Heartless Hunter

Heartless Hunter has gotten a lot of bookish buzz and is the first book in the Crimson Moth duology, a Teen Fantasy series by Canadian author Kristen Ciccarelli. The story is about love, friendship, survival and tenacity that follows young Rune, a young woman who has to hide two things: she's a witch and the Crimson Moth, a vigilante who rescues witches from those who hunt them.

First of all, can we all agree that this cover is absolutely stunning?! Within its beautiful cover, the story starts off strong with good world building and I was intrigued by how the whole revolution against witches was described and how they were fighting back. 

There are a few popular and much-loved romance tropes -  love triangle, enemies to lovers, fake dating, love triangle and dollop of instalust (which stays in the teen level of spiciness). There are some complicated relationships which make things interesting but while I wasn't quite on team Rune/Gideon, I found their individual relationships with Alex to be endearing.

Ciccarelli gives readers an amazing knuckle-biter scene early on which I LOVED but in the words of Elvis, a little more action please. I wanted to see more escapades of the Crimson Moth who is touted as a badass. I wanted more of the wonderfully tense cat-and-mouse scenes as she tries to elude Gideon and the witch hunters.

This was a fun read and I can see why there's a lot of love for this book. The story was easy to follow and the world building was strong but I wanted a bit more in terms of story and tense scenes to propel the story forward. This was a good set up to what I hope will be a tense and satisfying ending to this duology which I plan to read in the new year.

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Author: Kristin Ciccarelli

Genre: Fantasy, Teen, Canadian

Series: 1st in Crimson Moth duology

Type and Source: Hardcover from by bookstagram BFF

Publisher: Wednesday Books

First Published: February 20, 2024

Read: Nov 5 - 12, 2024

Book Description from GoodReads: On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch… is falling in love.