Book Review: Fated (Baal’s Heart Book 3) by Bey Deckard [Audiobook]

 
 
With Baltsaros's mental state still unwell, the three men and their pirate crew head back to Madierus hoping Abetha will be able to help. Their relationship is yet again tested, Baltsaros starts to remember terrible things from his past, and the men set off on one last quest to try and rid him of his gruesome obsession once and for all.

[Audio]Book Review: Fated (Baal's Heart Book 3) by Bey Deckard | reading, books, book reviews, audiobooks, high fantasy, lgbt+, m/m, pirates
Title: Fated: Blood and Redemption
Author:
Series:
Book Number: Book 3
Pages: 401
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
More Info: Goodreads, Amazon
 

Review:

This was the final full book in the series, but I didn’t want it to be! I came to love these characters so much over the course of this series. I started thinking they were terrible but interesting and ended wanting to give them all hugs and not even caring about the terrible things they’d done in the past. They grew and changed over the story, not drastically, and in some cases maybe not for the better, but in some ways it was definitely for the better, and all of it was believable and realistic. I also really felt for Tom and Baltsaros as I got to know them better and understand their trauma and why they were the way they were. Not that that excuses something like cold-blooded murder, but, you know, it’s fiction. Jon is the one who maybe didn’t grow in all ways for the better, but he hardened some, as he had to if he was going to make it on a pirate crew, and he found some buried strength and surety in himself, I think.

Then there was their relationship. The further I got into this series, the more I could see just how much these three men fit together, how right they were for each other. No, I still can’t sit here and say their relationship was always perfect and healthy, but neither Baltsaros nor Tom would’ve had a healthy relationship with anyone. It took all three of them being together for them to find themselves and heal their own emotional wounds and bridge the emotional gaps between each other and for things to finally be right. And their relationship did get a lot healthier by the end. Still very BDSM, but in a non-abusive way that they were all extremely happy with, including openness and tenderness and trust rather than the jealousy and pain they started with. And I could feel more and more just how much they all cared for each other and needed each other. Seriously, these three started out with one of the most unhealthy relationships I’ve ever read about and ended with one of the most adorable. Also, in the first book, I couldn’t even keep a straight face and thought it was so weird every time Tom called Baltsaros “da,” but I squealed in cuteness and thought it was the sweetest term of endearment ever when he used it in the final scene of this book.

There was also more pirating as the series went on! This one even had a sea battle with cannons.

I will say though that the story seemed a bit darker and less happy in this one. Baltsaros’s mental struggles. Jon and Tom being separated from Baltsaros for a little while. Some relationship issues. And then the ending wasn’t an unhappy one, but it could’ve been happier, although I can appreciate the author giving things the weight they deserved instead of brushing them off. (Fortunately, the short story Careened that takes place after this book fixes the unhappiness that was still lingering.)

And of course I have to yet again mention the AMAZING narration by Michael Ferraiuolo. Listen, I almost never recommend specifically the audiobook, but I’m telling you, this narrator is incredible and brings this story to life with emotion and voices and accents and a performance in a way that even my imagination could not.

Overall, I loved this series, I loved these terrible/lovable pirates, I loved their angsty relationship, and I’m so glad I decided to give it a try!

 

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Talk to me!

Have you read Fated by Bey Deckard?
Have you felt one way about something at the beginning of a series, but felt completely different by the end?

 
 
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Your Thoughts

 

8 thoughts on “Book Review: Fated (Baal’s Heart Book 3) by Bey Deckard [Audiobook]

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  1. Greg

    I love it when character changes feel realistic and earned. Even if they still do questionable things- after all, gray morality is fun to read about right? lol I think pirates especially sometimes can be so hard, because we love em but at the same time they do terrible things haha! I remember watching the show Black Sails and no one was really a good guy, so it was always fascinating to me how I reacted to characters that I liked even though I was like- SHOULD I be liking them?? 🙂

    Anyway, sounds like the relationships here really grew too. Glad this was awesome.

    1. Kristen Burns

      Yep, character change that feels real and earned is the best. Pirates are kinda hard, I would imagine, and I feel like most of the pirate books I’ve read, the authors make them too kind and honest and good. Like, no, that’s not a pirate anymore, that’s just someone with a ship lol. I want them to be bad, and I want the author to make me like them anyway!

  2. Lancy

    Agree with all of this! I’m excited because it looks like he’s going to write another book in the series. Hopefully soon and hopefully he uses the same narrator for the aurio book!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I’m glad you loved it too!!! That would be amazing if he writes another book in the series, especially if he uses Michael Ferraiuolo for narration again!

  3. Olivia Roach

    I love when a series gets like this – when it gets better with every book and by the end of it all you are just head over heels. I love that the characters were able to come together in their relationship in a way where they simply fit so well and were at the best they could be… or as healthy a relationship as they are going to get. I tend to fall in love with troublemakers and grey area characters too, so I know the feeling of just wanting to protect them regardless of their histories and crimes 😛 And yay for it doing more pirating!

    1. Kristen Burns

      I was already head over heels for this series in the first book lol, but I definitely fell more in love with the relationship <3 and I do love when a book can make me feel such a different way about certain things by the end. Ahh gray area characters can just be so fun lol.