The Hunter’s Kind ~ Book Review

The Hunter’s Kind by Rebecca Levene

Illustrated by: n/a

Series: The Hollow Gods (Book 2)

Published: July 2nd 2017, Hodder & Stoughton

Edition: Hardback

Length: 468 pages

Narrated By: N/A

Genre: Epic Fantasy, Fantasy

Where Did I Get It? I received a copy from the publisher in return for an honest review

Blurb: Born in tragedy and raised in poverty, Krishanjit never aspired to be anything greater than what he was: a humble goat-herd, tending his flock on the slopes of his isolated mountain home.

But Krish has learned that he’s the son of the king of Ashanesland – and the moon god reborn. Now, with the aid of his allies, Krish is determined to fight his murderous father and seize control of Ashanesland. But Dae Hyo, Eric and Olufemi, are dangerously unreliable and hiding secrets of their own.

To take Ashanesland, Krish must travel to the forbidden Mirror Town and unlock the secrets of its powerful magic. But the price of his victory may be much greater than the consequences of his defeat… For, deep in the distant Moon Forest lives a girl called Cwen – a disciple of the god known only as the Hunter. She believes that Krish represents all that is evil in the world. And she has made it her life’s mission to seek Krish and destroy all who fight by his side.

Opening Line(s):

For as long as she’d understood what a birthfeast was, Cwen had dreaded her twelfth.

My Review: Quite some time ago, I reviewed the first book in this series, Smiler’s Fair, and squeaked about how awesome it was and how much I couldn’t wait for book number two. Here comes a Book Blogger confession… I got book number two, in hardback, a mere four months later and was REALLY EXCITED about it. But didn’t read it until now. That was in July 2015. *sheepish face*

BUT! I have read it now and it was totally worth the wait and I have at least managed to get it read and reviewed before Book Three has come out so… not a total fail?

The Hunter’s Kind carries on from where Smiler’s Fair ends and the pace doesn’t drop from beginning to end.

It took me a while to work out who was who and who was where – but after a few goes of flicking back and forth to the map in the front (yay! I love maps!), I was well away and settled in to the story.

The world of The Hollow Gods series is vast and varied and I love how much of it you saw in this second book. The landscapes were beautiful and often brutal and so much of the action in the story was swayed by where it took place rather than the people themselves. The ocean, the desert, the snowy wastes – all had their own parts to play.

Characters you thought you knew from Smiler’s Fair develop and change and are added to with a whole new cast. Some of whom are very interesting indeed and others take the story in unexpected directions. There are a lot of them though, and again, it took a while for me to get them settled in my head. After the first few chapters though, there was no way I was putting the book down, I was hooked.

The war between the followers of the Sun and Moon Gods swings wildly back and forth in this story and the ending took me a little by surprise – and left me *desperate* to know what happens next. (I promise if I get the next book I will read it in less than two years from the day I get it…)

Also, the covers are beautiful – so I need to buy book 3 when it comes out so I can put them all together on the shelf.

My Rating: 3/5*