Wendy Higgins, the author of the New York Times bestselling Sweet Evil series, reimagines a classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale with The Great Hunt, a dramatic, romance-filled fantasy with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.When a monstrous beast attacks in Eurona, desperate measures must be taken. The king sends a proclamation to the best and … proclamation to the best and bravest hunters: whoever kills the creature will win the hand of his daughter Princess Aerity as a reward. The princess recognizes her duty but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger—she was meant to marry for love—until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. And while there’s no denying the fiery chemistry between them, Princess Aerity feels that Paxton’s mysteriousness is foreboding, maybe even dangerous.
Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He is 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 secrets he’s buried begin to surface against his wishes.
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I really enjoyed the Great Hunt. The narrator brought the story to life with a good performance. The village has been in trouble with hidden beast that come out and kill the villagers. Once the beast attacks and kills one within the royal family circle, things get serious. A call is set out that whomever kills the beast will earn the hand of the princess. Princess Aerity will sacrifice her happiness for the kingdom. Not happy about marrying out of duty instead of for love until Paxton Seabolt enters the picture. Loved the world building, the weaving of taboo magic that is shunned by all. This is not your dainty spoiled princess, and you will be surprised by the origins of the beast. I know I was and I look forward to book 2 to see how the story will continue.
I was kept engrossed throughout the entire book and couldn’t believe it ended. Fabulous characters with excellent development, scenery you can feel yourself in, and a whirlwind of a story with excellent pacing makes this a must-read for fantasy lovers.
I picked it up for the cover, but I loved the tension in this one! Great plot! Happy Reading!
I love Wendy Higgins! While I’ve never yet read a series by her that rivals the “Sweet Evil” series, this was still quite engaging, and I ripped through it quickly.
In a fictional country that’s nevertheless basically medieval Ireland (the words are Irish, the main characters are redheads, and most of the characters are read with Celtic accents), 17-year old Princess Aerity (great name!) is pledged in marriage to any man who can kill the unknown savage beast stalking and murdering their people. Aerity of course had dreamt of marriage for love, but she understands that as the princess, she must do her duty. Men from all over the lands come to join the hunt. In order to inspire the men, Aerity’s father the king wants her to interact with them while the palace grants them hospitality during the hunt. Aerity is immediately intrigued by the hunter Paxton Seabolt (also a great name!), but unlike all the other men trying to curry favor with her, Paxton is distant and almost rude to her. But we later find out that this is because he has a secret.
“The Great Hunt” is a romance with some action–I’m surprised that Higgins managed to draw the hunt out for an entire novel, and yet it didn’t grow tedious. There’s also a fantastical twist: in this nation, magic workers are known as the Lashed, because whenever they work magic, they get telltale purple stripes across their fingernail beds. People fear what they don’t understand, so the Lashed were mostly banished or killed by the time the story starts, with the exception of the royal healer. Any discriminated people will resent those in power, of course–and the storyline of the Lashed and the beast intertwine at the end of the story. The way in which this occurs feels a bit like a cheat though… without too many spoilers, I’ll say it annoys me when the main bad guy turns out to be a character we’ve never even met before. I like to feel like I could have guessed the ultimate outcome because the clues were present well in advance, and in this case we didn’t have the information so we couldn’t have guessed it.
Still, “The Great Hunt” held my interest to the end, and I’m listening to the second in the duology now. It ends, and not on a cliffhanger, but there’s no actual resolution to the characters’ stories in this one.
The Great Hunt is a fascinating tale of forbidden magic, magical creatures, and political intrigue. The concept is very original – kill the beast, win the girl. I’m currently reading the 2nd book, The Great Pursuit.
Title: The Great Hunt (Eurona Duology #1)
Author: Wendy Higgins
Publisher: Harper Teen
Edition: Kindle
Amount of Pages: 426
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Date Read: 13-09-2018
Favorite Quote: “Do not rise up in fear against the unknown.”
Review:
I was looking forward to reading this book. The blurb was interesting and I’ve liked Wendy’s other works.
What is this book about:
This book is set in the kingdom of Eurona. The kingdom is ruled by a kind king but there are some major issues. People that can do magic, called Lashed, aren’t wanted citizens. People are afraid of them and that fear sometimes shows in violence against the Lashed. Their fear isn’t totally unfounded. Years ago a crazy Lashed king tried to take over the county and lot of people died. since then their magic is forbidden.
When a monster is attacking people, killing people, the king is doing whatever he can to find a solution. One thing he never thought he had to do, especially since it goes against his own story, he is offering his eldest daughter Aerity’s hand in marriage to whomever kills the beast.
Aerity secretly hopes the attractive Paxton is the one to do it. Paxton has some secrets of his own, secrets that could get him killed. He isn’t interested in Aerity’s hand but he can’t seem to stay away from her.
What did I like about this book:
I found the premise of this book interesting. I wanted to see how it all turns out. I find the concept of the lashed original. I haven’t heard that before. It’s interesting. I’m looking forward to see how this is going to work out in the next book.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book.
Rating:
4 I really liked it stars
The concept had the making of an interesting YA book reminiscent of a fairytale…I loved the idea. A king offers his eldest daughter as a reward to the man who rids his country of a horrendous and violent beast. My mind was reeling with the possibilities, but I found the story to be overly predictable and lacking in originality. It was dull.
Yep, it was just another story about 2 people inexplicably drawn to one another based on looks alone! I mean, sure – we can discuss how they get to know each other and recognize strengths in one another beyond how good they look, but come on, the facts or evolution of their “relationship” had more to do with their physical attraction to one another, rather than how strong their character was.
There is a 2nd book in this series, but I don’t think I need to read any further to predict the final outcome with great accuracy…And the 2 beautiful people got together despite all the obstacles, and they all lived happily ever after!
I just couldn’t really get into this book. It sounded promising, but couldn’t keep my interest. I did not care much for the characters or the direction the story took. The romance overshadowed anything that could have been intriguing about this book for me.
What a gripping novel! It kept me reading along at a fast clip, with the events always shifting and continuing the “kill the beast” tension. Great characters, well-drawn enough that I could keep them straight even though there were a lot of them. I really enjoyed the Lashed part of the plot, the forbidden magic of it all. I’m glad the hunters weren’t all male, too—nice addition. I love that the princess isn’t a simpering, helpless type; she has skills and a backbone, and isn’t afraid to use any of them. Although personally, I could’ve done w/o the sexual references, like a hot guy being labeled a “skirt lifter.” Nothing explicit happens, which is good (in my opinion), but there’s a fair amount of sexual/sensual tension throughout. Which is par for the course for a lot of YA.
The ending kept me from mentally giving this a full 5 stars, even though I rounded up from 4.5 stars to 5 for this review. Everything could’ve easily been wrapped up, but instead the events twisted around in a somewhat convoluted way so the book could continue as a duology. It really didn’t seem like the characters were acting very sensibly to get them to the place near the end, with the beast. So anyway, things are still up in the air by the time the book closes; often when I read the first book of a series, I feel like I’ve only read half a book. Despite that, I really enjoyed this overall!