Status
Available
Publication
City Owl Press (2018), 278 pages
Description
A beautiful bounty hunter created by the goddess Freyja is out to find her kidnapped sister in this paranormal romance series debut. Though bounty-hunter Faline Frey has magical abilities, she'd rather rely on perp files and handcuffs than her huldra powers to take down a suspect. With the local Hunter authority out keep supernatural Wild Women like her in check, it's better to avoid their unwanted attention. All that changes the night she heads out for a date, hoping to get lucky--and gets screwed instead. Now her sister is missing, the Hunters are on her tail, and the one person offering to help is her ex-lover, Officer David Garcia, who has just enough ties to the supernatural world to be dangerous. To unite her fellow Wild Women against their common foe, Faline will need to convince them to do the one thing she fears most--exhume their power buried deep beneath centuries of oppression.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member flusteredduck
I received this book through Library Thing's Early Bird program in exchange for a fair and honest review.
When I read the blurb on this book, I squealed with delight - an urban fantasy book focusing on mythic women that aren't faeries, vampires or werewolves? One focusing on the rarer myths of
Of course, it isn't enough to create a whole new cast of mythic creatures and put them in a believable world - the story has to be good too. The author again comes through: twenty years ago, Wild Women were kidnapped, disappearing without trace, never to be heard from again, and now, Wild Women are once more being kidnapped. Is it the start of a war between the different Wild Women groups or is it something else? The author answers this question magnificently. She also manages the tricky part of writing a series in finishing off this instalment satisfactorily while pointing at the next instalment with the promise of developing the series, the world and the characters further.
A great read for all lovers of urban fantasy - can't recommend highly enough - and, again, such a delight to have the less standard European myths brought to the forefront.
When I read the blurb on this book, I squealed with delight - an urban fantasy book focusing on mythic women that aren't faeries, vampires or werewolves? One focusing on the rarer myths of
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northern Europe - the huldra and the rusalki with harpies, mermaids and succubi thrown in for good measure? I was so in! To my enormous pleasure, the author then proceeded to deliver - she not only fleshed out a great world with Wild Women and the Hunters who protect society and the Wild Women from themselves but she made the mythic Wild Women come to life as brilliantly complex, interesting characters. She developed their different types in loving, sympathetic detail but never burdened the reader with so much information that she hobbled the reader. This is a rare skill and one I wished more writers displayed - this author supplied enough detail and description to sketch out a good picture but left enough space for the reader to imagine her creations and their world in their own way.Of course, it isn't enough to create a whole new cast of mythic creatures and put them in a believable world - the story has to be good too. The author again comes through: twenty years ago, Wild Women were kidnapped, disappearing without trace, never to be heard from again, and now, Wild Women are once more being kidnapped. Is it the start of a war between the different Wild Women groups or is it something else? The author answers this question magnificently. She also manages the tricky part of writing a series in finishing off this instalment satisfactorily while pointing at the next instalment with the promise of developing the series, the world and the characters further.
A great read for all lovers of urban fantasy - can't recommend highly enough - and, again, such a delight to have the less standard European myths brought to the forefront.
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LibraryThing member reading_fox
Rushed. I think it's supposed to be fast paced, but actually it just comes across as lacking in detail, too blithe agreement of opposing characters, and missing key interactions. More substantially it's fatally flawed in it's reversed gender 'balance' which takes matriarchy to the opposite extreme.
The settlers in America brought their legends with them, and so groups of non-human women (dryads, russelka, harpies, mermaids etc) settled. At first they lived communally but persecution by male religious powers drove them into hiding and eventually submission. Now they all live in isolated villages, under close control of their still male, and still religious 'guardians' called Hunters. They do interact with the modern world, and hold day-jobs, but are fearfully scared of their other sides being discovered leading not only to penance from the Hunters, but widespread witch hunts too. As ever humanity's power against those stronger than itself is the mob. When some of the Wild Women start going missing, the groups band together to investigate.
