Review: The Tattooed Heart

The Tattooed Heart by Michael Grant
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Michael Grant is an author who has caught my attention on many occasions. More than one of his series have whispered a ‘read me’ in the book store, yet I always found my attention pulled elsewhere. With how big a fan base Michael Grant has, however, I decided it was finally time for me to dive into his work. Thus, when I saw the two Messenger of Fear novels on offer, I decided to take the leap.

The first book, Messenger of Fear, was a decent enough read. I gave it a three-star rating, but in reality it was more of a three-point-five-star read. It kept my attention, it had me powering through the book in a single sitting, and I was left wanting more – proving it was not a bad book. My feelings towards The Tattooed Heart are pretty similar – in the same way book one was a rounded down rating, so too was book two.

As with the first book, The Tattooed Heart was a book I managed to work through much quicker than I’d expected. It took me slightly longer to read this one, but it was still an easy book to work through. Like book one, a part of this is how easily the book sucks you in – once you get going you find yourself turning page after page, working your way through the book at a rapid pace to see how things end.

Similar to the first book, however, I had to round this one down due to a lack of depth. There was more depth to this story than the first book, yet I was left with far too many questions by the end. The story seemed to focus upon certain elements, introducing other things and never explaining them in full. In many ways, it felt as though this book was an introduction for further books in the series, yet as far as I’m aware this is to remain a duology. What I really would have liked is another book that tied up all the loose ends I have, that finally explained those elements of the world building that were introduced but never taken as far as they could have been.

Overall, this was an enjoyable second book. There were too many open questions for me to be truly content, but it was a fun book to keep me entertained for a while.

There is no doubt I can see why Michael Grant has such a large fan base, and I’ll certainly be more willing to pick up his books in the future. I’m not going to go out of my way to do so, but I’ll certainly be considering his books more often.

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