Review: The Great Pursuit

The Great Pursuit
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Lochlanach has traded the great beast for something far more terrible, a Lashed enemy veiled in beauty, deception, and a vengeance passed down through generations: Rozaria Rocato. And she’s offering the hunter Paxton Seabolt power and acceptance he could never receive in his homeland. Pax must decide how far he’s willing to go under her tutelage, knowing she is the opponent of Princess Aerity Lochson.

In a land where traditionalists dread change, the Lochlan throne must contend with mysterious foes and traitors, while attempting to keep revolt at bay. As dire circumstances strike the royal family, matters of the castle are left in Aerity’s hands. It's time to put aside her fears and grasp the reign, taking actions that have the potential to save or destroy her people. 

This is such a brilliant finish to the story! I ended up really loving the first book, The Great Hunt, and I was so excited to see how it was all going to end. My hopes where fulfilled and this book fixed the ending to the first book which I really wasn't pleased with! This was still a little too fast paced at points, but overall I've had a lot of fun reading this duology and I don't usually like duologys because I always want more but I feel like this perfectly wraps everything up! 

The Great Pursuit picks up right where we left off in the Great Hunt. There's plenty of action and intrigue, and I enjoyed all the different view points that helped to create a rounded and full story so you don't miss out on any of the action! There's political intrigue and I was curious to see who would come to Aerity's Kingdoms aid in this book. Like I knew Zandora and her sisters would come and help, and I love them so much so I was disappointed we didn't get more of them this book! I do love how loyal she and her sisters are to their new friends though. Zandora also brought a load of aid from Zorfina! 

But what I really loved was the surprise aid from Toresta! In the first book hunters came from all over the Kingdoms to help but the Kingdoms seemed very separate still and I felt like most of them probably didn't get on well, but this proved me wrong. It was nice to see all the Kingdoms banding together to lend help instead of jumping on a weak kingdom and trying to take it over like you'd expect from any other book. Or maybe I watch too much Game of Thrones. It was a really heart swelling scene, not to mention the Ascomanians coming to help too, which I really wasn't expecting as they seemed poised to be a bit backstabby and kind of jerky. I never thought I'd be pleased to see Volgan again! 

Lief took me on quite the journey this book, I really started to dislike him at the beginning of this book because of his behaviour towards both Wyn and Aerity, he seemed like such a d***, I'm not going to lie. I wanted to smack him one for most of the book but he really surprised me right there at the end. Like I was hoping it would happen...but I didn't expect it from him. Bless him. I also ended up kinda liking Dagur too, Leif's Uncle, he and Leif both kinda had dickish tendencies..but Dagur like Leif wasn't all bad. 

I still love Aerity, I can't blame her for how she feels and her actions at the beginning of this book, she's being treated like a child by the very people that made her sacrifice her right to marry who she wanted. She really comes in to her own in this book and steps up and I actually felt really proud of her. Poor old Paxton was trying to play super spy, and did pretty well for the most part. I loved seeing a softer side to Pax in this book! I still love and ship he and Aerity so much, they're so warm and fuzzy inducing and I love the respect and trust they have for each other! 

I really liked getting to see more of Wyn and Vixie in this book, although it wasn't as much of Vixie as I'd like. I totally ship Wyn and Harrison, although unless I missed something in the first book, I wasn't really seeing Harrison's feelings for Wyn so much. Like there where little signs but it seemed a bit abrupt and random at the start. I quickly warmed up to it though, and I loved the two of them together. So cute. I would have loved to see more of them though, another pacing issue I think! 

I have to say, I also ship Tiern and Vixie, and I saw it coming from the first book...but I felt like we didn't get to see enough of them and their relationship developing, especially as there's a random character thrown in to create some feels among the two of them. Again...down to pacing I think. While I enjoyed this duology and had fun with it, part of me feels like maybe this should have been a trilogy to flesh things out...but at the same time I'm not sure this would have worked as a trilogy. 

I was a bit bothered by the Prince from Toresta, said previously mentioned random character, like I said,  he seemed to be there purely to antagonise Tiern a little bit, we rarely saw him. He very much seemed like a shoved in character. Like I already said there where moments when the book seemed a bit too fast paced, and some things where missed out. I feel like 2 character deaths where a bit abrupt and rushed and didn't have any of the impact on me as a reader as it should have, possibly because of this. The fall of the bad guys also seemed super easy after how much they'd been built up. 

The Great Pursuit wraps everything up well, and was a thoroughly satisfying ending overall. The epilogue brought the warm and fuzzies, and I loved Furball to another level! Although there are parts of the book I was bugged by, and I feel like there was some pacing issues....I still really enjoyed this and had a lot of fun reading it! I managed to read it in one sitting, and I couldn't put it down! I was completely immersed in the world of the book, I wish we could see more of it!