Picking up right where “Threads That Bind” left off, Io and Bianca are searching for the gods. The mystery throughout this story, was absolutely amazing, and the plot didn’t falter. Io’s search for her sisters throughout added to the mystery of the story, and the plot twists throughout kept me guessing. I loved the subplot romance between Edei and Io and the budding friendship between Io and Bianca.
This sequel is a phenomenal ending to the duology, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Razorbill for the eARC of this book!

Quick warning! This review might contains spoilers for <i>Threads That Bind</i>, the first book in this series.

I want to start off by saying that I absolutely loved <i>Threads That Bind</i>. Kika Hatzopoulou truly has a talent for creating worlds and characters that feel unique in ways you never would’ve considered.

This story takes place is a dystopian style fantasy world where natural disasters strike seemingly at random and floods consume many of the lower areas of the world. In this world, exist people called “other born” these other born are descendants of gods from different cultures, all wielding powers unique to their birth order.

And as amazing as this world is, I struggled to remember a lot of the details and plot from the first book, so much so, that I had to go read multiple recaps before starting this book for fear that I wouldn’t remember any of our plot before this.

The few things I did remember however, were the main plot twists in the first book, and the romance, so let’s start with the plot twists (spoiler free for <i>Hearts That Cut</i>)

One issue I found with the plot twists in the first book as well as the ones in this book, if the fact that they feel too back and forth. I never know who I’m actually suspecting because everyone is of equal reasoning and motive and it honestly takes away from the plot twist as a whole when everyone is a likely candidate.

The romance however, did not disappoint. The main issue with our romance in the first story was the fate thread, a thread that Io developed at a young age and that tied her to Edei, even though she didn’t know who was at the other end to begin with. Throughout the whole first book, we follow a sweet love story filled with tension and giddy desire and it is so sweet and this book keeps that going in a way that I adored. It also delved deeper into the existence of the fate thread and Io’s relationship with the thread itself which provided a great internal look at her character.

Speaking of Io’s character, we also explore her relationship with her sister’s which is something that I highly resonated with and honestly anyone with siblings will probably feel it too. Io explores forgiveness, self worth, and overcoming betrayal in a beautiful way.

The only other complaint I have about this book is one that I also had for <i>Threads That Bind</i> and that is that the plot just feels rushed. I kind of glazed over it for <i>Threads That Bind</i>, assuming it was just because I read the book so fast, but after reading this book I can confidently say that wasn’t the case.

I feel like this story could use more elaboration on the world and plot itself to make it more memorable. All of the plot events seemingly blended together because there were no breaks, no character building conversations and moments away from the chaos to really break up the go go go path that the plot was taking, and that lead me to a lot of confusion when we hit the end. I’m still kind of confused when it comes to the end because nothing felt described enough for me to come to my own conclusions. I had to just see where the book was taking me to understand anything.

Overall, I truly did enjoy reading this book and think that the series itself is super fun if you’re looking for good character dynamics but willing to look past some minor plot discrepancies and mild confusion. I feel like this book could’ve been perfect with a little more description snd a little more backstory to the world.

Again, thank you to NetGalley and Razorbill for providing me with this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

4 stars
——————

After falling in love with Threads That Bind last year, I was so excited to dive into this one. I was not disappointed.

I reread Threads That Bind to fully prepare, but this novel does a really good job at reestablishing the plot of the first book, so the reread wasn’t needed. We get little hints and reminders of past plot points and are reintroduced to the mythology and world in a really nice way. The plot of this was definitely engaging. I found it a little flat overall. The story was there, the action was well written, I loved the twists and turns, but something about it just didn’t hold my interest like I had hoped. I still finished it in a day, though.

The characters are better fleshed out in this one for sure. Because we’ve been introduced to them already, this book really lets the characters themselves and their relationships grow. I wasn’t totally in love with Io and Edei’s dynamic in book one, but really enjoyed it here. They really grow as people and you see more of them individually to really emphasize them together. I loved seeing the family dynamics of Thais, Ava and Io. I love that these characters are obviously flawed, it makes them seem so much more real.

