Wild Hunt

Evie Scelan #2

by Margaret Ronald

New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu “loved, loved, loved” Spiral Hunt, the smashing debut novel by exciting new urban fantasist Margaret Ronald. Now bike messenger and supernatural tracker Evie Scelan is back in Wild Hunt—and off on another action-packed paranormal adventure through the flames of mythology and Boston’s magical undercurrent. In Wild Hunt Evie “The Hound” goes head-to-head and claw-to-claw with a devastating werewolf nightmare, the terrible Gabriel Hounds of darkest legend.  Jim Butcher fans take  if you haven’t yet met Evie—or Margaret Ronald—this is your opportunity to experience the most exciting contemporary fantasy series since Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, and Vicki Pettersson burst onto the scene.   

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal, Magic, Mythology, Mystery

273 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Margaret Ronald learned to read on a blend of The Adventures of Tintin, Greek mythology, and Bloom County compilations. Her vocabulary never quite recovered. Her fiction has appeared in Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Baen's Universe, and Fantasy Magazine. Spiral Hunt is her first novel.

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second in the Evie series and I enjoyed it more than the first book. The action starts from page one and goes on through the whole of the book. The author does not give a lot of background of the characters, but since I read the first book, I didn't feel as lost in this one.

Things I liked:
1. Nate
2. the Mystery involved
3. the addition of another paranormal element (i.e. shape shifters)
4. the cliff hanger of what did she give up to the water spirit and what will happen to the horn

Things I didn't like:
1. Sometimes Evie seems a bit dense especially for someone who lives in a world of magic. She doesn't pick up on clues very swiftly. You don't want a know it all, but even I picked up on the clues faster than she did.
2. For someone who doesn't always pick up on clues, she amazingly ends up putting all the pieces together just in time.

Overall, I liked the book and the mystery and will read the 3rd in the series when it comes out.

[CJ - It's only a Paper Moon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, to be brief - I really liked this book. I like Evie - she's grown on me, I like Nate and I adore Katie.

More than that, the plot and the secondary characters continue to feel real. There is enough mythology and reality combined to make this book a smooth ride and an enjoyable one at that.

I'm not going to go into too many details because I'm pretty sure I'll spoil something but I didn't necessarily see the shifter thing coming and I'm excited about where that is going to take the story.

It ended up on a semi-high note and there has to be another one after this. I look forward to reading.

[Melissa Hayden · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book starts six weeks after Spiral Hunt ended. This book starts off with a few different things going on.

First, Evie is summoned to Yuen's side was he passes on. But her job here is to verify, by scent, the ghost of his father is gone when Yuen passes too.

Then you start to see Evie seems to have a new found respect from... or at least response from the undercurrent now after taking out the top man of the organization named Fiana, of Magicians and ran the undercurrent (at the end of Spiral Hunt). Those of the undercurrent seem to be sizing her up, for one reason or another... Also, her world of normalcy seems to be colliding with the undercurrent work she does, which bothers Evie as she doesn't want to put her friends in harm.

Finally, Evie is visited by a potential client, an older woman who recently inherited chests of her Great-Great Grandmothers and believes they hold stolen items she would like to return to the rightful family.

The main thing I would like to say I enjoy about these books so far is the way Margaret Ronald starts off with a few different happenings and how they come together in the end. All the ties get connected and the lose ends tied up. And the mythology used in doing so.

Scent is Evie's ability to find anything, the descriptions used for scent are great. With Evie being part Hound and the way scent identifies everything to here I could really tell what she was smelling by the descriptions in words.

To me Evie seems to have grown more in this book. Not only does Evie seem to be accepting the Hound in her which is becoming stronger and helping those who need helping, but she seems to be starting to figure out what she is to do to help. Boston is changing or at least the undercurrent of Boston is. She still doesn't want to be involved in the undercurrent world, and the struggle to keep her normal life and the magic life separate is a big one for her. But she seemed to accept that the undercurrent is there and she is not going to be able to stay out of in completely. Although, Evie is a strong enough character in the end of this book that she decides the friend that don't want to know of this world or be around it, that she will protect them anyway she can - verbally not talk of it or physically fight to protect them.

