Friday, July 22, 2011

Huntress by Malinda Lo

Title: Huntress
Author: Malinda Lo
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Acquired: Received free for an honest review
Age Group: Young Adult
Grade: 90% or A-
Buy It: Amazon

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin, two seventeen-year-old girls, are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet the two girls' destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever.

My Thoughts::
It's been over a year since I've read Ash, and I remembered liking it, but not many of the details. That is probably why it took me so long to decide to read Huntress. I really wish I would have read it sooner so I could have shared it with you earlier this summer. For some reason I expected something different than what I got..Which is my fault for not reading the summary for over 3 months.

In my opinion, every fantasy book should take place in the far past. It makes it so much more interesting and..just..more magical. There are so many fantasy novels popping up everywhere, but ones like Huntress are of a better breed. Another thing that I really liked about this book, is that even though they are in a world where magic exists, not every single part of the plot was about the magic. Even better, there was romance but it took shape throughout the entire novel. So it was actually developed and cute and not rushed, fake, and annoying.

The setting was beautiful. I could imagine that I was also on this journey with Kaede and Taisin. At times Kaede would annoy me. I understood why she felt bad for killing, but that was all she thought about even though she would have died if she hadn't killed. And then randomly she would act all normal again.

Lately I've been having trouble connecting to characters. For once this wasn't a problem in this book. I loved most every character but especially Kaede and Taisin. My heart was pumping at every moment knowing what would eventually happen and trying to figure out why. I was almost sure that something horrible would happen. And I was right. It's rare to find a book where you can see yourself in every characters, but I could here. It was amazing.

Huntress was an absolute page turner and a great explanation as to why a Huntress exists in Ash. I could not put this book down and I would love it if another book could be written about the same world. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Ash, wants to read about a romance between two girls, or just enjoys books with that fantasy frosting.

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