Title: Half-HeartsSeries: Half-Hearts (Book 1)
Author: Kealohilani Wallace
Publish Date: January 15, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
About the Book (from Goodreads):
With billions of people on the planet, how can anyone ever find their other half? And what if everything depended on it?
The magical world of Alamea is in imminent danger of falling under the control of Vranah, “The Great Evil,” as he sweeps swiftly and mercilessly across their entire planet. And, with every death on Alamea, the equivalent of that person dies on Earth, Alamea’s parallel planet. The only hope lies in an ancient Alamean prophecy— the prophecy of the Half-Hearts. According to this prophecy, if any two of the twenty-four Alamean Half-Hearts can find each other, fall in love, and marry in a place that is magically prepared for such a union, that union would tip the balance of power so that Vranah may be able to be defeated. Then and only then will Alamea be saved and Earth be free of its terrible twin destiny.
Unfortunately, only Vranah knows the identities of the Half-Hearts. On the rare occasions that two Half-Hearts manage to even find each other, Vranah casts spells of distrust, jealousy, deceit, infidelity, abuse, and any other selfish traits he can throw at them, in order to break them apart and neutralize the threat. When love proves too strong to be distracted by such tactics, he simply kills them.
Lani Johnson is a twenty-one-year-old college senior from California. Yanked out of her world and its relative safety, she is swept into Vranah’s final war for Alamea. As she discovers that everyone has extraordinary gifts, and as she works to develop her own, she has no idea what is at stake or what could be the key to saving both Alamea and Earth— or whether it is all simply an elaborate dream world that her broken heart constructed, in order to distract her from her own reality.
Half-Hearts is a journey of thrilling twists and surprising turns, with many perils along the way. And from within what should be the safety of close friendship and true love, arises a shocking ending that no one will see coming.
The magical world of Alamea is in imminent danger of falling under the control of Vranah, “The Great Evil,” as he sweeps swiftly and mercilessly across their entire planet. And, with every death on Alamea, the equivalent of that person dies on Earth, Alamea’s parallel planet. The only hope lies in an ancient Alamean prophecy— the prophecy of the Half-Hearts. According to this prophecy, if any two of the twenty-four Alamean Half-Hearts can find each other, fall in love, and marry in a place that is magically prepared for such a union, that union would tip the balance of power so that Vranah may be able to be defeated. Then and only then will Alamea be saved and Earth be free of its terrible twin destiny.
Unfortunately, only Vranah knows the identities of the Half-Hearts. On the rare occasions that two Half-Hearts manage to even find each other, Vranah casts spells of distrust, jealousy, deceit, infidelity, abuse, and any other selfish traits he can throw at them, in order to break them apart and neutralize the threat. When love proves too strong to be distracted by such tactics, he simply kills them.
Lani Johnson is a twenty-one-year-old college senior from California. Yanked out of her world and its relative safety, she is swept into Vranah’s final war for Alamea. As she discovers that everyone has extraordinary gifts, and as she works to develop her own, she has no idea what is at stake or what could be the key to saving both Alamea and Earth— or whether it is all simply an elaborate dream world that her broken heart constructed, in order to distract her from her own reality.
Half-Hearts is a journey of thrilling twists and surprising turns, with many perils along the way. And from within what should be the safety of close friendship and true love, arises a shocking ending that no one will see coming.
Review
Half-Heart is a book that leaves you wanting more. At first, it was hard to get into the book as the character development and the world building were a bit lacking. As the story progressed, the writing was dramatically better and the book was difficult to put down.
One example of how the writing was a bit lacking in the beginning was the fact that the author seemed to tell things instead of showing them. For instance, one character broke her leg. Instead of saying something to the effect of "there was a crack as she tripped and she feared the worst", the author stated "she broke her leg as she fell" (not verbatim). If the author had hinted at the emotions of the characters instead of bluntly stating them, I feel the novel would be a 5/5 star novel.
The plot of this novel was very unique and well executed (see the description above for more information about the plot). Even though the heart of this novel was an epic type journey (which I usually do not enjoy, i.e. The Lord of the Rings), I felt like this novel was more than an epic journey; it is full of romantic plots, adventure, fighting, and character growth.
I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a great fantasy and is willing to read a huge book (at almost 600 pages).
Half-Heart is a book that leaves you wanting more. At first, it was hard to get into the book as the character development and the world building were a bit lacking. As the story progressed, the writing was dramatically better and the book was difficult to put down.
One example of how the writing was a bit lacking in the beginning was the fact that the author seemed to tell things instead of showing them. For instance, one character broke her leg. Instead of saying something to the effect of "there was a crack as she tripped and she feared the worst", the author stated "she broke her leg as she fell" (not verbatim). If the author had hinted at the emotions of the characters instead of bluntly stating them, I feel the novel would be a 5/5 star novel.
The plot of this novel was very unique and well executed (see the description above for more information about the plot). Even though the heart of this novel was an epic type journey (which I usually do not enjoy, i.e. The Lord of the Rings), I felt like this novel was more than an epic journey; it is full of romantic plots, adventure, fighting, and character growth.
I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a great fantasy and is willing to read a huge book (at almost 600 pages).
Final Statements
Recommended Reading Age: Any
Overall Rating: 3.75/5