Helpful Score: 1
Before I even picked this book up, I wanted to like it. I heard some great things about it, the excerpt on the jacket was spare and beautiful, and I have a *thing* for huntresses, in general. Also, the cover is great.
I *did* like this book. The writing is neat, occasionally a little terse, but mostly just as spare and lovely as the jacket excerpt indicated. I loved the summer courtship between Ash and the huntress. And I loved the fairytales that were tucked into the story itself, a neat detail.
The main reason I didn't give this book five stars was because I had a huge problem with the world-building.
The world of this book seemed like a mish-mash of Regency England, generic-Irish-fantasy, and the occasional random Asian detail. There is a long and honored tradition of having a huntress lead the king's hunts. Ash's step-mother sells the country estate and they move to the townhouse in the city. Ash's stepsisters are desperate to marry wealthy men, lest they be condemned to a life of drudgery. The prince is decidedly Asian, but there is a profusion of Irish names.
I had no frame of reference for this kind of contradiction within a fantasy setting, and it was a nagging disorientation the entire time I was reading. But this was a purely personal objection.
In spite of my reservations regarding the world-building, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy/romance.
I *did* like this book. The writing is neat, occasionally a little terse, but mostly just as spare and lovely as the jacket excerpt indicated. I loved the summer courtship between Ash and the huntress. And I loved the fairytales that were tucked into the story itself, a neat detail.
The main reason I didn't give this book five stars was because I had a huge problem with the world-building.
The world of this book seemed like a mish-mash of Regency England, generic-Irish-fantasy, and the occasional random Asian detail. There is a long and honored tradition of having a huntress lead the king's hunts. Ash's step-mother sells the country estate and they move to the townhouse in the city. Ash's stepsisters are desperate to marry wealthy men, lest they be condemned to a life of drudgery. The prince is decidedly Asian, but there is a profusion of Irish names.
I had no frame of reference for this kind of contradiction within a fantasy setting, and it was a nagging disorientation the entire time I was reading. But this was a purely personal objection.
In spite of my reservations regarding the world-building, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy/romance.
