xiacobolt's review against another edition
2.0
The universe that this novel takes place in is a uniquely imaginative one; as vibrant as it is dangerous, it blends together many fantasy elements in a unique way, in a world that is far from the traditional medieval fantasy setting of castles and wizards that I'm more used to. At times, this world is brilliantly realized through the experiences of its characters; at other times, it's like trying to watch a video that won't buffer higher than 240p when it ought to be 1080p. Most of the characters are underdeveloped and therefore not very believable, making many of the more dramatic events seem somewhat shallow; in addition, some of the plot "twists" are laughably predictable, although to be fair, they are matched by a handful of twists that are almost revelatory. Overall, it's clear that Ballantine's world and story are deeply inspired, and I'm hopeful that the next book is better written, though I won't go out of my way to pick up a copy.
dtaylorbooks's review against another edition
4.0
How did we end up here
When Pyr sent over the first two WIDDERSHINS novels this book was in the box with them. It sounded interesting so I kept it around. I obviously didn’t get around to reading it until now but I’m glad I did.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
The world begins immediately with the start of the first sentence in the opening chapter. It was actually a little discombobulating with all of the world-specific words but they were put into a good context and if I was a little thrown to start it didn’t take me long to settle into the jive of the story. Within the first few chapters you meet the Hunter and the Fox and they seem to be existing on two distinct plot lines, however the deeper you get into the story the closer they move to each other and their hard lines begin to blur. I think it was the nykur that really did it for me though. It wasn’t too much beyond a horse to start but the more you got to know the Hunter the more you got to know her steed and it’s so much more than that.
What worked . . .
Without a doubt the world. It’s so incredibly rich and filled with its own stories that every time I was given a piece of it to play in it soon became not enough. I wanted more! I wanted more stories from Finn and more turmoil from the Hunter. She was a piece of work and one that was at war not only with everyone around her but with herself as well. She was well and truly along in the world and trying so hard to sew back together a gushing wound but the stitches never stayed shut for long. You can see her breaking as the story goes on, becoming less and less of herself as what little hope she had gets chipped even further away.
And the Fox took a path in the opposite direction, growing stronger as a character as he got aid from creatures and people and never thought possible. You can feel the destiny in him growing as you read and it eventually becomes so incredibly evident that you have to be blind to not see it. He is going to be something more. Just what that something is, though, is left to be seen.
The Phaerkorn were also pretty neat. Also known as blood witches they definitely had a vampire vibe going on with them but they were more than just blood-drinking beings. They had a power about them that could actually aid people. And the Vaerli? I couldn’t get enough. I still feel like I don’t know enough about them and it was pretty much their story exclusively. I should say the story belonged to the people the Caisah all but eradicated and you are able to watch as they knit themselves back together from the shattering they received to stand up against him.
What didn't work . . .
The voice came off as stilted most of the time. If the characters and their stories weren’t separated into their own chapters it would have been hard to tell them apart since they all sounded alike. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the next book when they actually start interacting with each other (I’m assuming). The only two characters that really stood out against the rest not just in character but in words were the Caisah and his number one harem there, Kelanim? I can’t remember her name off the top of my head. They each had very distinctive voices when the three singing travelers, the Hunter, the Fox and Byre all blended together when compared against each other. The voice issue kept me from loving the book. Right now I just liked it a lot.
And in the end . . .
Ballantine’s got a good story going here and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. The voice was a bit of an issue and had the characters not been separated out into their own respectively chapters it would have made for a difficult read and been far less enjoyable. As it stands it’s a fantasy I really like. The world is incredibly developed, I liked the stories of all the different people and how they’re all coping with this tyrant and the creatures within it. I like how Ballantine kept familiar aspects of our world in hers but amped them up, gave them powers and turned them something more than just another run of the mill horse under a different name or a vampire. She made it all distinctly hers and all the pieces of her puzzle fit. I loved fitting them into place and waiting to see what they revealed. Well worth the read and something I wish I would have gotten to sooner.
When Pyr sent over the first two WIDDERSHINS novels this book was in the box with them. It sounded interesting so I kept it around. I obviously didn’t get around to reading it until now but I’m glad I did.
Okay, book. You've got 50 pages. Go!