In the end, I loved what happened with Evie and Nate. On all angles.

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. The first book, Spiral Hunt, was good but for some reason I just could not get into the story until the last quarter of it.

But this one is fast paced and I'm sad to say over with before you know. I really hope that Margaret Ronald writers a third book, it certainly leaves off as that way.

One of the thing I love about her books is the premise of it, it's something you don't really see a lot of. The main character as a Hound. In the first book you think Evie Scelan is called that because to find items or people she just follows her nose (yes, just like the Trix commercial). There's more to the story on that, but I won't spoil it.

This one deals with a bit more consequences one must face cause of your actions. But the plot in this one is just as original as the first one. Though, one of the subplots is somewhat predictable. Even though you want to shake Evie proclaiming "come on, how can you not see that coming? The author was basically bashing it over your head since page 30!". Margaret Ronald at least has the Evie character as someone who has a smart nose attached to a dumb brain or something along those lines. Which you gotta admire.

Yes, one of the plots is predictable but this books is still an awesome read.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: The author is a friend of mine.

However, I didn't give it 5 stars out of loyalty--it's a really good book! I enjoyed Spiral Hunt (the first book in the series), but Wild Hunt is almost in a whole different category. In developing the main character, Evie, Ronald has also defined her voice much more clearly. In Spiral Hunt, there were moments when I felt Evie's voice sounded a little hollow--just a few seconds where I thought "she wouldn't really talk that way!" In Wild Hunt, I never had this feeling.

I do feel like it's exciting to watch an author "evolve" a new character and world--and experience I haven't been very aware of having before.

The plot of this novel is compelling, as are the notion of the magical Underworld in the city of Boston and the heritage that Evie is discovering as her own. But I have to give particular kudos to one particular element: the romance. I don't like romance books, and even romantic sub-plots in many books seem too squishy, unrealistic (or like soft-core porn) for my taste. I don't want to give anything away, but Ronald has handled this element of the plot perfectly. Especially one particular scene--you'll have to read the book to find out which one.

[Stephen Dorneman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another solid Evie Scelan adventure gives the reader more Boston, more of the supernatural community that forms the 'undercurrent', more danger, more romance, really just more of what you're looking for in an urban fantasy. This ex-Bostonian appreciates the local references, and although the plot gets overly complicated, it all makes sense in the end... I think. :-). Recommended for genre fans, and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great! But how can the author end the book like that!!!!! I want to know what she had bargained away! Though the book didn't describe how the heroine was actually agreeing to the bargain...

[Jai · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://janicu.livejournal.com/97358.html

I read the first book in this series, Spiral Hunt, last year, and I liked the story enough to get Wild Hunt when it came out this year.

The Premise: This is an urban fantasy series set in Boston, where the protagonist is Genevieve (Evie) Scelan, a bike messenger who also has a side business finding things for people with her highly advanced sense of smell. A sense of smell that is a genetic gift from a famous ancestor, which is the reason for her nickname - Hound. In this installment of the series, Evie is called in for a special last request for a customer, and finds out about a foul family artifact and an ill-fated expedition to Boston. Another customer asks her to find out about some objects that their ancestor stole. As Evie tries to do her job, she discovers more connections between the two jobs, and strange goings on in the city, like a call to Hunt which Evie can't help responding to.

My Thoughts: The main character in this series is a working class girl with a little bit of power and a lot of responsibility. She knows some things about magic but it's what she's learned on the street, and it's not very much. She has a small group of friends, who make reappearances from the first book - Rena the cop, her friend Sarah, and Nate, a graduate student raising his younger sister. You need to read this book after reading the first book in the series, otherwise you will probably be very confused about what's going on. I had some trouble remembering things myself, which made me wish I had the first book to flip through, but I remembered the ending at least which is referenced a lot in Wild Hunt.

