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The Hallowed Hunt
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The Hallowed Hunt
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The Hallowed Hunt
Ebook507 pages9 hours

The Hallowed Hunt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

A magnificent epic tale of devotion, possession, obsession, and strange destiny from the author of the Hugo Award-winning Paladin of Souls.

The half-mad Prince Boleso has been slain by a noblewoman he had intended to defile—and Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff must transport the body to its burial place and the accused killer, the Lady Ijada, to judgment. With the death of the old Hallow King imminent and the crown in play, the road they must travel together is a dangerous one. And though he is duty-bound to deliver his prisoner to an almost certain death, Ijada may be the only one Ingrey dares trust. For a monstrous malevolence holds the haunted lord in its sway—and a great and terrible destiny has been bestowed upon him by the gods, the damned, and the dead.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 13, 2009
ISBN9780061795978
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The Hallowed Hunt
Author

Lois McMaster Bujold

One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold burst onto the scene in 1986 with Shards of Honor, the first of her tremendously popular Vorkosigan Saga novels. She has received numerous accolades and prizes, including two Nebula Awards for best novel (Falling Free and Paladin of Souls), four Hugo Awards for Best Novel (Paladin of Souls, The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance), as well as the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her novella The Mountains of Mourning. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages. The mother of two, Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Reviews for The Hallowed Hunt

Rating: 4.085106382978723 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    prequel to the other two - I actually liked it more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Think and chunky plot soup served with buttery character toast. Yum.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as good as the first 2... Marguerite Gavin did a fine job narrating.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I was disappointed. Not up to level of "Sharing Knife" series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I would say this is pretty standard Bujold. Deeply plotted fantasy kept to a manageable scale as far as scope and number of characters. I almost would suggest NOT doing it on audio since things do get pretty complicated, I sometimes felt like I had missed something critical. I believe this is listed as "book 1" of a series but it seemed to have concluded well without anything critical left hanging, which puts it in the rare "one-shot" category with more available if you really enjoyed the setting/characters.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Hallowed Hunt is set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls but not in the same country, so the only overlapping characters are the gods. I wasn’t in a hurry to read it because consensus from comments I’d read seemed to be that it wasn’t as good as the first two.So I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. When Lord Ingrey kin Wilfcliff is sent to bring Prince Boleso’s body and his murderer back to Easthome, he becomes convinced that Lady Ijada was acting in self defence - and that no one else will want to accept that.Things quickly get much more complicated. Someone is trying to prevent Ijada from reaching her trial alive, and Prince Boleso’s attempt to use Ijada in a heretical rite of the old kin warriors had unexpected consequences. Ingrey has had unwelcome experience with a now-forbidden rite himself - and his unanswered questions about his past, and his family, abruptly become very relevant.As the current hallowed king lies dying, Ingrey and Ijada become tangled up in mysteries about a hallowed king from hundreds of years earlier, the ghosts of his warriors and the plans of the five gods.My library only had this available as an audiobook and I’m very glad read the book this way! The narrator highlighted the amusing moments and brought the characters to life, and I suspect I became much more attached to the characters as a result of experiencing their story more slowly. I loved Ingrey’s quiet, stoic determination - he’s very conscious of the risks he’s taking and the limitations of his own position, and is consequently pessimistic about his chances of success, yet he keeps on doing everything he can.And I loved Ijada’s fierce courage and optimism.The old kin warriors and their spirit animals, and the how that fits in with the religion of the five gods is a really unusual aspect to the worldbuilding, and this means The Hallowed Hunt is doing something sufficiently different from, if thematically related to, Paladin of Souls. So while I’ll agree that Paladin of Souls is a stronger novel, I don’t feel like The Hallowed Hunt suffers from comparison. It is its own story, and it’s gripping, and at times it is so obviously a Bujold novel that I was very amused. I think this is going to be a book I’ll reread.*impulsively goes off to buy the ebook*“[... ] So what did you and the god really say to each other?” “We…argued.” Hetwar's lips curled up in a genuine, if dry, smile. “Why does this not surprise me? I wish the gods well of you. May They have better luck getting straight answers from you than I ever did.”

