Goodreads Summary
“Aerity…” Her father paused as if the words he was forming pained him. “I must ask you to sacrifice the promise of love for the sake of our kingdom.”
She could only stare back, frozen.
When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.
Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger… until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them… or his mysterious resentment.
Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface.
Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.
REVIEW
The Brothers Grimm. A name that rightfully connotes an eerie feeling due to the horror laced into their bedtime stories. Hopefully, I was one of the only people to read these stories as a kid (I’m terrified of horror and nobody stopped me) because the dark outlooks on some of the stories may traumatize some. The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins, however, is an example of how someone took an infamous twisted tale of dark origins and twisted it to make it her own. The plot and the story were great and began though the tale began with the old Singing Bone tale of the Brothers Grimm, it turned into another story when Higgins began to add different character stories and create the “Lashed”.
I do have to say that the main characters, Paxton and Aerity were very hard to relate to. Paxton gave off a creepy, emo type vibe. I understand that he was trying to hide a secret from the rest of the villagers so he had a hard personality but he expressed his emotions for a beautiful woman in a strange way. I mean, staring at her breast and hips in public and insulting her at every possible moment? That’s not for me. Aerity, the Princess of Lochlanach, was sometimes questionable. She willingly agreed to the agreement that the King made, that she would be wed to the person that killed the beast, and that’s okay because she really didn’t actually have a choice, I just have a problem with her falling for the first guy that looks at her inappropriately, I’m talking about Paxton). But as a fellow 17 year old, I can acknowledge that I see the situation between Aerity and Paxton happen a lot so I have to give some credit where it’s due.
The creation of having the “Lashed” was very creative on Higgens part because the side story of who and what they were both gave the story some further depth and created a reason for the “beast” to be in the story in the first place. The basic foundation of the lashed is that a few people have gained the power to heal and kill through their hands but the catch is that they receive marks under their fingernails the moment they use their power. Due to an event that happened, the people of the five kingdoms resent the lashed and are outright hostile towards them.
I would recommend this to any YA readers that are heavily into fantasy. Heavily. Overall I think that this book was pretty good except for the hookup with the characters. I would rate this a solid 4 on a 5 point scale.
Order a copy of The Great Hunt and other novels by Wendy Higgins here!
Summary (from my understanding/ opinion)
In the Kingdom of Lochlanach, a beast is on the prowl, hunting men after dark and sending the entire population into a widespread panic. Desperate, the king sends out a message to his people: Whoever kills the beast will marry my first born daughter, Princess Aerity.” This proclamation was a huge deal because the King, who had married a commoner, had to take away his daughter’s choice of marriage. Paxton Seabolt only wanted to kill the beast to help his villagers, too many people had been killed because of it roaming free, but when he saw Princess Aerity he found that he not only had to fight the beast terrorizing the people of Lochlanach but also his consuming desire to be near the Princess. After they meet, both Paxton and Aerity can’t stop thinking and wondering about each other, and every night Paxton goes out to hunt the beast, their minds are on one another. But Paxton is hiding a secret, he is one of the despised “Lashed” that holds the magic power of healing and killing in his hands.
After several nights of hunting for the beast with travelers from across the five kingdoms of Eurona, Paxton and Aerity decide to take a break from the stress and go for a swim to a small island with their friends. On the island they find that a lashed woman was controlling the beast the entire time and in an effort to kill it, they use Aerity as bait. Things go wrong when Aerity is knocked unconscious and Paxton’s brother is deathly injured. Having to choose to either kill the beast and get to marry Aerity or save his brother’s life, Paxton saves his brother and leaves the kill up to another hunter who then makes the kill. When Princess Aerity awakens she learns that she will not be marrying Paxton as she hoped and that Paxton has fled the country because he is lashed. Upon returning to the castle Aerity finds that their was more than one beast and the evil lashed woman threatens to unleash them if the lashed are not accepted across the land. Meanwhile, Paxton joins a warrior group on their way back to a land that fully accepts the lashed. Aerity ends the novel with a statement with her engaged, a Lord from a neighboring kingdom, that they will stand together against the threat.
Was this post helpful? Please comment below!
The Light Box 