Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC!

I went into this expecting more villainy, or a more villainous main character, but that's not really what this book is about.

Orpheus, initially appears to be the typical archetype of a villain: sneering, lurking in the shadows etc. But he quickly turns out to be not as villainous as he appears. Through his interactions with Fenrir (love interest) and flashbacks to his childhood, we get to see who he is under his pretense of evilness and how he got to be where he is.

This book is very much about Orpheus going through the process of healing and redemption. The general vibe is pretty angsty, with Orpheus feeling remorse about his actions + struggling with his insecurity. Not to be uncharitable, but I did not resonate with his journey. Maybe it was just my mood when I read this (it was a weird few days for me), because otherwise this is exactly the kind of book I would have loved.

I kind of wish Orpheus did/had done more evil stuff. He never actually did anything truly evil (IMO), so I don't feel like he necessarily had to do much/any redemption. Perhaps this is just me and I feel this way because I'm lacking in morals.

I noticed other reviews saying that Fenrir isn't as well-developed as Orpheus, and I definitely agree. However, I don't think it's necessary for Fenrir to be as fleshed out; Orpheus' story takes precedence here, and as he is, he serves his purpose in the narrative just fine.

One character that I wished get more development is Lore (antagonist). While we do get to see parts of her from Orpheus' childhood, we don't get to see the reasoning for her motivations. And yes, she does explain that she does the things she does because she "wants to", but I would have appreciated more depth from her. I am sort of conflicted, because, yes, not every villain needs a tragic backstory, or a noble reason for their actions, but she just feels very one dimensional.

Overall, a pretty good debut novel. This didn't resonate with me, but I think it will for lots of other readers.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything is a mouthful of a title but its a book that delivers.

You start the story with Orpheus being cursed and removed from the only home that he ever had, and while this could be really depressive, the ongoing running commentary from Orpheus keeps you well entertained.

It’s a beautiful story that teaches us to look at the consequences of our actions, its a bit of found family, there is epic creatures and nods to our technology and culture but that don’t take away from the story. It’s also quite funny to realise how clueless Orpheus is at points.

The story took me on a adventure and I can’t wait to know what happens next to our unlikely heroes. I will definitely be picking up the second book of this series once it’s available.

Thank you Tiny Fox Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Orpheus can't believe it's come to this. After helping his childhood friend conquer the realm by raising an army of hell-beasts, the befuddled dark sorcerer finds himself banished when the price of his magic endangers the palace. Isolated and betrayed, the feared spellcaster isn't exactly thrilled when his irritating and handsome rival keeps stepping between him and certain doom.

I didn’t expect to enjoy this book as much as I did . It’s so well written I just found myself lost in the story and I didn’t want to be found.if this is the author’s first book we are in for someone special. Already one of my favourites.

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately it didn't hit the mark.

The worldbuilding was fascinating and the premise (the dark wizard right-hand of the dark lady who has just conquered the world gets a redemption arc) seemed tailor-made to be right up my alley, but the redemption arc doesn't really work because Orpheus (and his love interest Fenrir) aren't really allowed to be bad people, which just makes them look kind of stupid and/or willfully blind because Lore (the dark lady they served) is almost cartoonishly evil.

The romance also fell a bit flat, Orpheus is just so unpleasant towards Fenrir that I don't understand why Fenrir would fall in love with him, I was hoping to see more of a slow burn between them.

I didn't expect this book to be set in a dystopian future but just in another fantasy world. So I was very (pleasantly) surprised by this. Especially because you only slowly figure that out.

I loved the characters, even though I didn't think they had a lot of depth, especially Fenrir. But I do love a dorky good-hearted LI so I don't really care.
The ending was a bit abrupt but still cute. Even though it is the first book in a series in can easily be read as a standalone (i.e. no cliffhanger).

It had a nice flow and the writing wasn't overly complicated so it made for a very easy read. I also very much enjoyed the humour.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything is fun, banter-packed rivals to lovers fantasy that somehow also manages to pack in a heart wrenching storyline too. I had a fantastic time reading this story and shed a few tears in the process too.

The characters are absolutely loveable, the gay romance is adorable, and the ending was absolutely perfect. I would say my only complaint about the story is that I would have liked a bit more information about the dystopian, post-apocalyptic world it is set in.

I definitely recommend you pick this one up!

Thank you to Tiny Fox Press and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my review!

Really fun read. Took me a bit to get into it at first as I couldn’t figure out the mix of tech and fantasy. My own fault for reading too many things at once! A fast-moving tale, with a slow burning romance, that has you dancing through a magic/dystopian fantasy land.
Overall all a fun and funny story with adventure and romance and dragons and all the rest.
Give it a read if you’ve got the chance!

