World of the Five Gods
Fantasy
Harper Voyager
May 30, 2006
448
A magnificent epic tale of devotion, possession, obsession, and strange destiny from the author of the Hugo Award-winning Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 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.
The Hallowed Hunt is a book that is disjointed from the first two in the series by Lois McMaster Bujold (beginning with The Curse of Chalion). It takes place far earlier in the world of the five gods, and has almost nothing to do with the other entries (other than familiar place-names). This was fine with me, as the other stories held up on their own, as this one does.
**Minor spoilers ahead!**
The main characters are Lord Ingrey and Lady Ijada, and the story begins with Ijada being accused of killing Prince Boleso. She totally did it, but for all the right reasons, and Lord Ingrey is caught in a situation where he is trying to protect her against his own Lords.
The world-building and intrigue in The Hallowed Hunt is excellent. None of the characters seem flat to me, and all represent various shades of grey as opposed to true black or white. Good dialog and character development push the story along through the plot, both with politics and action.
The shamanistic magic of having an animal soul tied to a person’s was interesting and added a bit of spice to things. Lord Ingrey learns a lot of his past throughout the book, and his journey compliments the reader’s.
I very much enjoyed the character of Ingrey’s cousin Wencel – his history adds much to the plot and his motives are genuine, despite his place in the story and where things end up.
As always, Lois McMaster Bujold is expert in her craft, and I highly recommend this to fans of her work.