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doomluz's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Rape, and Alcohol
rachaelarsenault's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Is it possible to give a negative one star rating? Because "Hunted" deserves it.
This is one of those books that manages to do everything wrong, right from the very beginning. It was bad enough that we started with a flashback to events that happened only a few hours before the timeline of the novel, but did it have to be eight chapters of flashback? And did it have to be almost entirely filler? The pacing in these books is always atrocious, but somehow it got worse- I was bored to tears for most of this book.
Readers were also treated to some absolutely abhorrent character development in this installment. Or, in some cases, lack of character development. Zoey is still awful and has an ego the size of the moon. Her charming behaviour includes: insisting on calling herself High Priestess when it means she can bully people into submission or call attention to her importance, rejecting the title of High Priestess when it means she has difficult responsibilities or has to make sacrifices, spending an entire chapter talking about how dangerous it is to go outside only to promptly go outside and almost die, yelling at Erik for not trusting her to not cheat on him and then promptly almost cheating on him with Heath, and refusing to actually sit down and figure out the very simple poem outlining how to banish Kalona from Tulsa.
Competing with Zoey for Worst Person on the Planet is Stark. The red fledglings have a history of being cruel and monstrous, so there's some precedence for him being a bit evil. But Stark takes villainy to a level not yet seen by red fledglings. Stevie Rae and co., as far as we know, only killed to feed or under orders of Neferet. I never got the impression that they did it for sport. Stark, on the other hand, seems to enjoy threatening to murder Zoey's friends, usually Darius but also Erik on one occasion. He also revels in being an unrepentant rapist, bragging about how Becca wanted him to assault her and how she would have liked it if Zoey hadn't intervened. But it's okay! See, even though Stark is bragging about his actions and shows no remorse whatsoever and never attempts to apologize or make up for his actions, he's actually a good person deep down inside. The only reason he's doing these awful things is because of the power of darkness that has only just now been conveniently introduced to the series! And that's also why Stark never has to redeem himself. As soon as he swears himself to serve Zoey, he has chosen good and therefore overcome the darkness. No redemption arc necessary!
The rape is one of the worst aspects of this book. It's not just because Stark is unrepentant but still redeemed, either. Zoey also believes Kalona has good inside him despite being a serial rapist and enslaver. Moreover, when Becca is brainwashed into wanting Stark and made to believe his rape attempt was consensual, Zoey gets jealous of her and viciously belittles her. I can't do this scene justice without quoting it:
"'Um, excuse me, Becca,' I said, heavy on the sarcasm. "But didn't Darius and I recently save your butt from being raped and bit by oooh! the hottest guy at the House of Night! Then you were snotting and whimpering.'"
But wait, there's more! Not only does Zoey belittle and insult someone who is the victim of both rape and mind control, but she's upset with Stark because his sleeping with (re: raping) so many girls means he's a slut. Not an irredeemable rapist, not a monster - a slut. And everyone knows that being a slut is the worst thing ever.
There are so many more problems with this book, too. Zoey's affinities continue making no sense, changing at her convenience and always capable of doing whatever she wants without consequence. For example, she can now for some reason send one of her affinities away to serve another person. Why? How? Who knows! And it takes her ten seconds to figure it out. The circle casting is also full of inconsistencies, particularly when it comes to Nyx' rules about who can stand in for which element. Aphrodite can stand in for spirit when Zoey is out of commission, but she can't stand in for earth when Stevie Rae isn't available, so while Stevie Rae is away she'll take Zoey's place as spirit and Zoey will take Stevie Rae's place as earth. This book also screws around with Cherokee culture again, saying that there were five Ghigua representing all the Cherokee tribes, even though the Cherokee actually have seven clans. The five roles these Ghigua represented in their circle also have nothing to do with Cherokee culture.
This book also demonstrates how pointless most of the characters are. Shaunee, Erin, and Damien were more present than they have been in previous books, but that doesn't mean they added anything to the story. I'm honestly hard-pressed to think of any genuinely valuable contributions they made. However, rather than sitting down with the characters they had and working to develop them more, the authors introduced a slew of new barely developed characters. Most of them appeared once and were promptly forgotten for the rest of the book, but the few who did reoccur were heavily stereotyped. The worst offender is Kramisha, who serves as another demonstration of the authors' inability to write black characters without being incredibly offensive. Angry? Check. Sassy? Check. Completely bastardized AAVE? Check!
I would talk about the problems with this book's plot, but there's not much to say. The problem is very simple: There was no plot. At least not a cohesive one. I don't know if the central conflict was banishing Kalona, redeeming Stark, or healing Zoey and then escaping back underground. All I know is that this book could have been about a hundred pages shorter if the authors had cut out all the filler.
