Hunted

4.5 perfectly shimmering stars !!! I have been SO disappointed by the YA fantasy titles I\’ve read lately, reading \”Hunted\” took me by surprise, and then totally wowed me. Sure, there are plenty of 4 and 5-star reviews for this novel, but a lot of horrendous books get showered in gushing praise. Especially YA fantasy titles. I was actually inspired to pick up this book after reading a scathing 1-star review. A review that absolutely shredded the plot of this book as well as the characters. I expected \”Hunted\” to be a trainwreck, a Beauty and the Beast retelling stuffed with tropes and plot holes and lackluster prose, but I was so curious about the Slavic/Russian folklore in this story that I couldn\’t help myself. The scathing one-star review had mentioned Slavic/Russian folklore played a role in the plot, and that was when I decided I had to read \”Hunted.\” And thank my fairy tale stars I did! Because this book is WONDERFUL. The very best way to spend a cold, gray afternoon at home. Sometimes the universe is kind. The beginning was the hardest part for me, because the novel is set in medieval Russia, and there were a number of anachronisms that grated against my little history-loving brain. At first, I made note of them (as I always do when I read, especially if I think I might be reading a trainwreck). But the setting of the story soon switches, as Beauty journeys from her town to the enchanted/cursed land where the Beast lives, and the issues I had in the beginning all vanished. The plot of this book honors the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale in so many brilliant ways, both in structure and character, and by weaving in the Slavic/Russian folklore, author Meagan Spooner added some truly delightful and inspiring depth to this classic story. The prose of \”Hunted\” is well above average. The sentences flow, and some of the descriptive passages are quite lovely. The characters are beautifully drawn. Beast is a point of view character as well as Beauty, and I really loved his chapters. The relationship between Beauty and her two sisters made me tear up, especially toward the end of the book. There is a wonderful canine named Doe-Eyes and a reinvented Gaston character named Solmir. The magic of this story world was subtle, unique, and added so well to the dialogue and plot. The novel had a quiet, relentless drive that built toward the last fifty pages, and it was this final section of the book that made me really sit back and say, WOW. Wow. Fricking awesome. \”Hunted\” is a rare YA fantasy that features a lot of emotional depth in the characters, whether they are main characters or secondary. This is a novel in which actions have consequences, psychologically as well as physically, a story in which bodies are not machines full of limitless power, but fragile objects that often struggle and suffer. My highest praise for \”Hunted\” is this: the novel has a depth of understanding about human nature, storytelling, and the power of reshaping stories, that made my brain explode with pleasure as I witnessed Beauty undergo the final part of her hero\’s journey. The finale of this book is wise and rich and perfect. If you are a reader who loves fairy tale retellings, interesting magical worlds, or stories that weave folklore into their plots, I would recommend you add \”Hunted\” to your reading list.

Ever since I read Robin McKinley\’s Beauty, I\’ve had a special place in my heart for Beauty & the Beast retellings. It\’s crashingly disappointing when the retelling does nothing but rehash old themes, and does nothing to uncover untapped nuances from the story. I wasn\’t disappointed with Hunted. It\’s a fitting successor for Beauty. Yeva is her father\’s youngest daughter– a daughter he taught his own love of the woods and hunting before becoming a rich merchant. When the inevitable misfortune hits his business, he moves them back to the small hunting cabin in the woods where Yeva first fell in love with the forest. Only he becomes distant, obsessed, and then disappears. Its up to Yeva to find him, but she finds an abandoned castle and a beast instead. Beauty, Yeva, in this retelling, is as much a Hunter as the Beast. And that\’s the twist that I loved so much in this telling, as well as the more nuanced emotional connections to her older sisters. Yeva is first taken because she can hunt– and the emotional journey from captive to someone who would consider the Beast as more than just a tormentor stays true to Yeva\’s love of the hunt. She attempts to kill the Beast, and their back and forth in harming/not harming each other really spins this tale a interesting, dark way. Yeva has lots and lots of agency in this, not much is done TO her, and that I appreciated as well. And then there are leshy and rusalka and other Slavic myths bound up in this, so that was cool. A dark, and more active-Beauty retelling, completely worth your while.

I resentfully admit that I only perceived halfway through the book that this was a take on the old \”Beauty and the Beast\” classic and from then on things only got worst for me. I didn\’t get the attraction, I didn\’t get the blossoming love or even the empathy between Beauty and Beast and just because Spooner decided to name her two main characters this way it doesn\’t immediately take you to the wonderful world of the classic tale. This was staggering and boring at times and the ending was super anti climatic. After putting up with endless bad diary entries from a Beast (which were unfortunately necessary or we would miss the actual progression of the Beast\’s personality), I expected things to at least be a little better paced once the holly Firebird was discovered but deciding to end your book with a few chapters explaining what MIGHT happen in the future was… weird? I liked the Russian folk behind the tales Beauty tells the Beast but they weren\’t nearly enough to engage my interest beyond the obvious: girl gets captive, develops weird sympathy for the monster who almost lets her die, kills monster, finds out after leaving him that he is just lonely and that she loves him, goes back for him because she has to…

ARC copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This is a mash up of Beauty and the Beast and The Firebird, set in a fantasy Russia. I think if you\’re looking for a straight forward romance this is probably not hoing to tick all the boxes for you. However I loved this a piece of coming of age fiction. Yeva is a dynamic character worth far more than the some of her parts and certainly more than her personal beauty. Torn between the comfort of her loving family and a growing disquiet that something is missing from her life, Yeva is already searching for personal significance before the ruin of her father\’s wealth. As a hunter like her father – an unsuitable occupation for a woman – Yeva is most at home with the wilderness. In this the Beast becomes an excellent foil for her – they are equally intractable and untamed. Be warned this is not a tale of kindness and gentle wooing. This is two strong personalities wearing the sharp edges off each other and finding some wisdom. If you\’ve ever read any Russian folklore you\’ll know that kindness is not a greatly lauded virtue – unlike cleverness, cunning and the will to succeed. Hunted is very inkeeping with this view and the world reflects the cold, deadly but incredibly beautiful landscape of Russia. A few minor points that did irritate me; the father lost himself just a bit too quickly in my opinion. The beast had a chain of reasoning that didn\’t ressemble out earth logic at all. The story seems to try to both address the concept of unnatural or coerced sympathy with your captor whilst at the same time forging an actual kinship by stating that Yeva and Beast were both prisoners. Not sure it came off. Despite that this would definitely go on my list of recommended Beauty and the Beast retellings.

Fairytale retellings are always a joy to read, based on the classics we know but it takes something special to really touch your heart like those first fairytales you heard as a child did. Hunted is a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a beautiful story about love and the want for something more from life. Yeva (Beauty) is a hunter and is overjoyed to move back to the woods where her heart is, but when she is taken by a Beast, revenge fills her heart as she bides her time to destroy her captor. There\’s always a desire for something else – something more, from Beauty and it takes right until the ending for her to discover herself and what she wants from life. It\’s just written so elegantly with the short passages from the Beast as we see him become more human with each one, and Yeva\’s life alongside the Beast taking on a more descriptive fashion. It\’s so reminiscent of the classic Beauty and the Beast with a different slant taken on the message of the tale. But it\’s the dedication at the end that does it from the author. This book is definitely one to read if you feel full of life yet empty; like you\’ve found what you\’re looking for but still searching and have yet to discover what it is you want from life but you only knows it\’s something more… Astounding.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member