As expected, I loved this book. I love this world and these characters so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is probably one of the toughest reviews I've written so far, because I can't pinpoint what didn't work for me. I did truly enjoy the first one, which is why I applied for the an early copy of the second, but the sequel just didn't slap for me. The magic of the threads and the quilt just felt like it was missing for me this time around, and the first 1/3 of the book felt so confusing and honestly a slog to get through. I did still enjoy the romance between Io and Edei though, so that's definitely still a positive and something that was well done.

Please take my half-hearted review with a grain of salt, because I'm partially afraid that this book fell into the 'right book, wrong time' phase for me. Also, the eARC that was provided was formatted super wonky, so that might have been a drain on me too.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for this early copy!

I really enjoyed Hearts that Cut. A solid 4 out of 5 stars for sure!

Hearts that Cut picks up right where the first book left off and immediately gets into the story, which I personally love. However, it also does a really good job of reminding you of what happened in the first book without it seeming laborious or repetitive, which is super helpful having not reread the first book before cracking open this arc.

I loved getting to revisit the characters from Threads that Bind. I feel in the sequel we get more depth from the characters and a deeper insight into who they are. Io, who I felt a little iffy about in the first book, had more depth in this story and I felt that I got to connect with her more in this book than the first. I also found her relationship with Edei better fleshed out, especially since there wasn't any misunderstanding about his ex in this book, which I truly didn't care for in the first book. I also loved getting to see Io confront her sisters after all the betrayals that occurred in the first book. I also loved Io and Bianca's friendship in this book. It was probably one of my favorite parts of the book and it was really well executed, even though that part at the end really had me questioning things. I also loved all the new characters we were introduced to. Seto was so amazing and his power was incredibly cool. The gods were also cool and the twist at the end was a really good way of explaining everything and tying everything together.

I will say I wish we had gotten more with Hanne just because the way it was all set up I was expecting her to have a bigger part to play, especially with how the beginning of the book sets her up to be a foe against Io. However, the end does leave things open for more to occur with her character if this isn't the end of the story

I also love the different gods and how they are from different regions of the world and different religions. It's one of my favorite things about this series.

I also really enjoyed getting to see more of the world and seeing how it all connected together and worked out. It was cool to see how the different parts of the world were built and how innovative each city was.

One major complaint I have is that I felt while the ending was good and did a good job of bringing the story to a close, it left me wanting more. I wanted more action and more fighting, but I also did enjoy how it was. Especially the twist with the sister gods and the thing that I won't spoil.

Overall, I really loved the book and can't wait for my finished copy to come in the mail! I also can't wait to see what else Kika comes put with!

This book does two things really well: building up the world and unraveling Io's worldview.

The mystery that began in Threads That Bind has lead Io onto an elusive and dangerous path with an unlikely ally. While the setting opens onto the wider world and the mystery leads towards an ever more catastrophic end, Hearts That Cut stays true to the dystopian noir detective and YA self-discovery vibes of the first book. It does not lose itself to the grander plot.

Kika Hatzopolou's writing is so rich and inviting I was easily hooked from the beginning. Io is an incredibly strong character learning to stand on her own two feet and embrace everything that she is - sister, cutter, fated, world ender, and a damn good detective. I love the romantic subplot with Edei and their discussions/views on fate and choice.

An incredible well written sequel and a highly recommended duology for lovers of mythology and mystery.

Threads that Bind was one of my favorite reads last year so I was delighted to be approved for an ARC review of Hearts that Cut.

This second book starts exactly where we left off, with Bianca and Io following a golden thread to find the gods who are reviving the wraiths. This had a slower start than the first book and jumped around to unfamiliar cities and characters with new powers I had trouble remembering. It wasn't until Io and Bianca arrived floating city of Nanzy that I became more invested in the story, because there, Io reunites with Edei and her sisters, and we get more of what made the first book sing. Edei and Io grappling with their feelings for each other (while their fate thread unravels) and Io dealing with her treacherous sisters while trying to solve the mystery of who is creating the wraiths.

