Sunday, July 9, 2017

BOOK REVIEW for "The Hunted (Hunter Circles, #1)" by Jessica Gunn

****(4) out of 5 stars
SYNOPSIS:

I’m Krystin Blackwood, and I’ve only ever been good at one thing: killing demons of Darkness.

But at twenty-four, I’m about to face my toughest challenge yet: shifting from working alone to joining a team of three other Hunters. Newbie Hunters. They don’t know their magik, they barely know their place in the world, and when they find out the secrets I’ve been carrying, they’ll definitely decide it’s safer if they don’t know me.

But unfortunately for them—and me—Darkness has other plans. Lady Azar, Darkness’s heir, stole my new team leader’s son two years ago. Now, she and her lackeys are rallying to exchange Ben’s son for me because of the power I wield. I’m one-half of a prophecy to save an ancient city the Powers of Good lost centuries ago. And if I fail or die before that happens, the destruction of that city will be felt across all planes of existence.

If we can’t find Ben’s son before All Hallows’ Eve and somehow save him without putting my life at risk, that existential explosion will absolutely happen. But it’ll be nothing compared to the destruction wrought if Lady Azar changes Ben’s son into a demon… and her minion.

Because the only thing more dangerous than me with a blade is a father’s wrath.



REVIEW:


The blurb for this book leads you to believe that the story will be entirely from the point of view of Krystin Blackwood, long-time Hunter of the Fire Circle.  Instead, it has an alternating POV, switching back and forth from Krystin and Ben Hallen, the Team Leader for their newly created little band of demon-hunters. 

The story starts right up, with Krystin, assigned to join the team, racing across town to help them in a battle against a powerful demon.  The action pretty much doesn’t let up from there, with them fighting a number of other bad guys in a variety of situations. 

The main characters of the book, Krystin, Ben, and the remaining members of their team, Nate and Rachel, are all interesting, distinctive voices, and it is intriguing to watch them as they develop their magical talents and learn to function as a team, such as they do, in the short duration of the book’s timeframe. 

The world the author creates is quite fascinating, full of magik, demons, witches, and the like.  It is also multi-layered and highly complicated, with some of the different parties having very similar-sounding names.  There’s a lot of political intrigue to all of it as well, from various different quarters and factions, much of it not explained.  It was all rather confusing.  Although I am hopeful that this will be remedied in future installments.

The basic story is sound and intriguing, there are some twists and turns one doesn’t see coming, and there is a lot of potential for future narrative.  I look forward to reading future editions to discover whether they prove as meaningful as it seems they might. 

I received a free eBook copy of this novel from the author, 
and have willingly provided an honest review.  
~
Book #2 in "The Hunter Circles" series, "The Traitor," releases Monday, July 10th, 2017!

Read my review of the prequel novella,
"(The Hunter Circles, #0.5) The Hunter"

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