Synopsis
Kazan Korvic has forged the perfect vampire-killing sword. Unfortunately for her it is hardly cooled from the forge before her capture at the hand of an aristocratic vampire clan.
Taken back to the vampire citadel, Kazan is crowned their queen, starting off a blood ritual that will end in a feast in three days. The main course? Kazan. Her only potential allies at the blood-reaving regal rumpus are two vampires who may have their own divided loyalties at play.
With the end approaching, Kazan needs to find her sword because her only way out is to spill some blood.
Review
Don’t let Grandma read this one. Ciel Pierlot takes us to a sweetly sanguine murder citadel with The Hunter’s Gambit. I’m real glad I got an early invite to this party because I loved this book. From the opening schmoozy party to the saccharine sadism of the main antagonist, Dasar, I was enthralled.
I’d say I’m not normally one to read vampire stories but that would be a complete lie. Kazan, as it happens, is a serial liar herself. It sees her ostracised by her fellow humans who find it impossible to trust her. It’s fitting then that she finds herself in the desperate predicament of being the sacrificial vampire queen in Dasar’s terrible blood ritual. Vampires, as it happens, tend to love Kazan’s lying ways. What a shame it’s only for three days before they eat her alive.
The desperate bid for survival, the heirs and graces forced upon Kazan by the revellers, the underhand plot at a vampire coup; it’s all thrown from the page like an arterial spray. There’s nothing so satisfying than a main character who, when faced with impossible odds, chooses to adopt the “fuck this” approach and get angry. “I’m not locked in with them, they’re locked in with me!” Kazan growls.
THG lurches into the utterly obscene on several occasions. Whether this is the gallons of blood spilled (both human and vamp) or the steamiest threesome sex scene of the year, it’s all here and it all works.
I’m only sad this book wasn’t longer so Pierlot could explore the vampire playground some more. There were a number of vampire houses who were given lip service but these worldbuilding fangs failed to break the reader’s skin. There’s so much more I wanted to read about how the vampire houses differ and interact that wasn’t included here. The importance of the Citadel and the need to keep it intact was understandable enough but the vampires’ motivations and underhand politics left me a little thirsting for more.
But still, for those elements that I felt it lacked for, THG is still cathartic as hell and an excellent read. There’s more blood and gore spilled than a lift in the Overlook Hotel. Pierlot’s characters bite, scratch, maim, slice and dice. Serial liar though she may be, it’s hard not to root for Kazan given her plight and her embrace of pure anger in the face of the undead. That one scene where she gains a “boost” and rampages through the Citadel is the steamy, violent vampire novel equivalent of someone being tagged in to wreck shit in a WWE tag team match.
Just get this book. You’ll read it in about three days and you’ll thank me for it.
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