The world begins immediately with the start of the first sentence in the opening chapter. It was actually a little discombobulating with all of the world-specific words but they were put into a good context and if I was a little thrown to start it didn’t take me long to settle into the jive of the story. Within the first few chapters you meet the Hunter and the Fox and they seem to be existing on two distinct plot lines, however the deeper you get into the story the closer they move to each other and their hard lines begin to blur. I think it was the nykur that really did it for me though. It wasn’t too much beyond a horse to start but the more you got to know the Hunter the more you got to know her steed and it’s so much more than that.
What worked . . .
Without a doubt the world. It’s so incredibly rich and filled with its own stories that every time I was given a piece of it to play in it soon became not enough. I wanted more! I wanted more stories from Finn and more turmoil from the Hunter. She was a piece of work and one that was at war not only with everyone around her but with herself as well. She was well and truly along in the world and trying so hard to sew back together a gushing wound but the stitches never stayed shut for long. You can see her breaking as the story goes on, becoming less and less of herself as what little hope she had gets chipped even further away.
And the Fox took a path in the opposite direction, growing stronger as a character as he got aid from creatures and people and never thought possible. You can feel the destiny in him growing as you read and it eventually becomes so incredibly evident that you have to be blind to not see it. He is going to be something more. Just what that something is, though, is left to be seen.
The Phaerkorn were also pretty neat. Also known as blood witches they definitely had a vampire vibe going on with them but they were more than just blood-drinking beings. They had a power about them that could actually aid people. And the Vaerli? I couldn’t get enough. I still feel like I don’t know enough about them and it was pretty much their story exclusively. I should say the story belonged to the people the Caisah all but eradicated and you are able to watch as they knit themselves back together from the shattering they received to stand up against him.
What didn't work . . .
The voice came off as stilted most of the time. If the characters and their stories weren’t separated into their own chapters it would have been hard to tell them apart since they all sounded alike. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the next book when they actually start interacting with each other (I’m assuming). The only two characters that really stood out against the rest not just in character but in words were the Caisah and his number one harem there, Kelanim? I can’t remember her name off the top of my head. They each had very distinctive voices when the three singing travelers, the Hunter, the Fox and Byre all blended together when compared against each other. The voice issue kept me from loving the book. Right now I just liked it a lot.
And in the end . . .
Ballantine’s got a good story going here and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series. The voice was a bit of an issue and had the characters not been separated out into their own respectively chapters it would have made for a difficult read and been far less enjoyable. As it stands it’s a fantasy I really like. The world is incredibly developed, I liked the stories of all the different people and how they’re all coping with this tyrant and the creatures within it. I like how Ballantine kept familiar aspects of our world in hers but amped them up, gave them powers and turned them something more than just another run of the mill horse under a different name or a vampire. She made it all distinctly hers and all the pieces of her puzzle fit. I loved fitting them into place and waiting to see what they revealed. Well worth the read and something I wish I would have gotten to sooner.
amym84's review against another edition
4.0
3.5
Originally posted at Vampire Book Club
Talyn the Dark is the Hunter. She was taken nearly 300 years ago by the Caisah, the man who destroyed her people, the Vaerli, in the Harrowing. She has now become his “hawk.” She is a strong fighter and never loses a bounty. For this, the Caisah sends her out for prey and when she succeeds he promises another piece to the puzzle that will help bring her people back to greatness.
Finnbar the Fox is a storyteller going from place to place telling different tales of the people of Conhaero and how they came to be from the White Void. He would love nothing more than to see the Caisah brought down. He begins to weave a hint of rebellion into his tales. When the Caisah catches word of this, he sends his Hunter out for a new prey.
I found Hunter and Fox difficult to concentrate on while reading. It is so full of this new world and these new people. Everyone had something bad happen to them at the Harrowing. Now people live in a world where the landscape is constantly shifting and they utilize new names, true names, and perceived and hidden selves. Seriously, on one page Talyn may be referred to as Talyn, Hunter, Vaerli, hawk, etc. This is the first book I’ve read by Philippa Ballantine so I can’t speak as to a particular writing style. In Hunter and Fox the reader is thrown into this world with no background information given. You learn about the past as the story goes. Similarly you learn about the people and their powers/magics as the story goes as well. Sometimes, this is fine. However, there is so much to take in at times it becomes overwhelming.