My fav quote:
Incredible monumental memories that made the fear of dying seem less of an end because he’d filled what time he had with all the life he could, and how could he regret that trade when he’d received so much in return?

3.5 stars rounded up. This was a great debut novel. I did struggle with some things. The book starts and I felt like I was dropped into the middle - like so much had happened and I’d missed it. Orpheus, our “villain” is really just a traumatized boy who grew up and makes bad decisions in effort to please others and find love. Also, there wasn’t really enemies-to-lovers chemistry so much as… mild to moderate irritation? Finally, it was jarring to be in a castle, talking about magic and marching armies, then all of the sudden there are machine guns and planes?

Putting the above aside, I did enjoy the story. I’d be interested in another by the author to see how they continue to grow as a writer, because the talent is there!

3.75⭐ rounded up to 4. I’m having a hard time pinpointing why I didn’t enjoy this one better. Maybe it’s because it was more steampunk/post-apocalyptic than the blurb led to believe (vs. high or epic fantasy)? Or maybe because I thought the MC was annoying and whiny? Everything was there for me to love this book, but I simply didn’t feel *that* compelled.

❤️ Orpheus’ curse and the evil creatures that keep trying to kill him
❤️ Intriguing worldbuilding and lore
❤️ Trauma rep
❤️ Disguised villain redemption arc
❤️ Fenrir (love me some smiley swordsman who enjoys meals that expired 300 years ago)
❌ Annoying MC
❌ Repetitive
❌ Underdeveloped and implausible romance subplot
❌ Weird ending

Trigger warnings: death and grief, animal death, toxic friendship, violence, blood and gore, murder, child abuse, child experimentation, self harm, war, tyranny.

Plot:
After raising an army of hell beasts to help his childhood (and only) friend conquer the realm, dark wizard Orpheus finds himself haunted by a dangerous curse. Evil creatures keep appearing out of nowhere to claim his life until he is banished for the good of the empire. Feeling lonely and betrayed, Orpheus ventures out of the palace for the very first time, entering the barren wasteland his powers created. It feels to him that things couldn’t get any worse… until his handsome and irritating rival tags along.

I have such mixed feelings about this one. I thought the worldbuilding and lore were very unique and intriguing. I absolutely loved the curse part and how evil creatures kept appearing out of nowhere to try and kill Orpheus. I think I would have preferred this book 1 to be centred on the curse, but it ended up going in many directions instead. I thought the “villain redemption arc” part was super compelling, but that it didn’t quite live up to its full potential. We should have seen more of Orpheus acting as the dark wizard everyone fears. But instead, we’re exposed to his anxious, self-conscious, and traumatized self right from the start. The ending also left me like “whaat?” I don’t think I’m going to continue this series.

Characters:
I think the characters were interesting and diverse. However, there seemed to be more background than growth, and I didn’t feel the chemistry between the two MCs. For me, it seemed too one-sided. I kept thinking Fenrir could do better, and that he was a saint for being so patient with Orpheus and always saving his life. I hated Lore with every fibre of my being, so the author did a good job with that. (I might have said “Seriously, what a b*tch!” out loud about 20 times.)

Writing:
The prose didn’t strike me as being exceptionally good or bad, but for some reason I kept zoning out.

eARC received in exchange for an honest review.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything by Fiona Finn was not what I expected it to be. While that may be okay for some, I tend to get frustrated when books are not what I felt I was sold in the blurb/marketing. Orpheus is not as much an evil wizard, as a victim of circumstance. He is an sheltered, anxiety ridden, anti-social mess. That may appeal to some readers, but I found him to be more annoying than anything. And the setting was more post-apocalyptic than it was fantasy. And unfortunately, it did not get better for me from there.

Writing style/pacing: In one word, this book felt overwritten. The descriptions were flowery and felt mostly unnecessary. I found myself starting to skim long sections of text, without really losing anything vital to the story. It was overall too much to keep me interested. I felt like there was a severe lack of dialogue (particularly in the beginning) and it was a slow and boring start. I get that Orpheus didn’t really like Fenrir, but this was their time to really show their current relationship and start to cultivate it into something different. The chemistry just wasn’t there for me. The plot direction also felt weird as the goal was to get to the keep to cure the curse, but they got sidetracked by the oil production and that kind of became the main thing. The writing style led to the pacing feeling really slow, and it being a struggle to get through. Finally, on this: I think this story would have really benefitted from being in 1st person POV. So much of it is happening in Orpheus’s head, and the author tries to capture that by dictating what the “voice in his head” is telling him. This felt really disjointed to me, and I would have preferred to just have it be 1st person.