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A man with unknown depths, Ingrey meets Injara, a woman with newfound powers. Together they must sort the mysteries of what is happening in and around them. I very much enjoyed this story. I love the spiritual world which Bujold has built here, and the few interactions with the gods of this world are always interesting. I find the faith and doubts of the people to be very real. Here is a partial quote regarding the choice of a few not to go to the gods when they die. "Heaven weeps, but free will is sacred. The meaning of yes is created by the ability to say no." It is this sort of insight which makes me give four stars to the work. It can be chewy for introspection, but sprinkled lightly, not heavy handed. It is the full-fleshed characters and world that makes me know I am always going to enjoy reading a work of Bujold.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Disappointed in the writing style; the plot and characters' roles in action often baffling; after awhile, I just didn't feel engaged with the story, although Ingrey kin Wolfcliff as the main character was rather captivating as was his love interest (no spoilers!). There were some fun episodes which I especially enjoyed: Prince Jokol Skullsplitter from the southern islands was highly amusing. (He traveled north to the Chalion Weald in search of a divine to bring back to his lands, to fulfill an obligation (for his proposed marriage to Breiga). In exchange for the divine, he offered the temple Fafa, "the ice bear"; ~~~ and several large bars of silver. The temple eventually promised to provide the divine in exchange for the silver, as long as Jokol took back Fafa. Jokol's persona brought a lightheartedness to what was a fairly grim tale. I think Bujold needs to revise this story because so many passages are long with many asides. As well, the characters who pass into the spirit world from time to time is confusing about what they see and how that affects the narrative. Other writers (notably, Patricia Wrede) successfully rewrote some of their earlier novels and with years of experience behind them, corrected flaws such as this to create splendid stories.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is my least favorite of Bujold's Chalion series, but still an excellent read (as all Bujold's works are). This one is notable for its treatment of sacred kingship (a theme dear to my heart) in a unique way.

    I enjoyed Ingrey as a protagonist, but felt that Idjana, the female lead, was underdeveloped (unusual for Bujold). Only Horseriver was as strong as Ingrey, and I hope very much that Bujold will treat us to the adventures of Prince Jokol (with or without his polar bear friend).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have to agree with others who have said "good, but not as good as the first two." However - it's still squeaking into the 4-star range.

    I also feel that in this case, marketing this as "Chalion #3" is doing the book a disservice - though set in the same world as 'Curse of Chalion' and 'Paladin of Souls,' this is a fully self-contained, stand-alone novel.

    Ingrey, a bad-ass but good-hearted soldier, who just happens to have been saddled with a forbidden spirit-animal as a young man, is sent to deal with the fallout of a crime - a woman has murdered the prince. However, upon arrival, he believes Lady Ijada's story - she killed in self-defense, while the prince was assaulting her as part of an occult ritual sacrifice. Now she also, as a result of that ritual, has a spirit animal.

    Ingrey finds himself taking Ijada's side, as they find themselves caught up in a complex spiral of religious manifestations, magical plots, and political machinations...

    Ingrey is an enjoyable character, but my favorite character was actually the Learned Hallana - a motherly, powerful, demon-possessed doctor-sorceress with a down-to-earth attitude. I want more of her!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    (probably read as soon as I got it). Marginally more interesting than "Paladin of Souls". 
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is quite well written, but as with others in the series, Bujold tends to build characters up and then do nothing with them. There's a chap with a bear and a boat who has nothing to do with them, a leopard woman whose role is mainly decorative, and several other promises that come to nothing. It's rather better than the second in the series (which introduced an active and vigourous young woman only to turn her into a lady's maid).