In this book there isn't really a clear objective for the protagonist other than to try to do a job or two and to do the right thing. We follow Evie in her day-to-day work, and like Evie, we know something is going on, but we don't have an idea of the big picture until three quarters of the book is done. This is a urban fantasy where the heroine does a lot of catching up: she isn't really investigating anything in particular, just doing a couple of jobs for customers and stumbling onto odd things, but eventually discovers connections. Despite being considered one of the big guys in Boston after her role in the last dust-up, Evie is fairly unschooled in magic. The other characters expect her to know more than she does, and then berate her when she shows her ignorance. This was an irritating thing for me - I'm not sure where people expect Evie to have gained this knowledge, and I'm not fond of this device. Fortunately for Evie, her tenacity counts for something, and she comes out stronger than before. It's done without fanfare and a lot of work, but I think that through no plan of hers, Evie gets more knowledge and power each time she has one of her adventures.

One of the things I enjoy about this series is that the author integrates myths I hadn't heard of before. There's the Celtic mythology of the first book, and in this second one there's mythology and magical lore from other places which combine well with what Evie has learned thus far.

Another thing I liked was the romantic relationship in this series. The love interest is a nice guy, and his relationship with Evie feels like real life. It reminded me a little of the relationship in the Kitty books by Carrie Vaughn. In fact, I would recommend this series for people who like Kitty Norville. There is interest in both sides but both people are too shy to admit it, and it's sweet when they finally get together as we hope (thankfully the author doesn't torture us)!

Overall: I enjoyed this one more for the characters than what Evie gets involved in. It has a more character driven feel despite the fast-paced plot, and the author left me curious as what would happen to Evie next. Not in a cliffhanger way, but I'm definitely interested in finding out more.

[Catching Shadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to Spiral Hunt finds Evie trying to cope with the power vacuum left behind by the destruction of the Fiana. Since she was the one largely responsible for the destruction, various adepts and other more mundane individuals have been trying to get in contact with her. Meanwhile, Evie’s friend Sarah wants to organize a sort of “neighborhood watch” for the magic users of the city so that no new gangs decide to work their way into the “undercurrents” of the Boston magical scene. (A goal that is seemingly futile since generally speaking, magic users are about as easy to organize as cats. Paranoid junkie cats.)

Wild Hunt opens with Evie at the death bed of the owner of a Chinese grocery store. The owner, a Mr. Yuen is involved in Boston’s magical “undercurrent” and needs Evie’s help in making sure that his death also ends the “life” of the ghost of his grandfather, currently residing in a jar/funerary urn. Evie accomplishes the job successfully, but manages to get her foot stuck in her mouth up to her knee when talking to Mr. Yuen’s daughter Elizabeth after the fact. Not long after Evie is contacted by a mysterious and very slimy individual named Janssen who offers his services as a “muscle” and by an equally mysterious adept who wants to find out if her grandmother is guilty of having stolen a magical object.

All of these plot threads are connected to an expedition undertaken by Elizabeth Yuen’s grandfather and a group of individuals to deliver certain magical objects. There was a falling out among the members, which resulted in murders and death. Evie ends up connected to all of this by not only her undertaking the job for the adept, and her connection to Elizabeth Yuen’s father, but also by the ghost one of the members of the expedition who it turns out, was a relative of hers. (The how and why of all of this is very gradual, and you don’t realize most of the connections until right about the time Evie does.) The magical item in contention is a horn that summons the Wild Hunt (all of the Wild Hunts, or maybe it might be said, the Platonic Ideal of them).

Wild Hunt is another fast paced, complicated mystery-adventure. Ronald draws a lot of parallels between the ill-fated expedition and Evie’s attempts to solve the mysteries behind it. There are also a lot of interesting side plots that turn back and turn out to be vital bits of information for the main plot. (For instance, we learn a lot more about Nate, which is connected to the modern mystery of the missing magical object which is paralleled by what happened in the past. This happens a lot, and really creates a feeling of local history within the setting.) Evie also ends up having to do a lot of research about both the expedition and the magical item that had been a point of contention for the expedition (and ends up being stolen). I really enjoyed this book and the previous one, Spiral Hunt.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is going to sound really strange but if I had written this review even a few days ago, I feel it would have been more positive. For some reason over the last few days I've been going over in my head what I thought and felt while reading this book, and I'm now coming away with different thoughts. I still really enjoyed the book and felt it was a good follow up to the first book in the series, Spiral Hunt, but now I'm also thinking it was a bit more confusing as well.