World Building: The world left me with more questions than it gave me answers. Maybe I’m reading too much into it (it’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland), but it didn’t work for me. In addition, the magic system was confusing (does only he have it, or is this something that others share?).

Romance: Here is where I had the highest expectations. I was expecting some great chemistry, some sweet tender scenes, and then a hot spice scene once they finally got together. It felt short on all of that for me. I would not have classified this as an adult book. Slow burns are fine, but there needs to be some sort of chemistry early on. Something pulling them together against what their minds are saying. It wasn’t until 50% into the book it even remotely felt like Orpheus was attracted to Fenrir. And by the time they finally got together, I just didn’t care.

Overall, I would have DNF’d this book if it wasn’t an ARC. And to be honest, feeling that obligation to continue reading has turned me off of requesting ARCs in the future.

Thank you, NetGalley and Tiny Fox Press, for giving this fantasy nerd the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was the wide-eyed child who lived inside her own head growing up, obsessed with knights and heroes and dragons and fantasy realms. I haven't changed very much, and still favor an epic fantasy and a heroes arc to sweep me off my feet, so when I was approved to read The Crack At The Heart Of Everything by Fiona Fenn (they/them) I was ecstatic. Heroes are usually the tonic my jaded soul needs. But the concept of a villainous main character piqued my interest. I was expecting a captivating "it's-good-to-be-bad" narrative. Maybe a cliched baddie monologue (I'm an absolute sucker for this trope! Even if it makes absolutely no sense that the villain monologues when they could just kill the hero, I'm not satisfied until that monologue happens!). Or at least some moral ambiguity. But despite being pitched as such, I couldn't see Orpheus as a villain at all. His actions always came from a place of naivety and ignorance rather than outright malice. He's more of a reluctant hero who has made some unfortunate choices in his eagerness to please and find love. Most of his "wickedness" was a defence mechanism due to unresolved childhood trauma. Despite Orpheus not being the villain I expected, I thought he was an interesting character. I connected with his anxiety and loneliness and how he believes he can never do anything right. His quest for love and acceptance was rocky but ultimately beautiful, though his voice became very repetitive eventually.

Fenrir was a little one-dimensional. He was too perfect. A duplicate of all the inherently good hero's in fantasy fiction that felt wholly unoriginal against the unique backdrop of Fenn's tale. His ability to survive such dangerous situations made me wonder if he possessed magical powers of his own. But no, he just had a lot of plot armour, in the end! I did appreciate how emotionally vulnerable he was, though.

The world-building was difficult to grasp. At first, I thought the novel was based in the Medieval era. The castle and fantastical creatures were something straight out of an Arthurian legend, so imagine my surprise when guns and vehicles and helicopters were suddenly thrown into the mix. It threw everything off. The blend of dystopia with the fantastical really didn't work for me. The peculiar amalgam between genres pulled me out of the narrative on so many occasions. The hero favours a sword when there are literal machine guns available during a dragon attack (strange!). The leading duo spend their days travelling on horseback when there are vehicles (weird!). Scientists rely on magic to save the world (odd!). It was Stranger Things meets Tales of Verania, and despite how much I love those stories separately, the two together felt incompatible.

The romance was too established off-page. I never really felt the depth of their love for one another through the otherwise very descriptive prose. The love interests had so much history that was the cornerstone of their relationship, but since it had all happened before the book even began, it seemed like they were together before they ever experienced their first kiss. Overall, the romance felt a little flat. I genuinely didn't feel the enemies-to-lovers chemistry, and I'm usually a huge fan of that trope.

Despite everything, I would recommend this book to all of my fellow YA nerds. So, to my fantasy peers with weird little souls for dragons and mayhem and LGBTQIA+ romance, grab your own copy on November 12th, 2024!

A slow and charming read. Despite the dark actions Orpheus has taken in the effort to maintain the friendship between himself and the only person he has ever had in his life that he believes has cared and needed him, he is thrown out into the wild world he has never stepped foot in. Whilst monsters and magical creatures seem to be looking to make a meal of him and haunt his steps he is lucky in a companion he never considered who chooses to accompany him, watching his back (and maybe something a little lower whilst he is there).

I thoroughly enjoyed following along and watching as Orpheus learns what the world is like outside the walls he has been trapped behind his whole life. Figuring out not only how that world works and some home truths that rock the core of knowledge that he has built his foundations on but also that he may have purpose outside of what he always believed.

