Reviews

Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland

marinable_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

5.0

annabel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I reread this recently and it was absolutely amazing the second time around. I love Lucy Holland's writing style, the mixing of history and fantasy, and the characters. I will come back to this book over and over again.

samwescott's review against another edition

medium-paced

5.0

Gorgeous. I will never get over how well this author acknowledges the vibrance and variety of human relationships and sexuality throughout history without writing about them in a way that sounds jarringly anachronistic or like an after school special. I really admired this same skill in Sistersong and I really admired it here. I was in AGONY over the relationships in this story in the best way.

I didn’t realize that this book was going to function somewhat as a sequel to Sistersong because of the large time gap, but I was so happy when references to the first book starting popping up and having real consequences. Easter eggs are fun, but this was weightier than that, but still not so much a sequel that you couldn’t read them as standalone. I really love that sort of delicate overlap. It’s the best of both worlds when it comes to series’s vs standalones. 

Holland’s writing is so good and I love the way they blend fantasy and historical fiction. The magic and the myth balances so well with the deep humanity of the characters. I really can’t wait to see what else this author puts out and she’s become an auto-hold author for me after these two. 

linguisticali's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

I was still crying 10 minutes after I finished reading, so let's give it 5 stars. Definitely slower to get going than I usually like, but after that I couldn't put it down. I loved the characters and the gentleness with which the story handled their relationships - it avoided what could have been some very easy, black and white, normative representation. 

fictionalqueer's review against another edition

Temporary dnf because I just got bored. 

aurelia2's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Really enjoyed the setting of Wessex and the myths that were woven throughout this story, and I enjoyed the central three characters and their struggles and relationships. The prose was lovely, but the pace is on the slower side, and this didn't hit as emotionally hard as Sistersong for me.

mariaeve's review against another edition

I found the writing dry and I was really struggling to connect with any of the four POV characters. I think this just wasn’t for me, I don’t think it was bad or anything. 

juliamcatherine's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

caffeinatedbookdragon's review against another edition

slow-paced

thewhisperingpages's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I enjoyed parts of this book, but I kind of felt like I was missing something. It felt like I didn’t know enough history or enough of the mythology to really know what was going on. I also found it hard to concentrate on it, I zoned out and had to go back a lot more than I usually do with audiobooks and often came back to it having forgotten what had happened in the last chapter.

I really liked Herla and Æffelburg’s characters and their relationship. I liked the wildness of Herla, the fact that she was untamed and kind of feral from being the leader of the hunt for so many years.

I really liked Herla and Æffelburg’s characters and their relationship. I liked the wildness of Herla, the fact that she was untamed and kind of feral from being the leader of the hunt for so many years.

I really liked Herla and Æffelburg’s characters and their relationship. I liked the wildness of Herla, the fact that she was untamed and kind of feral from being the leader of the hunt for so many years. Æffelburg also had this untamed aspect of her, refusing to fall in line with the expectations that the men of her court had for her.

I was also really surprised and pleased by the asexuality representation.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Cross posted to thewhisperingofthepages.co.uk