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold is the third book in her Chalion series, and as I had been warned, did not live up to the excellence of the first two books. All three books have plots that explore the religion that the author developed for this world, but this one seems rather over-burdened with it and as a result the story suffered. The book started slowly and seemed to consist of many long conversations about animal spirits, and which spirits were in who, and how they got there.This was disappointing as this author consistently gives her readers great characters and stories that totally steal your heart, and I think this could have held true with both Lord Ingrey and Lady Ijada had the story been a little more wide open and the characters developed a little more. Overall, I felt this was a difficult book to appreciate due to it’s slow start and baffling theological plot points.Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my favorite authors, and I hate to give less than a glowing report on one of her books. Luckily all three books in this series are very loosely connected and can be read as stand alone stories. I highly recommend the first two books, The Curse of Chalion and The Palladin of Souls, and would suggest that only the most dedicated fans pick up The Hallowed Hunt.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "Hallowed Hunt" is set in the same world as the other two "Chalion" books, but not actually in Chalion, which is only one country in that world. "Hunt" introduces entirely new characters and a new kind of magic, although the five gods are still there, and still causing complications for the hero. You could probably read this one as a stand alone, but I think you're missing something if you pass up "Curse of Chalion" and "Paladin of Souls." I enjoyed this book. The characters, as usual, were great. I love Bujold's writing and I'm a sucker for romance, so I found this book as satisfying in that respect as the previous two. I don't read straight romance genre because I like more to the story than that, however, and this one didn't let me down there, either. I didn't give it 5 stars because I had a few minor issues with the plot, which seemed a bit less fully-explained in places than what I've come to expect from Bujold. (Mini-SPOILER: That mystical thing that the single-lived Hallow Kings were passing down... what did it do for them and did they actually even know they had it?)

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Disappointing. I love Bujold's work and really liked the other two books set in this universe, but this one wasn't really up to scratch. I liked the characters, but I found the plot gaps frustrating. We never really find out why Ingrey was given his wolf, nor why his father sought to have a wolf. There's a lot of good stuff here, but I'd have liked the whole story, and perhaps a bit more information earlier to give the readers clues to things that come up later on.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I screwed up & listened to this as the 2d book in the trilogy, not last. I don't think it's that big of a deal since it takes place way before the first two & has nothing but the world in common. I read the first of this trilogy when it came out & then the second, but never got around to this one. The gal that read this was quite a good reader, but different from the other two books.

    The first half of the book dragged for me. I almost quit. Way too much description & thinking (exposition) on the parts of the main characters for a mere few days traveling. Yes, there was a lot to set up, but it could have been done a lot better.

    The last half was very twisty & action packed. The hero was somewhat subtle. We knew his courageous, tough, & somewhat sinister reputation, but he had little ability to show it off during the first half. In the last, it shined even with the romantic theme that ran so strongly through the story line.

