When Namila, a hunter of night walkers for the Elites, encounters a naked girl on her doorstep in winter begging to stay with her for a while, she is completely confused. Where could this girl, Astara, have come from? And how could she let her stay at her home while out hunting each night? These questions open up a new world to Namila, where she learns that there is a lot more out there than the horizon and that what she believed about who her enemies were might not be true...
This is a very short book and the first of
four, so I presume each will cover a season. The book opens with a conundrum
straight away, which draws you in and leaves you with questions about Astara,
who the Elites and night walkers are, and why Namila seems to be somewhat of an
outcast. Then the addition of Trean makes for a lovely dynamic of job versus
relationship.
I liked Namila’s balance between being a
kickass hunter and wanting to be alone and not vulnerable in sharing emotions,
with her opening her heart to Astara and then wanting to trust Trean. When the
possibility that the Elites were lying to her and that the night walkers may
have a different agenda came up, it seemed Namila was conflicted. But her true
colours shone through and she went with her heart.
The editing was good with only a few
mistakes. (The mix of straight and curly quotes irked somewhat, however!) The
book was well written but very short so it was a pity that place and people
descriptions were not as developed as I’d liked and it felt like more could
have been explained about the conflicts and about the hidden agendas (the
priest) and more about the star memories that were not meant to remain that
were still there. But the ending does have a great lead into the next book!
Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author
for the opportunity to review the book.
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