Review: The Great Hunt

The Great Hunt
Rating: 3.5/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.

Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger... until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them... or his mysterious resentment.

Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface. 

I've heard good things about Wendy Higgins books, and I was intrigued by the synopsis for this. So I eagerly dived in and I was hooked from the attention grabbing opening. The Great Hunt is fast paced and action packed, although occasionally a smidge repetitive. Either way it was enjoyable! Although I wasn't pleased with the ending at all, it wasn't how I wanted things to end up, and I'm hoping the next book will fix everything for all the characters! 

There are some brilliant characters in this book, and I enjoyed all of them both main and supporting. We have the acrobatic Queen and Princesses! I really liked what we saw of Vixie, but it would be nice to see more of her. I loved Aerity our MC, she's determined and loyal to her people and family which I admired greatly while reading. She handled everything thrown at her with class and elegance, and never lost her cool and I admired her bravery. I quite liked Wyn and her relationship with Aerity, I was expecting things to get nasty between her and Aerity but nope, they where loyal to each other and there for each other the entire time. 

Tiern and Pax where an interesting pair, and I'm intrigued to learn more about the both of them and I loved the dynamic between the two of them. I love how all of the siblings and family members in this book support each other and look out for each other. I was expecting a load of backstabbing but it made a nice change for there not to be any. I also really loved Harrison and his friendship with Aerity although I had a moment of suspicion with him! I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Leif, considering the ending of the book and his attitude to everything. We'll see I guess. 

I loved the romance between Pax and Aerity and watching the feelings grow and develop over the course of the book, I also have two other ships one of which I ship hard because it has the potential to be totally cute, and the other I'm not sure on because I'm not sure on Leif. But again...we'll see. 

The Great Hunt has a great medieval vibe going on, plus an intriguing world and history to it. I haven't read the fairy tale that this is based on, but this has a definite Grimm vibe to it as well and I enjoyed the storytelling. There's some great components to the plot along with the action and romance, there's the Beast and the mystery of what it is, why it's attacking people and how to kill it, plus the Lashed Ones and the dynamic with them and the politics of the kingdom. 

I also really loved the multi POV's going on, we mostly had just Aerity and Pax, but there where a couple of others in there too, and it kept the pace up, and the narrative going, plus letting you know more about each characters motivations and past. I'm pleased this is a duology as I think it's going to work really well, so I'm excited for the second and final book! 

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