    There were a lot of excellent characters; good, bad, & 'damn-if-I'm-sure'. Some were neither due to complicated politics & theology. I pitied the best & the worst, as well as liked or disliked them. It all added up to a great story, but due to the slow beginning, I just can't give it a 4th star.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The third venture into the Quintarian Universe by Lois McMaster Bujold introduces animal magic that gives "The Hallowed Hunt" it's name. The reader follows Ingrey kin Wolfcliff as he first investigates the death of the youngest son of the hallowed king of the Weald only to find himself mired in a conspiracy involving the ancient animal magic of the Old Weald that he is already personally familiar with.From the first page the narrative hardly lets the reader take a breathe as the story unfolds before them thanks to the great craft of Bujold. The introduction of the animal magic of the Old Weald does take time to understand both for the characters and the readers, though this might have been the intention of the author from the start. However, the animal magic itself is a wonderful addition to the Universe that Bujold created. "The Hallowed Hunt" is a solid, good story that only suffers when compared to the first two books in the Quintarian Universe because there were no already familiar characters the reader knew from either previous book like there had been in "Paladin of Souls".After finishing this book, I felt a great sadness that Bujold hasn't written another venture into this fantastic world. If you haven't read any of the books in this series, you're missing out.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A good and satisfying read with a major twist. However, if you've read Curse of Chalion or Paladin of Souls it doesn't offer much in the way that's new.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I enjoyed this a lot more than Palladin of Souls. Some of it might be playing to the audience (I always love animal stories, so the idea of people carrying wolf spirits and horse spirits within themselves was always going to be appealing) but I found myself more drawn into the story and more sympathetic about the characters. There's a lot of larger than life fun in the charactors (a powerful pregnant woman, a giant polar bear) and also a lot of very well done things - the love story is convincing, but not the central point of the book, the bad guy is nuanced, and his reasons for doing what he is doing are carefully believable. The story snowballs in a very well balenced way - the original problem the hero encounters is interesting in its own right, but by the end it has grown to a mighty 'chosen sourceror must save thousands' while carrying us with it every step of the way.On the other hand, it doesn't really tie up with the first two Charlion books (I didn't examine it carefully, but I would be hard pressed to tell you if it happened before or after them - it is just distant from) so I'm a little sad it doesn't take the story of Iselle's reign further.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In The Hallowed Hunt, Bujold continues to explore the theology of the world she created in The Curse of Chalion, this time focusing on what happens when people capture the souls of animals or even other people. The main character, Ingrey, is alternatingly enjoyable and frustrating. It's pleasurable to read about how he uses his sinister reputation to extract himself from delicate situations with just a sliver of intimidation. On the other hand, he never can seem to figure out who to trust, even though for most of the book it's obvious because of the way the characters are portrayed. Though we don't find out the antagonist's real motivation until the end, the reader is asked to make a moral judgment between the way things are and the the way things used to be that's far more ambiguous than in previous books. So, while the characterization wasn't quite as good, I did appreciate that not everything was so black and white.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    With Hallowed Hunt, Bujold returns to the very interesting Quintairan world that she started in Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. While not quite as theologically meaty as the first two books, there are some very interesting mediations on the meaning of kingship and the responsibility of those who rule to, well, let go. Keep faith. Be rulers.Of course, like all Bujold’s book, Hunt is a page turner with interesting characters, exciting action scenes and a wonderful laconic wit.The main character, Ingrey is wonderfully morose, which sparks quite a few funny comments from the main female character Lady Ijada, as well as the peanut gallery of side characters.An excellent afternoon read by the pool, on the couch, staying up in bed.What can I say, once I pick Lois up, I don’t want to put the book down till I’m done

