists into the plot, while the main theme does rotate around the building intrigue as well. Ilona tries her best to deal with everything, and it's a lot. So, it's not unbelievable when she's caught up between this tug-a-war, especially since she'd do anything to get away from a marriage she knows has chances to utterly destroy her in so many ways. The problem is simply that the Vlad doesn't carry quite enough positive attributes to make him likeable, but rather, often didn't seem much better than his older brother. His sidekick was sympathetic in so many ways but carried too weak a personality when it came to his relationship with Vlad. So, it makes a 'better than terrible' situation for Ilona. Still, it was fun to watch this relationship plot twist and turn.

While there is so much richness in this plot and so much to make it epic (it's really a great weave), the author skipped right over some of the most grabbing, major scenes and just filled the reader in through conversations in the 'after'. This, while still interesting, kept this book from becoming everything it should have been. Yet, I don't want to say this was a bad read because it isn't. It's grabbing and well constructed, and definitely would have hit my favorite list...and still, is one I enjoyed reading.
I received an ARC and thought about marking this one down to a 2-star but still, found so much of it good.… (plus d'informations)

Ilona Csáki's father has been invited to the voivode residence after a long absence. Ilona has no idea that the voivode's invitation comes with a heavy consequence for Ilona. In a political play, Dracul II, aligns Ilona's father to him through her betrothal to his eldest son, Mircea. Ilona is shocked at the news and Mircea is distant, seeing her as simply a pawn. However, Mircea's younger brother, Vlad and his cousin Andrei both give Ilona attention. As Wallachia enters the war, Ilona's life is endangered. Mircea and Vlad head to the warfront and Andrei attempts to protect Ilona. While at war, Vlad's true colors show and Ilona realizes the danger Vlad presents.

Heart of the Impaler is a young adult romance set during Vlad II Dracul's Ottoman crusade. This story is not historically accurate, but does show the political upheaval of the region during the mid 15th century. I was probably most interested in the portrayal of how Vlad II maintained his power and ran his household. The point of view switches between Ilona, Vlad and Andrei as they discover what love means. Ilona's character is sensible and caring. Andrei is loyal and brave, Vlad's character is power hungry and relentless. Vlad becomes more and more unhinged as he becomes closer to power and his violent temperament comes through. The writing did make some time jumps that glossed over important events and made me think I missed something. The ending does leave more to be discovered for Andrei, Vlad and Ilona as they are left in a suspenseful state.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (plus d'informations)