I'm absolutely in love with both Evie and Nate after this book and I was ecstatic to see them grow as characters and as a couple. Evie is forced into a situation where she is out on a limb with no sign up being able climb back down. With the defeat of Fiana, she is now being looked up to as the assumed leader of the magical community of Boston. Who else but the one who defeated the magic mob would take over? Nature abhors a vacuum, power can't survive in one. Evie needs to decided what she cares about more, her own life or that of the city. The choices she makes on the way will thrill and fascinate you. Evie is written with such a sense of humor that you can't help but like her and root for to come out on top.

Nate on the other hand is going through changes of his own. He is still taking care of his younger sister, who seems to be growing in her own powers, and having to deal with a long absent father who wants to talk to him. Little does Nate know but he is about to need Evie in a way that he never anticipated or that his father will be the catalyst for the change he is about to go through.

The characters and how the events they are participating in change their lives, is what I loved about this book. They are both so human and so real that you as the reader are not only able to understand every decision they make, but you are hard pressed to think of a different way to handle them.

Now to what I'm not so sure I liked as much, namely that this book had way too much going on. Evie is such a fun character that you want more of her and less of the crazy circumstance she finds herself in. This book is chalk full of Chinese mythology, ghosts, time travel, lycanthropy, the Wild West, spirit roads, water spirits, the Wild Hunt, and the Gardner Museum. There is so much going on that you almost feel sorry for Evie, she is never really able to stop and catch a breath. Now since this is an urban fantasy book, every single element comes together at the end, but sometimes it's a little distracting to keep track of everything that is going on.

Even with all that being said, this was a solid second book in a series that I plan on following for as long as it lasts.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to say it, but I was really disappointed. I was not as into this book as I was the first one in the series. I really want to like Evie mostly because I think her power is so interesting. Super sense of smell really is super. However, I am having a hard time connecting her super power to the responsibility that she is being pushed into. If there is supposed to be some left over power from what happened in the last book, it feels a little disconnected and I am just not really sure that I understand it.

Reading this book has taught me that I need to start keeping a notebook with me as I read so that I can take notes and then later point out more specifically what my issues are. It is so much easier to remember the specifics of something that I think is good. When something is a little off though or leaves me feeling just so-so it is hard to recall the exact reason.


I always try to be careful when reviewing not to retell the story because that for me is not a review, it is a synopsis. I will try to be somewhat vague here but I did not like the development in the friendship between Evie and Rena. Their friendship was one of my favorite things in the first book and I think that is why I am so sad about it. Also, I just can not make myself get into the romantic relationship in the book. Nate just doesn't seem real to me and I do not really understand her attraction to him other than the fact that he seems less repelled than normal guys by her power.

There was one bright spot for me and that is the little girl in the book, Katie. She has some interesting things going on with her paranormal abilities and I think that she is written well. She is the sister of the romantic character Nate and the relationship between her and Evie is an interesting one. I think it is portrayed in a believable manner.

The actual plot of the book was pretty good. Some paranormal creepiness going on. It starts outs as unrelated things but of course they all conveniently end up correlating in a way that was just a bit confusing for me. It was still an interesting read overall. I think my ho-hum tone about it is just because I was expecting to love it. I WANTED to love it but I just didn't.

I am still excited to read the third book. I have high hopes for it.

[Kelly (Maybedog) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story, especially after the first half. Some of it was predictable but there was a lot of originality too. I love the romantic interest guy and his daughter is a little wise for her years but not too much. I like her fine.

I like that she’s not super hot and jokes that she’s dumb. Maybe she had low self-esteem but maybe it’s all in fun. But at least she’s not wearing stilettos and talking about how hot she looks and how all the men are looking at her.

