Review: The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo
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Introduction:
Atia is a Nefas, the last of her kind, a monster that feeds on nightmares and fear, hiding from the gods who brutally murdered her parents and the rest of her kind. Silas is a Herald, a messenger to the gods and a carrier of dead souls to the underworld who is bored with his monotonous daily routine and struggling to figure out his identity before he became a Herald.
Although Atia would never consider partnering with someone like Silas, circumstances change when she breaks a sacred law and the Gods dispatch monsters to pursue her. Silas proposes an irresistible agreement: if Atia assists him in breaking his curse and recovering his humanity, he will help avenge her family and confront the deities now on her tail. To achieve their goals, they must eliminate three formidable entities: a vampire, a banshee, and one of the Gods who ruined their lives.
Review:
The Night Hunt by Alexandra Christo is a stand alone YA fantasy novel that’s told in dual povs. Mostly influenced by Greek mythology, overall, it was a fun and fast read. There were a lot of good things about this book. The characters were well thought out and the banter among them was well written. The plot had it’s intrigue and suspense.
However I don’t feel there was anything novel or awe inspiring about it for a well seasoned reader. Same recycled mythological creatures/gods with different names and a few add ons, same elemental realms, heaven and hell, same found family and enemies to lovers tropes. Nothing new that I hadn’t read in a hundred books before. Same goes for the plot. If this was the first book I’ve ever read, then I assume I would have been impressed but sadly it is not. Personally I found the world building lacking and the storyline dull. Don’t get me wrong. It had it’s moments but it was very difficult for me to connect with the story or any of the characters. I saw the plot twist at the end coming from the very first few chapters.
Neither Atia or Silas were bad protagonists but I don’t think there was anything substantial in their story arcs for me to actually root for them. Also their romance wasn’t that convincing. I honestly didn’t understand Tristan’s and Cillian’s motive to join Atia and Silas on their journey either. While the author tried to give some depth to the ‘found family’ situation, in my personal opinion she didn’t succeed. I can go on but I never take pleasure in downgrading an author’s hard work because I know she tried her best.
Concluding my review, The Night Hunt isn’t a bad book. It’s just that there are so many books very similar to it out there and unfortunately I seem to have read all of them.