This is one of those books that manages to do everything wrong, right from the very beginning. It was bad enough that we started with a flashback to events that happened only a few hours before the timeline of the novel, but did it have to be eight chapters of flashback? And did it have to be almost entirely filler? The pacing in these books is always atrocious, but somehow it got worse- I was bored to tears for most of this book.
Readers were also treated to some absolutely abhorrent character development in this installment. Or, in some cases, lack of character development. Zoey is still awful and has an ego the size of the moon. Her charming behaviour includes: insisting on calling herself High Priestess when it means she can bully people into submission or call attention to her importance, rejecting the title of High Priestess when it means she has difficult responsibilities or has to make sacrifices, spending an entire chapter talking about how dangerous it is to go outside only to promptly go outside and almost die, yelling at Erik for not trusting her to not cheat on him and then promptly almost cheating on him with Heath, and refusing to actually sit down and figure out the very simple poem outlining how to banish Kalona from Tulsa.
Competing with Zoey for Worst Person on the Planet is Stark. The red fledglings have a history of being cruel and monstrous, so there's some precedence for him being a bit evil. But Stark takes villainy to a level not yet seen by red fledglings. Stevie Rae and co., as far as we know, only killed to feed or under orders of Neferet. I never got the impression that they did it for sport. Stark, on the other hand, seems to enjoy threatening to murder Zoey's friends, usually Darius but also Erik on one occasion. He also revels in being an unrepentant rapist, bragging about how Becca wanted him to assault her and how she would have liked it if Zoey hadn't intervened. But it's okay! See, even though Stark is bragging about his actions and shows no remorse whatsoever and never attempts to apologize or make up for his actions, he's actually a good person deep down inside. The only reason he's doing these awful things is because of the power of darkness that has only just now been conveniently introduced to the series! And that's also why Stark never has to redeem himself. As soon as he swears himself to serve Zoey, he has chosen good and therefore overcome the darkness. No redemption arc necessary!
The rape is one of the worst aspects of this book. It's not just because Stark is unrepentant but still redeemed, either. Zoey also believes Kalona has good inside him despite being a serial rapist and enslaver. Moreover, when Becca is brainwashed into wanting Stark and made to believe his rape attempt was consensual, Zoey gets jealous of her and viciously belittles her. I can't do this scene justice without quoting it:
"'Um, excuse me, Becca,' I said, heavy on the sarcasm. "But didn't Darius and I recently save your butt from being raped and bit by oooh! the hottest guy at the House of Night! Then you were snotting and whimpering.'"
But wait, there's more! Not only does Zoey belittle and insult someone who is the victim of both rape and mind control, but she's upset with Stark because his sleeping with (re: raping) so many girls means he's a slut. Not an irredeemable rapist, not a monster - a slut. And everyone knows that being a slut is the worst thing ever.
There are so many more problems with this book, too. Zoey's affinities continue making no sense, changing at her convenience and always capable of doing whatever she wants without consequence. For example, she can now for some reason send one of her affinities away to serve another person. Why? How? Who knows! And it takes her ten seconds to figure it out. The circle casting is also full of inconsistencies, particularly when it comes to Nyx' rules about who can stand in for which element. Aphrodite can stand in for spirit when Zoey is out of commission, but she can't stand in for earth when Stevie Rae isn't available, so while Stevie Rae is away she'll take Zoey's place as spirit and Zoey will take Stevie Rae's place as earth. This book also screws around with Cherokee culture again, saying that there were five Ghigua representing all the Cherokee tribes, even though the Cherokee actually have seven clans. The five roles these Ghigua represented in their circle also have nothing to do with Cherokee culture.
This book also demonstrates how pointless most of the characters are. Shaunee, Erin, and Damien were more present than they have been in previous books, but that doesn't mean they added anything to the story. I'm honestly hard-pressed to think of any genuinely valuable contributions they made. However, rather than sitting down with the characters they had and working to develop them more, the authors introduced a slew of new barely developed characters. Most of them appeared once and were promptly forgotten for the rest of the book, but the few who did reoccur were heavily stereotyped. The worst offender is Kramisha, who serves as another demonstration of the authors' inability to write black characters without being incredibly offensive. Angry? Check. Sassy? Check. Completely bastardized AAVE? Check!
I would talk about the problems with this book's plot, but there's not much to say. The problem is very simple: There was no plot. At least not a cohesive one. I don't know if the central conflict was banishing Kalona, redeeming Stark, or healing Zoey and then escaping back underground. All I know is that this book could have been about a hundred pages shorter if the authors had cut out all the filler.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Sexual violence
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Homophobia