Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Book Review: Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill

Ever the Hunted by Erin Summerill
Series: Clash of the Kingdoms, Book 1
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: December 27, 2016
Blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, a legendary bounty hunter—that is, until her father is murdered. The alleged killer is none other than Cohen Mackay, her father’s former apprentice. The only friend she’s ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart.  
     She must go on a dangerous quest in a world of warring kingdoms, mad kings, and dark magic to find the real killer. But Britta wields more power than she knows. And soon she will learn what has always made her different will make her a force to be reckoned with.

My Review:
When seventeen-year-old Britta Flannery is caught poaching on the king's land and hauled in by the king's guards a deal is offered to her by the High Lord, Jamis: she will escape the noose and be able to hold onto her home in exchange for helping the king's guard track and capture the man that killed her father. 

The catch? According to the king's guard and the high lord, Britta's father's killer is none other than Cohen Mackay - her father's apprentice and the boy she loves. Britta is beside herself. It cannot be true and yet the evidence and the innate way Britta has always been able to tell when someone is telling the truth or a lie says that it is true. Cohen is the killer. 

She agrees to go along with three of the king's guards - the harsh but fair Captain Omar, the friendly mammoth of a man Leif, and the lewd, nasty Tomas. Tracking Cohen turns out to be an easy task - almost too easy. Could he know that Britta would come after him and be leaving her bread crumbs? 

When Britta does finally catch up to Cohen everything changes. It's immediately apparent to Britta that Cohen has been set up. As she and Cohen band together and cross the border into the country of Shaerdan - Malam's enemy whom they are on the brink of war with - to search for a woman named Enat they soon learn that not everything is as it appears. 

Who is Enat? What secrets does she hold about Britta's parents and even Britta herself? Will Cohen and Britta find out who the real murderer is? Or will Cohen be executed for a crime he did not commit? 

I loved Ever the Hunted. I haven't been this in love with a fantasy novel since finishing Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Mist and Fury. Fans of SJM and other fantasy authors/novels will gobble this up, unable to put it down until the last cliffhanging page. 

I thought the pacing was good, keeping me wanting to see what was going to happen next and the writing and storyline were perfect. I loved the romantic tension between Cohen and Britta as Britta tried to unravel the reasons Cohen left  so abruptly, whether she can trust him, and if they could possibly have a future. 

I did find a few things predictable, like Enat's relationship to Britta's family and Lord Jamis's secret, but overall the book was filled with enough action that those things were easily overlooked. 

The ending leads me to think a potential love triangle is brewing in the world of Britta and Cohen and I'm eager to see if the impending war can be stopped and who Britta's father's murder's accomplice is which leaves me eager to read book two. 

Overall, I think this book is amazing and I loved disappearing into Britta's world.

My Rating:
5 of 5 Stars

Ever the Hunted is available today from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Grab your copy today!

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