This magical world is cleverly built and just as you think you understand it little bits of information are dropped in to shift the readers understanding and turn on its head the concept that you have built of where this story is going. I would give this 5 stars but I think I would have liked to have seen more of what was happening outside of Orpheus' understanding. A quick glimpse from other characters perspective or even a glimpse from a third party position even once I think would have given just that little extra depth needed to push this book from 4 to 5. However I think it is definitely worth the read and whilst I will definitely keep an eye on this author for their next book I have a little bit of hope we will take another visit back to this world in the future to see just a little bit more.

I was able to read this book thanks to an arc provided through net galley in exchange for an honest review.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything is a heartwarming and romance filled start to a new fantasy series. Told from the POV of the villain, and set in a time after the big epic war we would normally have as the focus as the book. It does give off those cozy fantasy/adventure vibes in parts, especially with the journey our MC goes on, realising the wrong he has done and trying his best to rectify it, even at the expense of his own life, but also has some truly epic and frighting battle scenes. All of which comes together to make for a unique story filled with quirky characters queer romance and an intriguing if slightly under-developed world and magic system.

From what I could gather, the story is set in a futuristic, post-apocalyptic, version of our world, where a cataclysmic event changed it irrecoverably. An event that created a crack in the middle of the world that allowed magic and monsters, hell beasts, to escape. The actual event was never really talked about, neither was how this event lead to the loss of knowledge to do with technology and industry, instead we are shown how the world has had to re-build itself, using whatever knowledge they could gather from books to bring back the things lost to them. I do wish we could have been given a bigger understanding of, not only the event, but what transpired after it and how the world came to resemble what it does now. In fact, there were a lot of events, facts, that we were just kind of expected to go along with, without any backstory, or reasoning.

I think this was largely due to the story being told solely from the POV of Orpheus, a solitary character who until we meet him had spent his entire life in the castle, never leaving to see the world outside. So the majority of these events would have transpired out of his purview. I expected him to be a little more villainous based on the synopsis, instead Orpheus is naive, someone so blinded by loyalty that he would do anything for the one person in the world he loved, even if that means dragging an army of the dead out of Hell to help her win a war. He's a little snarky, but his bark is definitely worse than his bite, and his attitude is more of a defense mechanism. He's not used to people being nice to him, of people not being afraid, so when he finally ventures out of the castle, he is unsure what to expect.

The other characters we spend the most time with are Fenrir, Orpheus' love interest and all around soft hearted warrior. Red, a mechanic Orpheus meets on his journey who treats him like any other person, something he has never experienced before. And Lore, the true villain of this story. The person Orpheus first loved, and someone who has used him for his gift ever since. I really enjoyed the flashback chapters we get to Orpheus' time as a child with Lore, not only because these give you a greater understanding of his character and bond to Lore, but also because these allow you to grasp just how evil Lore is. I would have liked a few chapters from Fenrir's POV, if only because until around 50% through the book he reads as a little flat, a character with no real motive other than to annoy Orpheus and protect him from the hell beasts trying to kill him.

The plot did take a little while to get going, I'd say for the first 40% or so I didn't really have an idea where the story was heading, or what the plot actually was, which is something that would usually annoy me, but between Fenn's beautiful and lush writing, and the humorous situations she gets these characters into, I still found myself enjoying it. It starts off feeling like the story was solely going to focus on Orpheus trying to rid himself of the death curse he accidentally placed on himself, but then became so much more. A story of rebellion, of love and friendship and sacrifice. Part's did get slightly repetitive, especially Orpheus getting emotional over realising just what his spell caused, but once the plot starts to come together I found myself unable to put the book down, desperate to find out what was going to happen. Fenn's descriptive writing really brings the world, characters and the epic fight scenes to life, giving me the ability to almost have the story play like a film in my head whilst I was reading.

The romance arc in this was super cute and hilarious in parts. It's peak grump/sunshine with Orpheus being so sure that Fenrir hated him, and hating him in return for being so perfect, and good looking, but mostly for replacing him in Lore's eyes. Whereas Fenrir can see the truth to Lore and Orpheus' relationship, how she was only using him as a means to an end. It was beautifully written and I really enjoyed seeing Orpheus open himself up to this relationship, sure he would never love another person, never be loved in that way. They are both dealing with their own sorts of trauma, both ashamed of their parts in the war, and both willing to risk themselves to right them.

Ok, so this review has been sooo much longer than I meant, but I just felt there was so much to talk about. The Crack at the Heart of Everything was a truly brilliant debut, and I will be sure to pick up anything else the author writes.

