Bogormen

Title: Heartless Hunter (Crimson Moth #1)
Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~12hrs
Date read: April 2026

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?


Definitely one of the better fantasy books I've read recently. Good use of world-building, and the main characters were nicely fleshed out. However, it ends on a huge cliff-hanger, meaning it's more half of one book, than a book in its own right.

Fortunately I knew that going into it, so made sure to have the next book readily available as well.

I didn't always fully understand the friendship between Alex and Rune ... or rather, his motivations for helping her, but the relationship between Gideon and Rune totally worked for me. I'm very interested to see how that's explored further in the next book.

But that ending! Gah!