Synopsis:
Huntsmen, according to the Church, were damned, their blood unclean, unholy. Yet for Rosemary and Aaron Harker the Church was less important than being ready to stand against the Uncanny as not being prepared could lead to being dead.
The year is 1913. America—and the world—trembles on the edge of a modern age. Political and social unrest shift the foundations; technology is beginning to make its mark.
But in the shadows, things from the past still move. Things inhuman, uncanny.
And the Uncanny are no friend to humanity.
But when Aaron and Rosemary Harker go to investigate the suspicious death of a distant relative, what they discover could turn their world upside down—and change the Huntsmen forever.
Review:
Hello again dear reader or listener, we are gathered here today to eagerly sit up for what promises to be a great new series by long time author Laura Anne Gilman.
With a big thanks to Ms. Nalen at Simon & Schuster for offering me a double review copy of this first instalment and of book two that releases in a couple of days, let’s get to it! My thoughts remain honest.
Now dear reader, here’s the thing, I grew up with Supernatural the TV series (we do not speak of the atrocity that was the finale). It is my comfort show and Dean Winchester is arguably one of the best characters written for tv in this century, I’m not even exaggerating. Even when the show was a shambles, Dean was there to keep it going.
So, when I read a blurb promising monster hunting siblings I simply could not resist. The similarities do not end there however but also, I don’t want to go too much down that road so I’ll just say that if you’re a fan of the show like me, just run to grab a copy now, you don’t need to know anything else. Trust me.
Fun comp title aside, I found this first entry in the Huntsmen series an excellent start to a hopefully long saga that promises good times, feels, sibling shenanigans, and lots of action. Also, there’s a molosser dog with one upturned and one downward ear as the animal companion and his name is Botheration. Need I say more?
Gilman’s prose flowed as much as historical fiction using accurate terms will allow and, bar some repetitiveness here and there, it made for a speedy read, building up pace as it went along, to finally reach the action-packed climax. Her worldbuilding was the kind you can feel is extensive off page but you only scratch the surface of while reading this first book. The hints of the wider Huntsmen society and how they’re an organised system etc. was as much intriguing as it keeps you wanting to learn more about them all. I actually quite enjoyed the author’s loyalty to her chosen time period of the early 1900s in regards to how limiting it was for women and thus an extra thing Rosemary had to always contend with aside from monsters. It was definitely not a case of ‘author picks historical period for that aesthetic tm but then their protags are fully modern with vague general explanation as to why, if there even is one’. And similarly, Aaron, while certainly forward thinking in lieu of the special circumstances of his family, was also most definitely a man of his time, always taking care to act and look a certain way to fit in with the correct tier of society. I actually think that for now at least he’s my favorite of the duo. Gilman excels at sibling banter and I have not read any of her other work to know if this is a running thing or new with this series of hers, but class A sibling dynamics right there. I can only amusedly applaud.
I think this first entry was a solid balance between character and plot driven, and I was eagerly following along trying to solve the mystery, which for once didn’t reveal itself to me too early, (always refreshing). The reveal is only obvious with hindsight and that’s on clever plot and hint weaving on the author’s part. At the same time however, I found this story more of a setting up of expectations to be surpassed and built upon. This book feels like only that first small step introducing us to the two protags and hinting at the wider happenings, and it will hopefully continue to grow in scope, stakes, and depth along with its protagonists. There is so much hinted at that I cannot wait for the author to explore in future instalments and I’m especially happy I get to jump into the sequel right away after finishing book one this afternoon. Also I am a sucker for certainties being shaken and we see the beginnings of it here when Rosemary and Aaron start to see that what they’ve been taught and trained in their whole lives may not be entirely true.
So dear reader or listener, if you’re looking for awesomely written sibling dynamics, an organised society of monster hunters operating on the downlow, early 1900s sass and aggravation, lots of things that go bump in the night and one excellently trained but finnicky about his food massive hound, then this book is for you! For my part I have really high hopes for this series and cannot wait to be proven right.
Until next time,
Eleni A. E.
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