I’m 29% in and I’m completely baffled. I read the first book a long time ago and I think it’s important to know that book. This isn’t a stand alone by any stretch of the imagination. But there’s other stuff going on that super confusing too like the rite she was thrown into in Chapter one. And why adepts are so awful. It feels odd to lump them all together.

An 8-year-old is WAY too young to be left home alone at 10:30 at night, especially in a dense urban area where there’s going to be more crime. He could have her taken away by CPS for that. Having a neighbor know is not sufficient. What the child did while he was gone was perfect example why.

An asshole ruins something valuable of yours and gives you money to replace it. Why would you reject the money?

What happened to the two guys who went to her office in the beginning that she saw later at the meeting?

What the woman hired her for in the first place doesn’t match what the woman was doing. Find what was stolen? She already knew.


On to the next one.

[Alexia561 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book picks up shortly after the ending of Spiral Hunt, the first book in the series. Evie is still trying to keep her head above water, only now she has to deal with unwanted outsiders coming to town, and others expecting her to step in to fill the power vacuum she helped create. While no one will admit to wanting the Fiana back in power, at least with them, everyone knew where they stood. Now there's a little too much uncertainty in town, and Evie is once again dealing with unwanted attention. Poor Evie...

The story starts off with an unusual job for one of the few people Evie trusts. Yuen had helped Evie get her start as a Finder many years ago. As one of Evie's strengths is her loyalty, when he calls, Evie answers. Now Yuen is dying and he has one last job for Evie that seems pretty straightforward, but Evie soon learns that nothing is straightforward when dealing with the undercurrent. There are ghosts, rumors of a wild hunt, shapeshifters, possible possession, a historical mystery, and a whole host of other issues for Evie to wade through, all while trying to keep her day job. Never a dull moment for Evie Scelan!

Am really enjoying this series, as Evie is learning more about her powers and is actually growing as a character. Thought the story was interesting, the action was well paced, and the series is noticeably evolving. Gave this a 4/5 rating, and am looking forward to seeing where Ronald goes next and how Evie will deal with whatever is thrown her way!

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this as much as Spiral Hunt, the first in the Evie Scelan books. I did enjoy it, and I liked the use of Boston as a setting, which was as much of a character as those who had speaking roles. It just wasn't as well-put-together as the previous novel.

This book has Evie getting hired by a powerful and apparently sane magic user, who wants her to figure out which item of hers has been stolen so that she can return it. Meanwhile, Nate (Evie's good friend and potential love interest) is having some personal issues of his own, and people are putting pressure on Evie to fill the void created from her actions in book 1.

It felt like there was a lot going on, and like Evie wasn't as invested in it. She had a personal stake, sure, but I just didn't feel it the way I did in the first book. I didn't feel the passion between her and Nate, and I didn't feel her panic at the thought she might lose him. She just seemed to have so much on her mind that the budding relationship seemed like more of a distraction than a motivation.

I do plan on reading book #3, in hopes that Ronald has gone back to the style and emotional veracity that drew me through to the end of the first book. This one was a fight to get through, unfortunately, and I thought she could do so much better.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently, I wandered into the branch of Forbidden Planet nearest to my home and discovered this book in the 'new' section. The blurb from Charles de Lint about how Ronald knows her Celtic mythology got my attention and I bought it, not realising right away that it was the second in a series.

That latter fact didn't matter. I do want to read the first book (and shall), but I was able to get into Evie's Boston and her world without having read the first book; Ronald certainly didn't waste time summarising the first book, but she gave me enough to not feel lost.

I like these characters. I like Evie, the 'hound'. I like Nate and Katie also. This is good urban fantasy -- well written and well imagined. If you like Charles de Lint, particularly his Newford books and stories, try this new series.

