63 pages • 2 hours read
Kristen CiccarelliHeartless Hunter
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Author Context: Kristen Ciccarelli
Kristen Ciccarelli is a young adult fantasy and fantasy romance author. She is a New York Times, Sunday Times, and Indie bestselling author who has had her books translated into over a dozen languages. Kristen Ciccarelli began her career with the Iskari trilogy, a YA high fantasy series with a romantic subplot. The series consists of The Last Namsara (2017), The Caged Queen (2018), and The Sky Weaver (2019). While the books make up a series, Ciccarelli maintains that the novels can be read as companion novels or standalone as well. Ciccarelli followed the Iskari series with Edgewood (2022), a standalone YA fantasy romance that blends gothic and high fantasy elements.
Her most recent publication is Heartless Hunter (2024), the first installment in the Crimson Moth upper young adult romantasy duology soon to be followed by the second installment, Rebel Witch (2025). Ciccarelli’s love for powerful female protagonists, courtly intrigue, and captivating romance are apparent throughout her books and this remains true in her latest series.
Historical Context: Witch Hunts
The idea for Heartless Hunter grew from Kristen Ciccarelli’s childhood love for The Scarlet Pimpernel, the first novel in Baroness Orczy’s historical fiction series. When the inspiration to write struck, Ciccarelli decided to tell a gender-swapped version of the beloved story. However, instead of French aristocrats, Ciccarelli drew inspiration from historical witch hunts to inform her creation of the witch-hating Republic displayed in Heartless Hunter. Much like The Scarlet Pimpernel’s protagonist, Sir Percy Blakeney—an elusive master of disguise who rescues French aristocrats and smuggles them to safety during the French Revolution—Rune Winters does the same for her fellow witches against the Republic.
Heartless Hunter is not the only fantasy to draw inspiration from witch hunts beginning in the 15th century. Similar themes and elements—namely society’s fear of powerful women and the unknown—are found in Shelby Mahurin’s Serpent & Dove and Marie Lu’s Young Elites. These works interrogate how fear can ruin innocent lives and stress the importance of judging individuals on their actions rather than false accusations or generalizations. Much like how many risked their lives to spare women from the gallows during historical witch hunts, Rune and her friends do the same for their fellow witches. Similar to the townspeople who betrayed one another out of fear and paranoia, Rune’s society turns on its own blood in exchange for a privileged life in the Republic.