I think what I love most about these duology is the intensive world-building. The author really thought about every detail in this world, from its history, to the characters abilities, to the way the cities have adapted to exist in a flooded world with strange monsters. A lot of this comes into play as the story develops with an exciting ending with a twist I did not see coming that all comes down to fate.

This was a complex and epic conclusion to a unique Greek mythology inspired story.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3.25 | 😘=2.5 | 🤬=3 | ⚔️=4.5 | 14+

summary: sequel to Threads That Bind , a Greek mythology-inspired YA Fantasy about a girl who can see people’s fate threads or something

thoughts: am I losing brain cells or were there too many characters that weren’t well-established enough to distinguish??

this is okay! it’s just okay!! there was a certain character beat I’d predicted from chapter one of book one that happened—thankfully! that’s a good thing—but besides that this was kind of like… chaotic and nothing? but I didn’t hate it?? but I was kind of skimming quite a bit?? but also it was a pretty good conclusion to the duology and the romance was nice?????

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I liked Threads that Bind but I liked Hearts that Cut even more. This one was so action packed and I felt like something was always happening. Using too much action dulls down the book for me, but that wasn’t the case here.

The love, the betrayal, the mystery, the redemption…it was all just so good. I truly, truly love Io and Edei, so when what happened at the end happened; I was like wtf? But then…it was okay because they are end game.

There has got to be a book three and I have got to have it now. With the way this book ended; I just feel like a lot is about to go down and I am here for it.

4.5 stars rounded to 5!

What a book!

In this thrilling sequel, Kika Hatzopoulou shows us what it means to truly elevate a story.

Picking up right where the first book left off, we follow Bianca and Io as they battle with the revelations made as Threads That Bind was ending.

The Plot
What follows is a heist-like plot line that takes up about 50% of the book as a whole. Was I disappointed? Of course not, I love heists! With Bianca and Io’s journey miss Kika grows her universe, going through many different locations. I admit it was a bit confusing at first, but I got it down eventually. The action scenes were spaced out nicely too so readers wouldn’t get bored.

In the second half of the book our characters have arrived to their destination, and oh my are things about to go down! This was by absolute favourite part of the book, with the action,plotting and scheming crescendoing at 75-80%. The last quarter of this was absolutely breathtaking. I couldn’t put my Kindle down! Fast paced, full of action, moments of revelation and everything-coming-together, and of course the big battle! Electric.

The Characters
The character development was great here. We meet a more mature, sadder Io, as she’s still reeling from her sisters betrayal, and is even missing the security her fate thread, the compass of her life, was giving her.
Bianca was the more entertaining part of the duo. With her constant complaining she offered comic relief many times, and I was really rooting for her and Io’s friendship thread to take place. Maybe it will, who knows!
Edei. My sweet boy! I love men that are absolutely gone for their girl, and that was our man Edei. I mean cmon, setting aside their fate thread because he was so sure about his feeling for her!! “Let me choose you, Io“. Oh my god. Their romance is everything to me. And that final scene almost made me cry!

🦇 Hearts That Cut Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite mythology retelling? ❓

🦇 With a god's golden thread in her hand, Io leaves Alante alongside a revenge-thirsty Bianca to find the entity responsible for so much death and destruction. With each turn, they uncover new threads in a conspiracy that traces back centuries. The more they learn, the more tangled the mystery becomes. Meanwhile, a prophecy looms over Io's head: that she'll destroy the world by cutting a single thread. Can Io follow—or defy—the threads leading to her fate?