I found it was easier to focus on the basics of the story, a world ruled for centuries by a tyrant and what happens to people on all sides when it’s time for rebellion. The rest of the details just enhance the reading experience.
There were other storylines besides Talyn and Finn’s but they are the titular characters, and therefore the main focus of the story. Talyn and Finn have a past. He remembers. She doesn’t. Vaerli are immortal. Because of this immortality, obviously, they live lifetimes and in order to keep them from going crazy, they have the ability to let memories go if they so choose. Talyn, sadly enough, chose to let the memory of Finn go. She sees herself as set on her path and anything that could make her weak, like love, has no room in her memory. Finn, even after all the years, is still drawn to Talyn. He wants to mean as much to her as she means to him.
Talyn, unfortunately, has lived so long under the Caisah’s rule; she is blinded by her mission. She knows the Caisah is evil, yet she can only see the release of her people from their current state back to what used to be. Other Vaerli are afraid of Talyn, in their eyes she is no longer a Vaerli. She knows that they feel this way about yet she still “fights” for them. That was one of the frustrating things about her character. You want so badly for her to leave her current situation, but she believes in the grand scheme of things that she’s doing good. In the end it will pay off. You can’t fault her for that; misguided as she may be.
There are a lot of twists and turns in Hunter and Fox, and the ending leaves off rather abruptly for all involved. Book two Kindred and Wings was released in early August, and I feel like I need to pick it up right away to continue the story while I’m still in the mindset otherwise I may forget a lot about the complicated world Philippa Ballantine created.
Originally posted at Vampire Book Club
Talyn the Dark is the Hunter. She was taken nearly 300 years ago by the Caisah, the man who destroyed her people, the Vaerli, in the Harrowing. She has now become his “hawk.” She is a strong fighter and never loses a bounty. For this, the Caisah sends her out for prey and when she succeeds he promises another piece to the puzzle that will help bring her people back to greatness.
Finnbar the Fox is a storyteller going from place to place telling different tales of the people of Conhaero and how they came to be from the White Void. He would love nothing more than to see the Caisah brought down. He begins to weave a hint of rebellion into his tales. When the Caisah catches word of this, he sends his Hunter out for a new prey.
I found Hunter and Fox difficult to concentrate on while reading. It is so full of this new world and these new people. Everyone had something bad happen to them at the Harrowing. Now people live in a world where the landscape is constantly shifting and they utilize new names, true names, and perceived and hidden selves. Seriously, on one page Talyn may be referred to as Talyn, Hunter, Vaerli, hawk, etc. This is the first book I’ve read by Philippa Ballantine so I can’t speak as to a particular writing style. In Hunter and Fox the reader is thrown into this world with no background information given. You learn about the past as the story goes. Similarly you learn about the people and their powers/magics as the story goes as well. Sometimes, this is fine. However, there is so much to take in at times it becomes overwhelming.
I found it was easier to focus on the basics of the story, a world ruled for centuries by a tyrant and what happens to people on all sides when it’s time for rebellion. The rest of the details just enhance the reading experience.
There were other storylines besides Talyn and Finn’s but they are the titular characters, and therefore the main focus of the story. Talyn and Finn have a past. He remembers. She doesn’t. Vaerli are immortal. Because of this immortality, obviously, they live lifetimes and in order to keep them from going crazy, they have the ability to let memories go if they so choose. Talyn, sadly enough, chose to let the memory of Finn go. She sees herself as set on her path and anything that could make her weak, like love, has no room in her memory. Finn, even after all the years, is still drawn to Talyn. He wants to mean as much to her as she means to him.
Talyn, unfortunately, has lived so long under the Caisah’s rule; she is blinded by her mission. She knows the Caisah is evil, yet she can only see the release of her people from their current state back to what used to be. Other Vaerli are afraid of Talyn, in their eyes she is no longer a Vaerli. She knows that they feel this way about yet she still “fights” for them. That was one of the frustrating things about her character. You want so badly for her to leave her current situation, but she believes in the grand scheme of things that she’s doing good. In the end it will pay off. You can’t fault her for that; misguided as she may be.
There are a lot of twists and turns in Hunter and Fox, and the ending leaves off rather abruptly for all involved. Book two Kindred and Wings was released in early August, and I feel like I need to pick it up right away to continue the story while I’m still in the mindset otherwise I may forget a lot about the complicated world Philippa Ballantine created.
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