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A young woman is abandoned in the castle of a mad prince. Her guardians betrayal is played off as a political decision for her benefit. The prince wants her, perhaps he will keep her and she will gain in rank. Sent to his bedroom she soon learns that his plans are even darker than rape. He intends to sacrifice her in some dark ritual. Seizing his war hammer, she strikes him down, but now must answer for her crimes to a corrupt court that is set against her. Her only ally, and an unlikely one, is the soldier sent to examine the case and bring her to stand trial. Moved by her beauty and innocence, he begins working to help her. Before long they find themselves caught up in a dark plot that spans the centuries and throws them in the way of gods, animals spirits, demons and ghosts. Only together can they hope to survive.A perfect adventure chock to the brim with nefarious conspiracies and plots upon plots. Loved it!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A good read, but not as good as the first two. There was so much soul-swapping and spirit animals and craziness going on that the characters didn't get developed very well.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the third book set in the Chalion universe, but it's a standalone with no common characters or thread, just a related culture with the same dominant religion. If the land of The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, can be identified with Renaissance Spain, then the Weald of The Hallowed Hunt could be seen as Medieval Germany--the Weald being a land barely mentioned in the other books that's far away and this a tale in the past of the other books. I loved The Curse of Chalion, which was my first Bujold book, and I loved Paladin of Souls even more--probably my single favorite Bujold book, and I've read 19 of her 21 novels published thus far, and expect to be grabbing a copy of her latest when it's published tomorrow. Of all those books, I think The Hallowed Hunt her weakest--certainly her least memorable.Bujold is a more than competent writer, with great world-building skills, although she doesn't set herself apart as a literary writer with the kind of stylistic brilliance of say an Ursula LeGuin. Nor are her ideas as mind-boggling as an Issac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke. Where she does usually shine is her rich and distinctive characters. I fell madly in love with her Miles Vorkosigan, the star of her 14 book space opera Vorkosigan Saga. I loved Lupe dy Cazaril of The Curse of Chalion and adore Ista of the sequel Paladin of Souls more than I can express. I'm mighty fond of Fawn and Dag of her Sharing Knife books. In comparison the hero and heroine of The Hallowed Hunt, Ingrey and Ijada, struck me as flat. And while this starts and ends well, the middle was a slog--unusual in a Bujold book which are usually page-turners throughout.Now, that's in comparison with her other books. I can't say this book isn't worth reading at all. If you liked the other Chalion books, I wouldn't discourage you from trying it. But I think if you expect something like the other two books, you might be disappointed. And this isn't in my opinion a great introduction to Bujold--whose next book, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, I can't wait to read!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not as enthralling as the other books set in the Chalion universe. Whilst the main characters are interesting the book didn't flow as well for me and I found it hard going in parts. It seemed to get bogged down in the intricacies of the 'ridden' characters and just seemed improbable in places.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Before I joined LT my fantasy reading consisted mainly of regular rereads of Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. In the last couple of years, with the encouragement of many of my LT friends, I have greatly extended my knowledge of and enjoyment of other fantasy authors and series. However, LotR and Narnia have remained alone in my top echelon of fantasy until I read the Chalion series. When I read The Curse of Chalion I was impressed by the world and society she created, found the characters interesting and well drawn and the plot was intriguing. Paladin of Souls was an even better story and I became totally immersed in that world. The third volume of the trilogy, The Hallowed Hunt, takes place in a different part of her “world” with an entirely different society and new characters but the story is powerful and for me this was the best volume in an outstanding series. I was spellbound (which is appropriate given the plot of the story!) throughout and continually surprised. It reads somewhat like a mystery as the reader tries to figure out—along with the main character—what exactly is going on. With this stunning 3rd volume this series becomes the third fantasy series in my top tier of reading.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I was blown away by the first two books in the Chalion series. Perhaps my expectations here were too high. The Hallowed Hunt is not a bad book by any means, but it suffers from a slow start, less developed characters, and sometimes confusing theological plot twists.Prince Boleso has been murdered. Lord Ingrey has been dispatched to bring his murderer to justice, and finds things are not at all what he expects. The murderer is a young woman, defending herself from rape. To make the tale even more sordid, the prince dabbled in ancient magics and killed a jaguar--a jaguar whose soul then entered the woman's body. Lord Ingrey has suffered from a similar condition since he was a teenager, and endured much suspicion and condemnation because of the wolf residing in his body. Now, he finds a like soul--and is likely returning her to the capital to face a lopsided trail and certain death.Part of my joy in the first books was in the involvement of the deities. Here, their presence felt more detached for the first half of the book. Everything was about the animal spirits, and that just didn't grab me the same way. Ingrey is a like able enough fellow, but sometimes he feels weak and whiny. Lady Ijada, possessing the jaguar, never really had a chance to come into her own; this is a shame because Bujold's other books displayed such strong, confident women.The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls will have a permanent place on my shelf; this one will be traded in.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I picked up on the basis that I read [The Vor Game] years and years and years ago, and really enjoyed it. This book was a totally different genre, romantic fantasy through and through rather than a bit of space opera, but it was a good read. The first 10 or so pages took a bit of getting through, but once the main character was introduces and the basic scene was set, the intricate plotting came into it's own, with the main character falling for the one person he shouldn't while coming to terms with who he really was, and trying to unravel who is plotting against him. The romance was predicable and not very convincing, but the world building was interesting, the plotting and paranoia all good. I will be reading more of this author.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another excellent entry in this series. I'm surprised with how many different ideas this author has been able to do with this world. While each book is closely linked to the 5 gods (Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, and Bastard...I love the Bastard) she puts a new spin on how the world is linked to the spirit world in each one. This is a bit more of a departure from the first two books, however people who enjoyed the series so far should like this book as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The darkest of the trilogy, but with the best ending. It kind of slogs along and then hits you. I really liked the characters of Hallana and Jokol, and I liked Ijada and Ingrey as well but found their romance a bit stiff and uninteresting.