💜 Kika Hatzopoulou's world-building is exquisite. Many mythology retellings run the risk of either sounding dry or repetitive, either plopping us in the time of the Trojan War or infusing Greek mythology into modern reality. Instead, Hatzopoulou created a world entirely of her own; a refreshing hierarchy of overlapping mythologies, of those with god-derived powers and those relying only on the mortal powers within themselves. If the beauty of this world doesn't grasp you, allow Io to; the cutter, the unseen blade, the reaper of fates. Io carries the weight of a prophecy that claims she'll end the world. Worse yet, her sisters seem to have a hand in it, her fate-thread seems to be fraying, and THE gods are seemingly pulling everyone's strings. When you strip away the mythology of it all, Io is a layered, stunning, emotionally-powered character. Her relationship with her sisters--watching her eldest sister shoulder the burdens of responsibility and parenthood at a young age, their other sister stuck in the middle as the peacemaker--is realistically messy and flawed. That sisterhood plays a huge part in Io's present, in her decision-making, and in her development. Each sister has distinct motivations--none the villain, each doing the best she can.

💙 By now, you know one of my biggest pet peeves is telling, not showing. While this story is action-packed, the mythology begins to put too much weight on the exposition. We're given explanations we don't necessarily need when the story could have focused more on emotion. Io's powers allow her to see the threads that connect people to those they love. She has to sacrifice her own threads to destroy another's. There's so much potential for metaphor and artistry there, but Io cuts nearly without remorse, even though she's upset that her sisters manipulate threads with a similar mindset.

💙 Normally, when I'm disappointed with a book, I can set it aside and move on. Threads That Bind was one of my top five picks of last year, though, and Hearts That Cut was one of my most anticipated reads for 2024. Reading the first page should have felt like greeting an old friend. Instead, the first 30% of the book felt detached from the original story, providing us with seemingly unnecessary puzzle pieces that could have been placed elsewhere as Io unravels this mystery. It's not until she's reunited with her friends that the story finally returns to the dizzying, delightful, action-packed pacing from the first book. Just as we grow accustomed to that pacing, the story reaches a sudden, almost rushed ending. Usually, I never complain about the lack of an epilogue (most stories don't need one), but given Io's brash actions and the consequences it may trigger, Hearts That Cut sorely does. We're left with no hint as to the new world order, or Io and Edei's future (yes, I'm sure they're thriving in love, but STILL), or if the sisters can rebuild what they lost. While these details aren't necessary, readers have been on a wild ride with these characters. A real resolution would have been nice, but instead we're left without closure.

🦇 Recommended for fans of Percy Jackson, The Lunar Chronicles, and other retellings.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🧵 Second in a Duology
🧵 Fated Lovers
🧵 Mythology Retelling
🧵 Young Adult Fantasy
🧵 Sisterhood
🧵 Magic

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #HeartsThatCut

💬 Quotes
❝ Cunning was her weapon now, and she would wield it with precision. ❞
❝ “Just because it works doesn’t mean it’s right.” ❞
❝ “Io, let me choose you.” ❞
❝ Change was uncomfortable, sometimes filled with growing pains, but without it, there was no way forward. No way to keep going, to shed the scabs of your past and heal yourself in the present. Without change, there was no future. ❞
❝ Fate was powerful. Fate was deadly. Fate could topple gods. ❞

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the Arc of this book. I wanted to enjoy this book so much, as I enjoyed the first one, but there was so much happening it felt hard to center myself in the story. While I wasn’t sure what the resolution to the question was going to be, the stakes didnt feel high, mostly because I was confused by the overall conflict.

This books is good, but maybe just not for me! I found myself confused throughout most of it because I was having such a hard time focusing and learning the different powers and order of this new world. I will say this story was fresh and something I haven’t read anything similar to! If you like a dystopian feel, with heavy city politics and a murder mystery then this is a great pick! Have you read it?!

Hearts That Cut by Kika Hatzopoulou is the sequel to Threads That Bind. It jumps right into the quest for Io to find Edei and the search is exciting and full of intrigue. Unfortunately I felt a bit lost with some of the twists and I wasn't as enthralled with this book as the first.

Loved it. I felt like the tension and the pace was perfect. I was torn between to worried to keep reading and needing to know what happened next. This duology definitely has found its way into my top reads of this year. So happy to be on the street team.

As stated an epilogue is much desired and I do hope one comes in the future.

