A review by nineteen_adze
Hunter's Oath by Michelle West
3.0
This was about 3.5 stars for me, rounded down for a somewhat clunky structure. I like the worldbuilding and there are plenty of little details to appreciate, but I kept checking how many pages were left and am not continuing on to the sequel.
Content warnings: mild to moderate;
This felt like two or three really good books that then got cut down, abridged, and stuck together with a lot of time skips. Breodanir society is fascinating, with the male Hunter Lords as hunters and technical rulers but Hunter Ladies managing politics and local judgements; I don't normally love this type of sex-based split, but this feels different from the background in so many fantasy novels. I would have loved to see more development of the Breodanir society and how much the Ladies are doing in the background.
More importantly, though, I would have appreciated a deeper view of of the Hunter/huntbrother bond. We see a lot of squabbling between Gilliam the Hunter lord and his huntbrother Stephen and are told how much they matter to each other, but the broad and frequent time jumps (eight to twelve to fifteen to twenty-two, I think) mean that the narrative never lingers in all the little daily moments that makes them enjoy each other's company when they're not fighting so much. There's sort of an indulgent "oh, Hunters, they only can care about the dogs and the hunt because of their bond with their hounds" air to how people manage Hunters, but I really wanted to see more of Gillam and Stephen bonding at different ages, choosing to help each other alongside all the fighting. Even more time with an ordinary hunt would have done a lot to show the personalities of the hounds and how Gilliam relates to them more than to other humans.
The story also could have been stronger if segments from Evayne the time-wandering mage had been alternating chapters with Stephen's POV instead of bands of several chapters together and then nothing for over a hundred pages. It's just uneven in a way that didn't work for me.
When I previously read The Hidden City for this readalong, it felt like it took forever for things to happen, with pacing unfolding in an agonizingly slow way. Hunter's Oath moves much faster, but it's missing a lot of emotional connective tissue. If Michelle West has a middle note between those two extremes, I think I'd like that better, but I think I'll search outside the Essalieyan universe.
Content warnings: mild to moderate;
Spoiler
mostly just fantasy-typical violence, with some occasional light gore around the aftermath of hunts and bodies being maimed (more as a broad description than getting into visceral details).This felt like two or three really good books that then got cut down, abridged, and stuck together with a lot of time skips. Breodanir society is fascinating, with the male Hunter Lords as hunters and technical rulers but Hunter Ladies managing politics and local judgements; I don't normally love this type of sex-based split, but this feels different from the background in so many fantasy novels. I would have loved to see more development of the Breodanir society and how much the Ladies are doing in the background.
More importantly, though, I would have appreciated a deeper view of of the Hunter/huntbrother bond. We see a lot of squabbling between Gilliam the Hunter lord and his huntbrother Stephen and are told how much they matter to each other, but the broad and frequent time jumps (eight to twelve to fifteen to twenty-two, I think) mean that the narrative never lingers in all the little daily moments that makes them enjoy each other's company when they're not fighting so much. There's sort of an indulgent "oh, Hunters, they only can care about the dogs and the hunt because of their bond with their hounds" air to how people manage Hunters, but I really wanted to see more of Gillam and Stephen bonding at different ages, choosing to help each other alongside all the fighting. Even more time with an ordinary hunt would have done a lot to show the personalities of the hounds and how Gilliam relates to them more than to other humans.
The story also could have been stronger if segments from Evayne the time-wandering mage had been alternating chapters with Stephen's POV instead of bands of several chapters together and then nothing for over a hundred pages. It's just uneven in a way that didn't work for me.
When I previously read The Hidden City for this readalong, it felt like it took forever for things to happen, with pacing unfolding in an agonizingly slow way. Hunter's Oath moves much faster, but it's missing a lot of emotional connective tissue. If Michelle West has a middle note between those two extremes, I think I'd like that better, but I think I'll search outside the Essalieyan universe.