Really rushed though, we start with the drayds and have just about got to understand them when the heroine rushes off to meet each of the others in turn, always suspecting them of being the culprit before discovering they also have missing women, and then gaining their aid. Each encounter could easily have been a book on their own, learning the new cultures and abilities, is instead rushed into a chapter, with no suspicion, or learning achieved. You can see where the author plotted such crucial points, but in the brevity of the text they failed to demonstrate them. Other 'surprises' are equally badly handled and obvious. The concept of genetics and heredity seemed to have passed the author by, instead of which all the women are free to seduce whatever normal men they wish. And the big nasty religious males hang as a heavy hammer over every chapter, lacking subtlety or discretion.
Innovative and readable, but far from the best in the genre, insufficiently suspenseful to incite follow-ups with the rest of the series.
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It's a clever concept in worldbuilding though, which just needs a little more development. Nominally urban fantasy, there's a little too much overtly paranormal romance thrown unbelievably in, as if to add spice that's lacking in the plot.The settlers in America brought their legends with them, and so groups of non-human women (dryads, russelka, harpies, mermaids etc) settled. At first they lived communally but persecution by male religious powers drove them into hiding and eventually submission. Now they all live in isolated villages, under close control of their still male, and still religious 'guardians' called Hunters. They do interact with the modern world, and hold day-jobs, but are fearfully scared of their other sides being discovered leading not only to penance from the Hunters, but widespread witch hunts too. As ever humanity's power against those stronger than itself is the mob. When some of the Wild Women start going missing, the groups band together to investigate.
Really rushed though, we start with the drayds and have just about got to understand them when the heroine rushes off to meet each of the others in turn, always suspecting them of being the culprit before discovering they also have missing women, and then gaining their aid. Each encounter could easily have been a book on their own, learning the new cultures and abilities, is instead rushed into a chapter, with no suspicion, or learning achieved. You can see where the author plotted such crucial points, but in the brevity of the text they failed to demonstrate them. Other 'surprises' are equally badly handled and obvious. The concept of genetics and heredity seemed to have passed the author by, instead of which all the women are free to seduce whatever normal men they wish. And the big nasty religious males hang as a heavy hammer over every chapter, lacking subtlety or discretion.
Innovative and readable, but far from the best in the genre, insufficiently suspenseful to incite follow-ups with the rest of the series.
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LibraryThing member ranaverde
I enjoyed this. The characters are interesting, the plot moves along at a good pace, and the world-building is solid. It takes a bunch of different traditional fey types - mermaids, succubi - and adds a few lesser-known ones - rusalki, harpies, huldras - and invents a new one - Hunters - and stirs
Feels strong enough to support a sequel, which is what the ending hints at, too.
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them around in interesting ways. Basically, someone's been kidnapping Wild Women, and it takes the women a while to realize it's a pattern, because they have kept isolated from each other by the Hunters. So this is a story about what happens when they break that isolation, learn the truth, and set out to kick some butt.Feels strong enough to support a sequel, which is what the ending hints at, too.
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LibraryThing member Antares1
Freyja's Daughter by Rachel Pudelek is well done. The pacing was fast, but not so much that things felt rushed. The down time was enough for a breather, but not so long that it became boring. The characters were well rounded, and the world building was solid. I would like to continue on with the
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series. I would definitely recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member sassypooinms
I received this as an early reviewer book. I absolutely loved it! It was different than anything I’ve read lately, all about Wild Women tribes. It kept my interest and made me want to read more. I’m hoping the author will write more about the Wild Women: the huldra, mermaids, harpies, succubi,
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and rusalki, and their fight against the Hunters. If you like to read about strong, powerful women, you’ll like this book as much as I did. Show Less
LibraryThing member 3lilreds
I was REALLY excited to get a review copy of this book. I do love a good fantasy read. I thought the premise was interesting - tribes of different Wild Women (huldra, succubi, mermaids, harpies, rusalki) who have been controlled by male Hunters. The women declare war on the Hunters when some of
It was an okay read. There were some editing issues; pronouns that didn't agree in context, and other things like that. It's really hard for me to overlook that kind of thing and it detracts from my enjoyment of the story. I also felt the story was a bit rushed. There was very little backstory; more would have been helpful. We dove right into the main character fulfilling a prophecy and starting a war - she had never heard of the prophecy, and yet, didn't question it and jumped right in? I agree with another reviewer that there was too much telling and not enough showing; I think part of that could have been that the book is written in first person.
