Book Review: Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez

Prepare to be transported to 15th century Florence in Isabel Ibañez’s latest historical fantasy, which follows a sculptress with a dangerous affinity for forbidden magic who finds herself at the mercy of warring ruling factions. The year is 1478 and the people of Volterra are suffering. Brought to their knees by the unforgiving Florentine army at the orders of the powerful House of Medici, they live under curfew and in constant fear for their lives. Ravenna Maffei knows first-hand the army’s brutality, her own brother one of their prisoners. So when she gets an opportunity to win back his freedom, she enters a sculping competition hosted by the Luni famiglia, the Medici’s fiercest allies and Florence’s most feared and revered immortal family.

Winning the competition is just the beginning for Ravenna, however, as she’s taken captive by the Luni family and forced to embark on a deadly task where failure means certain death at the hands of knight Saturnino dei Luni, the family’s merciless, mesmerising heir. Ravenna must use her dormant magical powers to extract five pietra magiche – magic Nightflame stones with the power to transform non-living things into living things. But the more she grudgingly toils away at the stones, the more she’s drawn to Saturnino. And with the Pope’s brutal war against magic and the Medicis closing in, Ravenna begins to suspect that the real danger lies not within Florence’s walls, but beyond it.

You are ruinous, Saturnino. But I won’t let you ruin me.“

Following her Secrets of the Nile duology, Ibañez has become a go-to author for readers who love stories that weave enchanting fantasy and fascinating history. Graceless Heart swaps Egyptian mythology for the Italian Renaissance, painting a picture of a classical world of lavish art and advancements against a turbulent backdrop of a city on the brink of war. Political intrigue and religious unrest are ever-present threats as Ravenna fights to save the people she loves, whilst battling to hold onto her heart as she falls increasingly under Saturnino’s enigmatic spell. It hits all the right YA/NA fantasy beats – the naive young woman with a coveted magical gift, the brooding immortal anti-hero who can’t (or won’t) stay away from her – but the themes of art and culture, religion and zealotry, faith and fear of magic elevate the more adult stakes and root the story in real life history (watch out for cameos from real life figures including a charming Leonardo de Vinci!).

With such lush and intricate worldbuilding, as well as Ibañez’s devotion to crafting the tense love to hate dynamic between Ravenna and Saturnino, Graceless Heart does suffer from a lull in the middle where not a lot actually happens. If you’re happy to luxuriate in the yearning chemistry between its central duo, the slow pace isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does feel like the story is treading water, repeating lines and arguments to delay the inevitable. Yet bookending that slower midpoint is a fraught, emotionally charged beginning and a breathlessly thrilling final third that ratchets up the desire, the violence and the ticking clock on each of the characters’ lives. Reading the final chapters as the book nears its end is genuinely exhilarating and Ibañez wraps everything up beautifully, offering hope amidst the heartache.

Once again, Ibañez has delivered a richly detailed historical fantasy that’s full of slow-burn romance, simmering danger, fragile alliances and devious power plays. The characters – from steadfast Ravenna and inscrutable Saturnino to the ostentatious Luni family and the magic-obsessed Pope – jump off the page, but its Ibañez’s passion for the era, the way she brings the romanticism and fanaticism of Renaissance Italy to life, that makes Graceless Heart such a memorable read. With some curious side-character backstories begging for further exploration, this is a standalone that deserves a spin-off.

★★★★

Graceless Heart is published by Hodderscape on 15 January 2026