Audiobook Review – Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, Book 1) by Kristen Ciccarelli (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 411 pages
Publisher:‎ Wednesday Books
Release Date: February 20, 2024
ASIN: B0C1X64T4N
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Crimson Moth duology
Source: Borrowed Audiobook from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 1st book in the Crimson Moth duology. I borrowed this on audiobook from my library.

Thoughts: This book started out decent but then went downhill and became a very typical and predictable YA fantasy romance, with a huge emphasis on the romance. I expected more action and politics but mostly got characters rehashing their feelings for each other over and over in their heads.

Rune rescues witches as the Crimson Moth at night but spends her days as the famous socialite who is a staunch ally of the republic. She even turned in her own grandmother as a witch to prove her loyalty. She has decided the best way to gain information on witch movement and captures is to court the lead witch hunter himself, Gideon Sharpe. Gideon has an awful history with witches and desperately wants to hunt down and capture the Crimson Moth. He suspects Rune might have something to do with the Crimson Moth and decides to court her to get info on the Crimson Moth. Neither of them expects to be so attracted to the other.

I loved the idea behind this and actually enjoyed the first part of the book with Rune trying to rescue witches at night and pretending to be a socialite during the day. However, Rune doesn’t actually rescue any witches in this book. Aside from a couple of nights where she attempts to rescue witches, she really doesn’t spend any time as the Crimson Moth in this book. I was disappointed that we didn’t get more of Rune as the Crimson Moth. I was also disappointed that there wasn’t more action around actually doing something to help the witches.

There is a very subtle and poorly sketched out side-story about Republic guards ending up horribly gutted and dead in alleys and some (incredibly predictable) mysterious goings on about one of Rune’s friends. However, this is very much in the background. Rune’s struggles and deceptions with her romantic interests take precedence over everything else. Rune is supposed to be super smart and cunning, but she comes off as naive and completely clueless throughout the story.

I disliked that this is a romantic triangle. I really hate those. The fact that this is a romantic triangle between Rune and two brothers felt icky to me. There is Alex, who is the younger brother and has been her best friend forever, and Gideon who is standoffish and has been Rune’s enemy forever. I really hoped that the author was going to keep Alex in the friend zone, but alas that isn’t what happened. Having two brothers fight over Rune felt yuck to me.

There really wasn’t a lot here aside from a lot of Rune, Alex, and Gideon angsting about their emotions and guilt in their head. The magic was minimal, the plot was minimal and predictable, and the romance felt off and yucky to me. A lot of the romance was based more on how hot and sexy they thought each other were than actual trust or respect. The sex scenes weren’t super detailed but more detailed than I would expect in a typical YA novel…I would say this is more new adult.

If you are looking for a typical new adult love triangle book with minimal world-building and plot and lots of angsty conversations about romance, this might be for you. I realize a lot of people enjoy this type of romantasy love triangle. Especially since Gideon is very much the dark and brooding injured type that Rune is trying to “heal”. Personally, I need a bit more out of my stories. I also don’t enjoy love triangles or a super broody man that the heroine needs to “fix”.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narration was well done. The narrator was pleasant to listen to and did character voices well. If you enjoy audiobooks this one was well done.

My Summary (3/5): Overall I thought the beginning was promising but ended up very disappointed. This is a typical new adult romantasy with a love triangle that feels a bit icky to me (because it is two brothers after one woman). There is very little “Crimson Moth” action, and the world-building and plot really take a back seat to the romance. There is way too much time spent with the characters spending time rehashing the same thoughts over and over in their heads for my liking. This is one of those books where you finally get to the end and think, geez that was a lot of book for how little happened here. I won’t be reading the second book in this duology.