I think the author is on to something here, and I'd love to see her develop the series more.
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their own are taken. Definitely a book I wanted to like.It was an okay read. There were some editing issues; pronouns that didn't agree in context, and other things like that. It's really hard for me to overlook that kind of thing and it detracts from my enjoyment of the story. I also felt the story was a bit rushed. There was very little backstory; more would have been helpful. We dove right into the main character fulfilling a prophecy and starting a war - she had never heard of the prophecy, and yet, didn't question it and jumped right in? I agree with another reviewer that there was too much telling and not enough showing; I think part of that could have been that the book is written in first person.
I think the author is on to something here, and I'd love to see her develop the series more.
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LibraryThing member devannm
This started out a little shaky for me - I was worried that I had been introduced to another heroine who was just going to run around obsessing over hot guys for the whole book - but it picked up and took a definite turn fairly quickly and I ended up loving it by the end [even the romance subplot,
In the end it was a really fun book about a group of magical women fighting back against the sexism and religion that has been keeping them down for centuries and I think that's something we can all relate to. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book. I would recommend this book to people who like Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series, although that one focuses more on human/cryptid relations at large while this one is more focused on the gendered side of things, but I think they have definite similarities.
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which is high praise coming from me]. I think it was a really cool idea to take all the mythological creatures that are generally only female and tie them together to have common origins like this, definitely not something I have seen before. In the end it was a really fun book about a group of magical women fighting back against the sexism and religion that has been keeping them down for centuries and I think that's something we can all relate to. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book. I would recommend this book to people who like Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series, although that one focuses more on human/cryptid relations at large while this one is more focused on the gendered side of things, but I think they have definite similarities.
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LibraryThing member JeffV
The book starts with fast action - a female bounty hunter turns in a wanted man then banters a bit with the local cop who seems to know her well. The bounty hunter is not an actual woman, however, but a tree nymph known as a huldra. The huldra (Nordic origin) are one species of "wild women" which
Nymphs operating in plain sight during modern times is an interesting concept for a story (or series of stories as this appears to be the first of many). The author is certainly capable of creating great action scenes, but in the middle of story loses focus. The strong-willed women of great power are often reduced to sniveling, sex-starved pathetic caricatures that seem to emerge from an adolescent teen diary. The story doesn't stay on top of their mission, and the end becomes predictable. The only question was which of the story lines would remain unresolved to act as lead-in to the next book.
I think the author has it in her to harden things up quite a bit unless she really intends on writing for the preteen crowd. If the latter is the case, then I'm out.
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include succubi, mermaids, harpies, and rusalki (Slavic myth). Each of these "wild women" groups have their own communities, and for hundreds of years have been kept in check by Hunters - males who believe their are doing their gods bidding. The wild women all have unusual powers, some suppressed to the point of them being vestigial at best. Others have full command of their abilities, and can be devastating. Hunters, when incited to battle with their charges, grow massive in size (think Hulk) and can go on a rampage. Nymphs operating in plain sight during modern times is an interesting concept for a story (or series of stories as this appears to be the first of many). The author is certainly capable of creating great action scenes, but in the middle of story loses focus. The strong-willed women of great power are often reduced to sniveling, sex-starved pathetic caricatures that seem to emerge from an adolescent teen diary. The story doesn't stay on top of their mission, and the end becomes predictable. The only question was which of the story lines would remain unresolved to act as lead-in to the next book.
I think the author has it in her to harden things up quite a bit unless she really intends on writing for the preteen crowd. If the latter is the case, then I'm out.
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LibraryThing member ladyoflorien
This was a fun read with strong female characters. I enjoyed the supernatural characteristics given to the various people in the book and their interaction with the normal world.
LibraryThing member UrbanAudreyE
What an amazing story! Creatures of legend exist and band together to battle the group that has been overpowering and controlling them. Vivid descriptions bring the story to life.
*I received a copy of this book for free. The review is my own, honest and unsolicited.
*I received a copy of this book for free. The review is my own, honest and unsolicited.
Language
Original publication date
2018-05-22
ISBN
9781944728670