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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Ships of Britannia series by E.M. Kkoulla first hit my radar in August of 2023 when our Buddy Read group selected book one Wrath of Olympus for a read through. I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to eventually continue reading the series. This finally happened in June of 2024 with book two Prey of the Huntress. I have been interested in seeing how I feel about this story as I was still chipping away on The Liveship Traders series when reading book one and seen some vague similarities regarding the ships but a different setting and characters for sure.
The pacing in Prey of the Huntress was smooth and fast. These aren't long books which is perfect for me to squeeze them into some monthly TBR lists. Even with that being said Kkoulla's writing style seems to click with me. This are the types of books I look forward to picking back up and when I get those moments the pages just seem to fly by. There is a relatively good number of characters to keep straight but the author does a good job with keeping us on track. I also didn't have much issue with names or places as many of them are familiar from ancient mythology.
The world building in this book and series has been fun an interesting to me. In geographical terms this seems to be a fairly large world almost in a parallel world to our own as the story seems to mention a Roman Empire, a British Empire and even of "the new world". Then another aspect as far as world building I tend to look for an appreciate is politics which this one has had plenty already. There are certainly a good amount of scheming and at this point I'm not exactly sure who might be good and who is bad. My reading history has made me very skeptical when it comes to who to trust in stories now. One more aspect I enjoy that I'll mention in the world building is a history. This is another item that can be hit or miss for me. Some books seem to throw too much at me and too fast but Kkoulla has been giving us what seems like just the right amount as the story progresses. I can really appreciate that.
The character development seemed very strong to me in book two. Maia's arc seemed to become much more structured by this point. It's been enjoyable to see how her character has changed from being a house servant at the beginning of the story. By the end of Prey of the Huntress it feels like we have just scratched the surface of things to come with her. Aside from that there have been some great supporting characters and growth with them as well. Raven has become a favorite of mine without a doubt. The Willy old blind mage types always appeal to me. Even some of the gods in this world had some interesting developments.
In closing I'd just like to say I certainly plan on continuing this fun series. If you read book one and enjoyed it, by all means continue onto this one. If you may have been on the fence with book one as some were in our buddy read, give book two a try. I know one of the common issues some in our group had was they felt things in book one felt rushed. I think that might be partially due to the shorter length of these reads. I really think books one and two could have been combined. That being said, I think adding the story and context of book two with that of book one, might help some that were on the fence for that reason.
The pacing in Prey of the Huntress was smooth and fast. These aren't long books which is perfect for me to squeeze them into some monthly TBR lists. Even with that being said Kkoulla's writing style seems to click with me. This are the types of books I look forward to picking back up and when I get those moments the pages just seem to fly by. There is a relatively good number of characters to keep straight but the author does a good job with keeping us on track. I also didn't have much issue with names or places as many of them are familiar from ancient mythology.
The world building in this book and series has been fun an interesting to me. In geographical terms this seems to be a fairly large world almost in a parallel world to our own as the story seems to mention a Roman Empire, a British Empire and even of "the new world". Then another aspect as far as world building I tend to look for an appreciate is politics which this one has had plenty already. There are certainly a good amount of scheming and at this point I'm not exactly sure who might be good and who is bad. My reading history has made me very skeptical when it comes to who to trust in stories now. One more aspect I enjoy that I'll mention in the world building is a history. This is another item that can be hit or miss for me. Some books seem to throw too much at me and too fast but Kkoulla has been giving us what seems like just the right amount as the story progresses. I can really appreciate that.
The character development seemed very strong to me in book two. Maia's arc seemed to become much more structured by this point. It's been enjoyable to see how her character has changed from being a house servant at the beginning of the story. By the end of Prey of the Huntress it feels like we have just scratched the surface of things to come with her. Aside from that there have been some great supporting characters and growth with them as well. Raven has become a favorite of mine without a doubt. The Willy old blind mage types always appeal to me. Even some of the gods in this world had some interesting developments.
In closing I'd just like to say I certainly plan on continuing this fun series. If you read book one and enjoyed it, by all means continue onto this one. If you may have been on the fence with book one as some were in our buddy read, give book two a try. I know one of the common issues some in our group had was they felt things in book one felt rushed. I think that might be partially due to the shorter length of these reads. I really think books one and two could have been combined. That being said, I think adding the story and context of book two with that of book one, might help some that were on the fence for that reason.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-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:
No
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As with the previous title, Prey of the Huntress is a deftly constructed tale that honors mythology while taking it in both inventive and unforeseen directions. The prose remains excellent as do the characterizations. In this book, supporting characters like Raven and Milo take roles closer to the story's center while Maia moves into the backseat (or so it felt to me).
That is where my concerns with the novel take place. Maia has not been a character to drive the plot in this series, though I feel getting there will be part of her ongoing arc. However, with this book, she is almost a non-factor. The story's events are continuously happening to her and she seems to have little agency. That in itself is not a problem. It works that way with many mortals in ancient myth, only here, as the book continues, the story pulls away from her, beginning a new plotline that, while I found vastly more interesting than hers, has seemingly nothing to do with Maia's plight from this book or the first. I understand the structure Prey of the Huntress holds, it just seemed like another character's novel was intercut between the chapters of this one, and that I found a bit more distracting than I would have preferred.
I still enjoyed my time with the book and if you're looking for a mythological fiction tale, this series is hard to beat. On to the Trials of Neptune... 3.5/5 (rounded to 4)
That is where my concerns with the novel take place. Maia has not been a character to drive the plot in this series, though I feel getting there will be part of her ongoing arc. However, with this book, she is almost a non-factor. The story's events are continuously happening to her and she seems to have little agency. That in itself is not a problem. It works that way with many mortals in ancient myth, only here, as the book continues, the story pulls away from her, beginning a new plotline that, while I found vastly more interesting than hers, has seemingly nothing to do with Maia's plight from this book or the first. I understand the structure Prey of the Huntress holds, it just seemed like another character's novel was intercut between the chapters of this one, and that I found a bit more distracting than I would have preferred.
I still enjoyed my time with the book and if you're looking for a mythological fiction tale, this series is hard to beat. On to the Trials of Neptune... 3.5/5 (rounded to 4)