Hunter's Oath by Michelle West

[meganbmoore]

 I have to be completely honest and say that I’m not 100% sure what I think of this book.

In the land of Breodanir, there is a system where males of certain families are Hereditary Hunter Lords, men sworn to their god, and the hunt, whose role as a hunter and bond with his hunting pack takes precedence over human interactions and relationships. To keep them from losing touch with their humanity, the Hunter Lords are bonded to a huntbrother with a mental and emotional bond that keeps them tied to humanity. Each year a Sacred Hunt is called, where one Hunter Lord or huntbrother changes roles and becomes the hunter…effectively, a sacrifice to their god. When a Hunter Lord dies, the huntbrother never lives much longer, unable to continue without his other half.

When it is close to time for his son, Gilliam, to be bonded, Soredon, lord of Elseth, selected a young street thief named Stephen and brought him into his home as a second son. Though the boys started out hating each other, they soon became friends, even before being bonded. Much of the book chronicles the difficulty of living with the bond-while the Hunter Lord can marry and have children, the huntbrother apparently cannot, and can only live his life as an extension of the Hunter Lord-and the increasingly difficult political and mythical world around them, as well as the introduction of a wild girl who seems to identify herself as one of Gilliam’s pack into their lives.

The problem is that, while I like Stephen and Gilliam and think their story is interesting, there are other characters who are much more interesting, especially Evayne, a sorceress who walks through time and Kallandras, a bard who apparently moonlights as an assassin. For that matter, through a lot of the narrative that focused on the leads and their family, I often wished the focus was more of Gilliam’s mother and sister. Part of this, I think, is that the book largely seems to be a setup for the second book in the duology, almost as if they HAVE to be read together. While all the buildup will probably pay off well in the second book, it left me with a feeling of liking the book, but being a little dissatisfied, thinking that there’s all this buildup, but no conclusion, and I’m left hanging with all the things I’m really interested in.

I am, though, reading the second/concluding book next, which probably says more than any of my problems do.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Evayne becomes even more interesting and unique in the second book, as does the feral girl.

The second book also introduces several characters who play a big part in the main series, and who are great. Especially Jewel.