Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Review: Hunting the Hunter by Shiloh Walker

So I ordered Golden Threads by Kay Hooper, Tall, Dark and Dead by Tate Hallaway and Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder... The good news is that Golden Threads and Tall, Dark and Dead are on their way... but not Magic Study :( But then, I do have a couple of books to read so... and hopefully, Magic Study will find its way to my house really quick. Okay, onto the review... I know some were curious about this book.


Hunting the Hunter by Shiloh Walker:
plotwise 3.5/5
enjoyment: 2.5/5

So this book gets 2 grades... why? because I'm afraid of being unfair ^^;

Kane Winter is a bounty-hunter, turned vampire hunter after the day he saw his partner, Duke - a shapeshifter, getting killed by vampires. He doesn't have much memories of that night, except for this woman... Turns out that Duke is not dead - don't worry, he's not a bad guy either. He became a "hunter" as in, he hunts everything and everyone that prey on the weak and innocent. His coach of the moment is Kendall, the woman that Kane can't forget. After meeting Kendall, Kane lusts for Kendall; however, he misunderstood the situation and thought Kendall and Duke was a couple. So one year later, after having dreams of Duke being tortured, Kane sets off to find Kendall and Duke. He arrives just in time to have sex with Kendall and to help with Duke's disappearance. Turns out the "evil" in Cincinnati is an old acquaintance of Kendall...

All right, so my thoughts? First, I like the idea that the Hunters, plural, are after everything that prey on the weaks - drug dealers, rapists, serial killers, ect. It makes it a bit different than a vampire hunter among the vampires. Aside from that, I thought that the plot had real good potential and the intrigue was a good one... However, it was not well presented to the readers. I thought the story was all over the place, that it didn't have a pace. Btw the night Duke is believed dead and Kane finds Duke again, that's 2 years... then, 1 year for the dreams to bring Kane back in the story... and then, you have a story that probably spanned on 3-5 days, interrupted by sex. I have nothing against sex, but in this one, it seems to occur at wrong moment. Also, reading "pussy" a few times a page does something to my enjoyment level, as in bring it down. My other problems are not enough of characters development/background - again, you get pieces and bits here and there, but not enough to get a good understanding of them, esp. Kane... and also, not enough world building. The author introduces witches, vampires, psychics, werewolves and shapeshifters and also, the Hunters academy, Excelsior; however, she doesn't put any boundaries. All you know is that humans are different from Others, but what about Others among each other? Agnes, who is a witch is 500 y.o., Vax, another witch must be 150-200 y.o. and Kendall is 300 y.o. So yeah, no idea about this world... or maybe, maybe that the world building explanation was done in a previous book since I read that the author had some books from the same world as e-books from Ellora's Cave. Still, she could have given some more clues.

Sigh... so that's it for me tonight. Night.