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this slightly more than Spiral Hunt, though I liked that okay as well. The first should have worked better, I think, as it was more cohesive in many ways, centring around the Irish mythology of Finn McCool and the Fianna. This had bits of everything, not all of it even connected to the Wild Hunt. The mix of mystery story and myth can be a bit tricky, as instead of just not knowing the whodunnit part, you get a bit lost in all the mythological stories and which ones are important, which ones are as you know them and which have been changed for the purposes of the book and what on earth is going on. I liked it though, and thought the wild hunt stuff at the end came together very effectively. By the next one, though, I may need a primer. There's some really nasty payback on the way for Evie, poor thing!

[Joletta · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Evie took out the Fiana, the consortium of evil adepts who controlled Boston through blood and fear, she left a power vacuum. In some ways the evil you know is better than the evil that slinks its way into unguarded territory.

An unusual client request has thrust Evie into a world where she feels the call of the Hunt; but is it a primitive instinct at work or the true Wild Hunt wanting to ravage through her hometown?

While Evie struggles with her base nature, Nate is struggling with and even more primitive instinct.

Can Evie save her town, her crush AND herself? Or will she have to choose the best two outta three?

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rarely pick up a second in a series, without reading the first one. It's just not right. But I broke my own rule for this book, and I'm glad I did. There's enough well written exposition (meaning it didn't feel contrived) that I didn't need it. (Although it's o n my to be read list, now.) The magic system is a delightful blending of Celtic mythologies with other Pagan world mythologies, woven into an intriguing re-imagining of their city. Further, the characters, especially Evie, are very engaging, & not at all cookie cutter. If you like the Devon Monk Beckstrom books, and/or Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series, I'd wager you'll enjoy this, as well.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had lots of the elements that made the first book great: a complicated character trying to work out her place in the world, her complicated feelings for a guy, people and places described in terms of smells but with a mystical layer on top that means it's not really the same sense we know. Myth coming to life. The world is mysterious; it's fun to learn how to interpret things in it. This one felt more scattered for a while -- more of the book went by before the connections between the pieces started to come out. But in the end it came together and introduced some new kinks that make me nervous about and tantalized by what's coming in book 3.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was much, much better than the first in the series - Spiral Hunt. The story was overall better developed, though I wish the author had taken time to flesh out the plot a bit better, because there are still fairly large holes that need to be filled in. I felt like the story came to an abrupt resolution almost out of nowhere, and it left me disappointed by the lack of detail. Overall, it's a quick, worthwhile read, but not something to write home about.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the sequel to Spiral Hunt. In this book, Evie must deal not only with the aftermath of the events in the first book, but also with ghosts, magical stolen property, the not-exactly-dead, and shapeshifters. I thought this one was a little slow to get started, but once things began to come together, it was very thrilling and wonderfully absorbing. I continue to be impressed with the way Ronald makes use of Boston landmarks, culture, and history.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a case where I would highly recommend starting with the first book of the series. Wild Hunt continues where Spiral Hunt left off. It is even better. I really enjoyed that Evie is working out her romantic relationship. So many series perpetually continue the love triangle trope that it is nice to have a break.

I should note that this ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm glad I had the next book on hand.

[Mrs. Badass · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but I didn't love it.
I enjoy the characters, Evie and Nate, Katie, Sarah. Rena bothers me.
There were a few twists that you could almost see coming, but were still a surprise. It kept me interested. I will read more by Margaret Ronald.

[Kirsten · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a little while to get into this (I think finding my way to the urban-fantasy niche), but this is solid fun. The second half really zips along! I'll admit, I saw one or two twists coming, but was surprised by several more.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I loved the storyline. I loved the characters. I wasn't disappointed at all with this book. Evie is one tough girl who knows what she wants and how to get it. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

[Writtenwyrdd]

Decent sophomore book. I liked the first one as well, and look forward to the third.

[Kelly MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little on the dark side for my usual tastes but overall well written and kept my attention. Finished both this book and the first in the series in about 4 days. Looking forward to the next one

[Scooper Speaks · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5; I was so bored while reading this one.

[Debbie Ledesma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast paced urban fantasy with strong characters and plenty of action. Recommend this book.

[Peculiar Monster · Rating 3 out of 5]

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