Magic and Kingship in the Land of the Five Gods

Ingrey Kin Wolfcliff is one of Bujold's wounded heroes. He begins in this story as a man who carries within himself the bound spirit of a great wolf. This makes him unholy but tolerated within the bounds of the religion of the Five Gods.

His earthly uses include being set to tasks that other men shun. Thus he was sent by the Royal Sealbearer to straighten out the mess that the young Prince had made of his death. It appears that the Prince had been engaging in forbidden sorcery. The situation though becomes more complicated when Lord Ingrey realizes that the young female prisoner he was to return to the capital for judicial disposition also bears an animal spirit as a result of the prince's malfeasance. Further when the complicated theology of the Five Gods and the tangled history of their land becomes involved the situation seems to spiral out of even Lord Ingrey's ability to control.

While the narrator at times seems a bit rushed and every so often it is not perfectly clear which character is making which comment, this is mostly very well done technically and a most enjoyable book.

21 people found this helpful

Extremely disappointing

Would you try another book from Lois McMaster Bujold and/or Marguerite Gavin?

Yes for Lois McMaster Bujold, but not because of this one. I would not try another by the same narrator, Marguerite Gavin.

Has The Hallowed Hunt turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but it would have if I had read it first

How could the performance have been better?

See my comments.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Not up to McMaster Bujold's usual standards.

Any additional comments?

First, I very much enjoy Lois McMaster Bujold’s novels. Except for this one.

My wife and I listened to "The Curse of Chalion" on a road trip some time ago. Since then we also listened to "Paladin of Souls", and lately "The Hallowed Hunt". Each of these three novels will stand on its own. The lead character in "Paladin of Souls" is introduced to us in "The Curse of Chalion", but, except for that one, "Paladin of Souls" has only passing references to some of the characters in "The Curse of Chalion".

The only link between "The Hallowed Hunt" and the earlier books is the religion. None of the earlier books’ characters are even mentioned in "The Hallowed Hunt". As nearly as a listener can tell, the events don’t even happen in Chalion, although they do refer to one or two other nations that are mentioned in the earlier books.

I didn’t find the story particularly interesting. It had little action and consisted mostly of dialog between the characters as they discussed the predicaments they were in, all from the view of the peculiar religion in the series. I don’t dislike the fantasy religion; it was great and easily grasped in "The Curse of Chalion". Listening to this novel though, it seemed all I heard about were the oddities of the belief system.

About 90% of the dialog was among men, so the woman narrator was at a disadvantage. It showed. She had a difficult time separating her masculine voices so the listener could tell them apart. Also, with McMaster Bujold’s style of writing, there are often written thoughts of the characters followed by actual spoken words. The narrator was unable to make it clear when the character was thinking or speaking.

Editing of the recording is something that you should never notice, and you don’t, unless it’s bad. We noticed the editing with this recording. Mostly it was the announcement of the next chapter number immediately following the last syllable of the preceding chapter, but there was at least one occasion where an entire sentence was repeated, back to back.

All in all, I will never listen to this book again, although I most certainly will listen to the other two in the Chalion series. There was nothing here that grasped me.

35 people found this helpful

excellent story marred by tedious pausing

This story was great, although not nearly as gripping as Paladin of Souls and Curse of Chalion. 1) The narrator was female but the main character was male, and although annoying, I could deal with that. 2) The narrator's speech pattern was terrible. She paused in the middle of sentences instead of reading them smoothly, as if she thought our little brains needed time to catch up with what she was saying. It was like she couldn't get out more than 4 or 5 words without drawing breath. Thankfully her breathing wasn't apparent. Listening to her was pure torture sometimes. I won't be jumping to listen to more of her.

30 people found this helpful

Good, Not Great.

The Hallowed Hunt lacks something fundamental when compared to the other 2 books in this series. While the plot provided a neat frame for the story, it was plodding and lacked fire. What worked in the other Chalion books was the sense of a driving inner passion that made the outcomes unpredictable. There is plenty of danger in Hallowed Hunt, and yet this book did not keep me on the edge of my seat -- but played out rather pedantically.

Part of the problem for me may have been the reader. I enjoy Marguerite Gavin's work in the Hollows series, but her voice is so very distinctive that I found it a distraction. I think she did an admirable job here, but I didn't enjoy myself. The story moved too slowly to be exciting. Was that the reader's interpretation, or the book, I can't say. All I do know is that I wasn't really invested in the outcome as I should have been.

When I finished Paladin of Souls, I MISSED Ista! I wanted her story to go on! When I finished Curse of Chalion, the same was true of Cazaril. But with this effort, I really wouldn't mind if I never read about any of these characters again. The politics were boring, but how is is possible that a story about shape changers could be boring? I just wonder how I would feel if Lloyd James or Kate Reading had been the narrators of this book as well. I guess I'll never know.

18 people found this helpful

The Narrator Needs A Dictionary

The word "geas" appears 46 times in this book. Obviously this is an important topic to the book. The narrator apparently didn't think so because she mispronounced it EVERY SINGLE TIME. You would think she would check pronunciation on such a significant and frequently used word. I researched online and found one major pronunciation and a couple lesser used ones. None matched the one used 46 times by the narrator of this book. IT WAS SO IRRITATING. She has pleasant voice and doesn't do to badly at voices. She just need to do her homework and use a dictionary.