This was an intriguing book. I loved the concept of fate threads and how Kika Hatzopoulou incorporated mythology into the thread of the book. Well done!

Picking up exactly where book one left off, you're immediately thrown into an action-packed adventure. And I loved every second of it! The mystery in this book is absolutely amazing and it will keep you on the edge of your seat.

There were several points where I felt like I knew where this was going, but then you get thrown a curveball that changes everything you thought you knew. And I loved that about this book.

The world building in this duology is nothing short of amazing. If you are looking for a fabulous new fantasy duology I highly recommend checking this one out.

for fans of:
✨ mythology-inspired fantasy
✨ fate vs. free will
✨ complex sibling relationships

the sequel to threads that bind picks up a few weeks later, with io and bianca following the golden thread across the wastelands in search of answers. their investigation yields new clues, including a series of sibling disappearances, all leading to the golden city of nanzy. meanwhile, io’s fate thread with edei is fraying, and she is forced to reckon with her shifting relationships with her sisters as she and bianca discover a centuries-old plot that will decide the future of their world.

hearts that cut missed the mark for me personally. it suffers from second book syndrome and i was disappointed by the chosen one trope after the first book’s focus on found family. the pacing is off throughout—it drags until io and bianca reunited with the others, then speeds to the conclusion. while i was still intrigued by the mystery and the clever, unique world-building, the relationships really suffer in this book (particularly io’s relationships with her sisters). i think many YA trilogies could be condensed into duologies, but this is one case where the opposite might be true—hearts that cut’s biggest flaw is that it tries to accomplish too much.

I had a hard time getting into Hearts that Cut. I suspect it might have helped to have read the first of the duology (Threads that Bind) before digging into this one. I simply never felt settled or oriented until about one-third of the way through.

Hatzopoulou tries to blend magic with Greek mythology but is far less successful in creating such than Rick Riordan in his multiple Greek/Roman gods series.

That said, there were a few things I liked: the idea that descendants of the original Greek Fates Clotho (the Spinner), Lachesis (the Measurer/Apportioner), and Atropos (who cuts the threads and ends peoples’ lives perform similar tasks, but their names have been replaced by their jobs: weaver, drawer, cutter. I particularly liked that they could see these threads and that there was a cost to their performance of the duties; for example, when a cutter cuts someone’s thread, she also loses one of her own.

This is one of those rare reads that sneaks up on you and then refuses to let go. This book is an absolute gem and easily one of the best reads of the year for me. From start to finish, it had me hooked, and I can't shake off the spell it cast on me.

First off, can we talk about that ending? My mind was blown, shattered into a million pieces, then meticulously reassembled by the sheer brilliance of the plot twist. Unpredictable doesn't even begin to describe it. It was a masterstroke that left me reeling, yet strangely satisfied as all the pieces fell into place, weaving a quilt of sheer genius (see what I did there?).

Let's talk worldbuilding, because oh boy, did Hatzopoulou knock it out of the park. The world she crafted is so vivid, so alive, that it felt like I was watching a blockbuster movie unfold before my eyes. The magic system, the mythology—everything was seamlessly integrated, adding layers of depth and intrigue that kept me utterly enthralled. And Nanzy? I could practically smell the city's streets, so vivid were the descriptions.

Character development? Check. Each character leapt off the page with their own quirks, personalities, and moments to shine. And the romance? Oh, it was there, simmering in the background, adding just the right amount of sweetness without overshadowing the main plot. Io and Edei's love story was a delight to behold, filled with yearning and tenderness that felt achingly real.

And that ending, again. Seriously, the tension, the stakes, the relentless reveals—it was a rollercoaster of emotions that left me breathless. I was genuinely scared for the characters. It was the perfect conclusion to this duology, even if I’m secretly hoping for an epilogue. I’m just not ready to say goodbye yet.

Kika Hatzopoulou has crafted a world and a story that will stay with me for a long time to come. Do yourself a favor and dive into this enchanting duology—you won't regret it. And personally, I can't wait to get my hands on a hardcopy to treasure forever.