Picking up about five weeks after the intense conclusion of the previous book, The Hunt opens with our heroine, the Sensitive Claire, in hiding with Para Moses. Unfortunately, Liam, her boyfriend who was struck by magic in that battle, went into hiding with his grandmother, Eleanor. Even though Claire refuses to ask the resistance leader Malachi about Liam, she is worried for him and misses him. However, their enemy in Containment, Jack Broussard, is dead and the top suspect is Liam. So Claire, Gavin (Liam’s brother), and Malachi head out to find Liam, risking their own safety for the good of the resistance.
Devil’s Isle is a solid urban fantasy series set in an alternate world where Paranormal beings have invaded Earth through a breach known as the Veil. The attacking Paras are of a faction that wants to overthrow the existing, peaceful faction in the Beyond. However, most humans see all Para as bad, and fight against any and all magic. The story of The Hunt relies heavily upon the preceding events; therefore, I do not recommend reading it as a standalone story or starting the series with this title.
Overall, I still enjoy Claire’s story and the battle to protect New Orleans and the Earth. However, I was disappointed with The Hunt. While I didn’t dislike the overall plot, I found I had difficulty connecting with Claire and pieces of the story. In the previous two books, I was fully engaged, because each character had much to offer. I loved the mystery surrounding Claire’s mother and the budding romance between characters. But this time around, I felt like I was just watching events unfold, rather than participating through Claire.
The first third of The Hunt moves slowly, and I felt like we didn’t get into any real story as the trio looks for Liam. There are hints at the eventual storyline, but the interactions with the Paras at the Plantation seemed extraneous, and I felt like that whole journey could have taken a lot less book space.
Things pick up after Liam comes back into the fold, but the atmosphere of the group changed dramatically from the previous books. The group is on the run now, Liam is ice-cold, Claire can’t go back to her shop, and some of Claire’s close friends have smaller roles. These changes are all necessary as the storyline develops, but I missed the camaraderie and rapport from the earlier titles. With that said, the book starts to pick up as the group investigates who framed Liam and what the motives are behind the murder.
As the story progresses, I found there were little things in the book that annoyed me. However, I was very disappointed in how the storyline with Claire’s mom played out. Trying to remain spoiler-free here: there is a complete lack of character development, and I found the portrayal of woman who could be Claire’s mom to be utterly one-dimensional.
While I enjoy the world-building and characters of Ms. Neill’s Devil’s Isle series, I was disappointed in this third offering. I did enjoy seeing Claire and Liam together again (albeit a short time), and I am glad that there will be more to this series. However, I found parts of the story extraneous and slow-moving, and that overall, the book was missing its heart. What I love about the series is its strong characters and close camaraderie, which seemed to take a backseat this time around.
My Rating: C, Finished It - Liked some, didn't like some
Review copy provided by publisher/NetGalley
Originally posted at That's What I'm Talking About