Of course that was only the most frequently used of the mispronounced words in this book. Honestly who doesn't know how to pronounce "chimera"?

The book itself is excellent.

8 people found this helpful

Great intro to series, and a grand ride!

What I love about this book is the way it opens up this world. We get a primer on the mythos of the series' religion, which is woven through all of the books -- and we also learn a bit about how the government is run, laying a foundation for the stories to come.

The Hallowed Hunt begins with a gruesome murder and a funeral procession to bring the body of a murdered prince to the capital city. But just when we settle in thinking it's a murder mystery, albeit with an unlikely murderess, it turns into something else!

Finding out *who done it* gets dangerously complicated by betrayal, demon possession, wolf lords, horse lords, ghosts, and a *tame* ice bear on a rampage -- and ends with a haunted battlefield full of grandeur and pathos that's as close to Shakespearean as you can get in a fantasy novel.

Oh, and our hero and heroine are both God Touched, and in love, so there's that, too.

The romance is satisfying, and the ending is, too. I don't know why some people find it slow -- it's a mystery, and the good ones always have a slow burn, so naturally Bujold takes her time and allows her characters time to unravel the clues and find the culprit.

It's a grand ride, especially with wonderful secondary characters who bring sparkle to the proceedings, and the MCs grapple with their new, god-like abilities.

The reader, Marguerite Gavin does a great job, and in fact I think this is one of her best performances. Yes, she hesitates here and there, and loses her way in some sentences, but the instances were minor and didn't impact my enjoyment in the least.


HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, to everyone!

8 people found this helpful

Like all of Bujold--very very human

Unlike several readers, I found it very easy to identify with the leading character in this book. Bujold brings into her best characters the confusing ambiguity of intention and conviction which is an inescapable part of what we find when we look deeply into our own inner workings. And she manages to do it without neglecting the human capacity for sacrifice and nobility which can lead us to transcend our weaknesses at times.

The action in LMB's writing is always as much interior as overt, but she gives it a momentum which keeps me, who cannot abide plots which plod, entirely engaged and fascinated. I think it is because all of the strengths in her characters seem to rise out of apparent weaknesses. As a result she can weave them more and more deeply into what seem to be inextricable situations and still have rescue or redemption appear inevitable and truthful when it arrives.

I had no problem with this narrator. As a matter of fact, I actually delighted in the unusual resonance of her voice and her excellent phrasing and subtle, but almost always clear, character delineation.

Was this as good as the two books in this world setting which preceded it? Perhaps not quite, but that is holding Ms. Bujold to a very high standard indeed.

11 people found this helpful

Not good.

I agree ..I will run out into the dead of night to buy anything Lois writes. I have tried to listen to this a number of times and it is impossible to stick with it. Anything else she writes I can listen to over and over and over again and be delighted. 5 stars. Addicted to her writing. Never be bored and in fact happy to listen to them repeatedly. Chalion and Phalladin of Souls I could say were every bit as good as Miles ?? Certainly as good as. And I am sure Lois is glad to get a break and bring closure to Miles' Saga. But this is not good, but for all the winners she has hit out of the park, I will look the other way.

30 home runs and 1 stinker is not a bad record...

This I cannot get thru. The characters are unlikeable and boring. I do not like the reader.

Out of desperation for anything Lois writes I will try again...

5 people found this helpful

Another winner from Bujold

This is another excellent book from the reliable Bujold, and again it is extremely well-read. For the record, this is the third of three books (The first being Curse of Chalion), all set in the same feudal-style fantasy world, but they are almost entirely unrelated in terms of plot and character. This book is set in a different area of the continent than the previous two novels, and could stand alone, thought the earlier books do spend more time developing the unique cosmology and theology of the universe.

That underlying theology - a world with five active, benevolent gods where the worst fate is to die without being taken into any of the five "heavens" - informs much of the plotline, which twists and turns in logical, yet unexpected, ways as the story progresses. It combines elements of high fantasy, political intrigue, and theological musings with dark, almost Wuthering Heights, romantic elements. (But don't let that scare you off if you don't like romantic novels, there is plenty of magic and action as well).

Unlike so many fantasy novels, there is no Dark Lord and no impending cataclysm driving the plot - though there are ancient wrongs that must be discovered and undone, they are at a much more human level, and it is at the level of character interaction that Bujold writes best. Her characters are unique, often quite humorous, and her dialogue is natural and tight. The reader, with only a few exceptions, handles the range of characters with great grace. The result is an impressive, well-written change from the usual multi-book epics of Robert Jordan or George Martin, that should appeal to fantasy fans of all kinds.

32 people found this helpful

My First Bujold Disappointment

Unlike every other Bujold book I have listened to, including Curse of Chalcion and Paladin of Souls, this one was not enjoyable. The main characters are not very likeable, the plot is impossibly complicated, and Bujold takes the longest possible route to describe the simplest things. This book could easily have been half as long, and almost nothing would have been lost.

I'm going back to Miles.

13 people found this helpful