The Hallowed Hunt

I’m just making my love for Bujold’s books stronger and stronger…

This is the last book in the Curse of Chalion series, but it is a standalone. I am always happy to revisit the World of the Five Gods! I might have said it before?

I had forgotten much of the book, so this reread felt almost like a first meeting with the story. This made me happy.

An exiled prince is dead. He wasn’t much of a prince, if you ask me. It’s a fishy death. Forbidden magic was involved, and a young lady named Ijada. Lord Ingrey is sent to investigate and take Ijada to her trial.

Ijada’s and Ingrey’s first meeting and conversation were excellent. Bujold is wonderful at writing people, I think.
”She was not afraid of the right things. Five gods help show more him, she seemed not afraid of anything.”

They have quite a journey ahead of them. This book is rougher, grittier, darker than the previous two. There are more animal spirits than demons. Old, dimly remembered magic is always in the background… until it takes centre stage towards the end.

The characters are real, flawed people. They learn from each other and heal each other. The villain is a scary one, also breaking the reader’s heart a little. This is a book about justice, mercy, redemption and duty, with a plot that will hook you very nicely.

I loved both the ending and the bittersweet epilogue.

One more quote:

”Silences, he reminded himself, had a power all their own.” show less

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 show more 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 are 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.” show less

Really enjoyable. An interestingly different take on the standard dark ages low fantasy world. This is nominally the third of a series, which I didn't realise when I bought it. It seems eminently readable as a standalone, and I'm looking forward to enjoying the earlier books to find out exactly what happened previously.

Lord Ingrey is the disinherited eldest son of a duke. Not for any of the usual reasons, but because his father succeeded in an ancient (forbidden) rite of investing an animal soul within him. The Temple's usual punishment for such action is hanging, but given the extenuating circumstances Ingrey is allowed to live, although much rumour and gossip surrounds him. He makes his living as a trusted confident and man-at-arms show more for the High King's sealmaster, Hetwar. As such he is sent to a remote township where the king's youngest son has been murdered. The lady in question is to be brought to the capital for trial. Given that she is a lady of minor rank, Ingrey is curiously polite, but it's quickly apparent that something uncanny has happened - and that the prince was involved. The return journey quickly gets stranger still and Ingrey and the Lady Ilja are thrown into the murky politics of the capital and the Gods where, even here, not everything is as it seems.

This works very well as a standalone, the references to the animal magic system are still clearly explained, as is the history and politics of the surrounding kingdoms, even if the precise details leading up to the Prince's death don't emerge. The characters are vibrant and sympathetic, occasionally humorous and interact well together. The plot is well constructed with several red herrings until the main action is revealed. The ending is perhaps a little bit weak. The only other slightly significant downside is that some of the names are too similar, Fala and Fafa for instance. I read quickly and look at a name as a character tag, it was easy if confusing to get these mixed up!

Well worth reading, an enjoyable fantasy, vastly different from her more famous SF series.

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If you wish to comment or discuss anything raised in this review you can do so on the Review Discussions thread for it. Here show less

Summary: Lord Ingrey kin Wolfcliff, a minor noble retainer and swordarm to one of the powerful Earls of Easthome, has been dispatched on an unpleasant mission. The heir apparent, Prince Boleso, has been killed by a young noblewoman he was trying to rape, and Ingrey must bring the body and the accused Lady Ijada from the distant keep back to Easthome. But there's more to the case than simple self-defense: Boleso was engaged in secret, ancient, and heretical sorceries, and Ijada is the unwilling recipient of a by-product of the ritual in which she was meant to be used as a sacrifice. When he learns this, Ingrey begins to wonder about the forces that sent him on this mission, for he too bears a burden of the old magic - one that will link show more him to Ijada, and throw them both onto a path where they must confront the legacy of a terrible history, in a place where not even the gods can help them.

Review: Bujold's books are dense, in the best sense of the word. Or maybe "rich" would be a better term - they're packed full of history, intricate theology, complicated political maneuvering, and a sense of power. Because of this, they are not particularly quick reads; requiring a fair bit of attention and careful reading - no skimming, here. In The Hallowed Hunt in particular, every time you fit together one piece of the story, Bujold throws another wrinkle at you, unfolds another detail of the plot that you hadn't seen coming, and forces you to constantly re-evaluate what's come before. It's mature, rich, well-developed, and lavishly-written fantasy, reminiscent of Guy Gavriel Kay's work, that steadfastly refuses to fit into the mold of any fantasy novel that's come before.

The Hallowed Hunt is set in the same world as The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls, albeit in a different country, with different people, and arguably some unspecified number of years earlier. Although the theology makes more sense for having read the earlier books, The Hallowed Hunt would absolutely work as a stand-alone novel. Speaking of the theology, Bujold creates in this series one of the most detailed, internally consistent, and, well, sensical theologies I've encountered in fantasy. Each of the books focuses around one of the five gods (Chalion was the Daughter's, Paladin the Bastard's, and Hallowed Hunt is the Son's), making me suspect that the Mother's and the Father's books may be forthcoming. While The Hallowed Hunt wasn't perfect - some of the emotional power was compromised by the convoluted plot, and many of the secondary characters didn't get the development they deserved - I'm still hoping for more books in this series, and I'm still going to check out Bujold's other works. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: If you're in the mood for rich, mature, original fantasy novels (or have run out of Guy Gavriel Kay books to read), Bujold is a good place to turn. I didn't like The Hallowed Hunt quite as much as I did the other two Chalion books, but they're all well-written and quite satisfying. show less

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 show more characters and world that makes me know I am always going to enjoy reading a work of Bujold. show less

A worthy ending to this great fantasy series. A new set of characters are introduced, with the main character being Ingrey. Ingrey's family met a tragic and dark end and he is secretly the bearer of a great beast. He works as a sort of 'fixer' for one of the King's stewards and he is sent to investigate the murder of the King's son and heir. Politics and magic mix, with this book being focused more on spirit warriors (those infused with an animal spirit) and less on demons and shamans. Well written, engaging and interesting.

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 show more 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. show less