16 blockbuster September science fiction and fantasy releases to kick off Fall
By Lacy Baugher
September 2021 release: The Hollow Heart – Marie Rutkoski
The highly anticipated sequel to The Midnight Lie, The Hollow Heart is the conclusion to Marie Rutkowski’s “Forgotten Gods” duology, which is itself a sort of spin-off/sequel of her “Winner’s Circle Trilogy”.
The story picks up where its predecessor left off, Nirrim traded her heart to the God of Thieves in exchange for knowledge. Her trade has allowed the oppressed Half Kith to regain their memories and claim their own power. She channels her despair over Sid’s absence and desire for revenge into a war against the ruling High Kith class. Positioning herself as queen, Nirrim begins to give in to her cruelest and darkest impulses in a terrifying shift from her behavior in the first book.
Elsewhere, Sid has finally returned home to Herran to do her duty as a daughter by her ill mother and as a princess by the people she left behind. But when she hears rumors of a cruel, black-haired queen rising across the sea, will Sid realize this threat is Nirrim? And can she save her from herself?
The official synopsis offers more details about the story.
"At the end of The Midnight Lie, Nirrim offered up her heart to the God of Thieves in order to restore her people’s memories of their city’s history. The Half Kith who once lived imprisoned behind the city’s wall now realize that many among them are powerful. Meanwhile, the person Nirrim once loved most, Sid, has returned to her home country of Herran, where she must navigate the politics of being a rogue princess who has finally agreed to do her duty. In the Herrani court, rumors begin to grow of a new threat rising across the sea, of magic unleashed on the world, and of a cruel, black-haired queen who can push false memories into your mind, so that you believe your dearest friends to be your enemies. Sid doesn’t know that this queen is Nirrim, who seeks her revenge against a world that has wronged her. Can Sid save Nirrim from herself? Does Nirrim even want to be saved? As blood is shed and war begins, Sid and Nirrim find that it might not matter what they want…for the gods have their own plans."
The Hollow Heart is available on September 14.