The world building in this book is insane. Being in a futuristic wasteland whilst also dragons being around is phenomenal.
Orpheus is such a cutie patootie. I would lay down my life for him. And the hunky army general who he is absolutely NOT attracted to is also a sweetheart.
This is a wonderful debut and it might be one of the best books I've read this year.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for granting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest rating.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything is absolutely incredible beyond what a review can possibly show. Like for real, yesterday I finally got around to reading it and thought I would just read a chapter or two to test the waters. One day later, I’m seriously considering rereading this book. The thing I found most interesting is Fiona Fenn’s cool and unique idea to combine classical fantastical elements with what I felt like a futuristic wasteland setting. This might seem like a jarring combination at first glance but Fenn’s writing and storytelling talents turned this into a truly unique experience.

I can’t recommend The Crack at the Heart of Everything enough. Do yourself a favor and don’t finish 2024 before reading this incredible debut.

Great redemption story with a fantasy backdrop. There wasn't anything I didn't enjoy about this novel. Everything was spectatural from the characters to the pacing to the romance, I read it all in one session. The story just draws you in from the beginning and I can not recommend this book enough.

When I read the synopsis for this book, I was immediately intrigued.
A fantasy sci-fi from the viewpoint of the villain, with magic and a redemption arc? Sign me up!! I love character arcs and a redemption arc is my favourite. Give me allllll the flawed characters.

This book had a lot of elements that I was surprised by as well. The magic was unlike what I had read before, with how it came to be and how it let Orpheus interact with the world. The way it was used to combine with mechanics, too, was so fascinating! I would love more stories around this world. And I loved that it became a kind of quest and adventure. Not just a physical one across the lands, but for Orpheus as well. He goes through an internal quest as he figures out who he is in the wider world - no longer confined to his dungeon laboratory - and who he wants to be with all of the internal and external changes.

I love the characters. Orpheus is a fantastic character, showing behind the visage of the misunderstood mage to show his insecurities and want to just be liked or loved by someone. Fenrir is the hero, but how his story plays out is so welcomingly unexpected. And Red and Farris are fantastic side characters to be added to the story. I loved all of them and wish we could have more of them re-building and getting to hang out without the impending doom. Lore and Ohm are these kind of underdeveloped characters, but their presence and influence is so overwhelming to the story. The reversal of the hero and the villain was a fantastic twist.

And. It's. QUEER. We love a queer fantasy sci-fi story!
And I keep saying fantasy and sci-fi, as I'm not entirely sure where this book falls in terms of genres. It's kind of a dystopian for our current world, but incorporates magic and elements of fantasy, like hell beasts. It's a great combination of new things that I hadn't read before.

The Crack at the Heart of Everything by Fiona Fenn - 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I ended up really loving this one - despite a bumpy start, it turned into a surprising and unexpected story centered on two very different but lovable characters, in a world that left me wanting to see much more. 💜

Bits I liked:
- Queernormative world with a lovely grumpy x sunshine MM pairing as the main romance ❤️
- Vivid world-building with magic & fantasy mixed with post apocalyptic vibes
- Great focus on characters, gradually revealing their past & motivations, whilst still having a strong plot and plenty of action 🙌
- Emotional rollercoaster as you discover more about the true nature of the world, the characters, and the experiences they've been through
- Overall a great writing style, plenty of wit and emotion balanced with good pacing, strong story points, and a few well developed side characters 🥰

Bits I liked less:
- I very nearly stopped reading right at the beginning, as I had difficulty getting into the story. The names of the characters made me think I was in a specific setting, and I found myself interested. However, when I gave it another go and realised things weren't as they seemed, it was a much more gripping read 🤩
- Some repetitive language used for certain things, like Fenrir's eyes or Orpheus's expressions.
- A lot of questions left unanswered about how the situation they're in came to be, a few hows and whys that could have been tied up. However, I have seen somewhere that it's a series, so perhaps those answers will come in time 🤞

If you're looking for a clever, slightly different take on a fantasy romance, with a bit of darkness, trauma, and unusual magic in to balance out the sweetness of the main pairing, then I'd highly recommend giving The Crack at the Heart of Everything a go! ☺️

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Tiny Fox Press for access to this ARC - as always, my opinions are my own, honest and freely given.

I read about 27% of this book and while it moved quickly, I found myself skimming it. I couldn't get a feel for the characters and their relationships to each other or an understanding of the characters themselves, so I didn't find myself invested in either the story or the characters unfortunately.