Song of the Huntress

• Author: Lucy Holland
• Genre: Fantasy
• Publication Date: March 19, 2024
• Publisher: Redhook

Thank you to Redhook and Angela Man for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The acclaimed author of Sistersong transforms the story of Herla and the Wild Hunt into a rich, feminist fantasy in this stunning tale of two great warriors, a war-torn land, and an ancient magic that is slowly awakening.

Britain, 60AD. Hoping to save her lover, her land, and her people from the Romans, Herla makes a desperate pact with the king of the Otherworld. But years pass unheeded in his realm, and she escapes to find everyone she loved long dead. Cursed to wield his blade, she becomes Lord of the Hunt. And for centuries, she rides, leading her immortal warriors and reaping wanderers’ souls. Until the night she meets a woman on a bloody battlefield—a Saxon queen with ice-blue eyes.

Queen Æthelburg of Wessex is a proven fighter. But when she leads her forces to disaster in battle, her husband’s court turns against her. Yet King Ine needs Æthel more than ever. Something dark and dangerous is at work in the Wessex court. His own brother seeks to usurp him. And their only hope is the magic in Ine’s bloodline that’s lain dormant since ancient days.

The moment she and Æthel meet, Herla knows it’s no coincidence. The dead kings are waking. The Otherworld seeks to rise, to bring the people of Britain under its dominion. And as Herla and Æthel grow closer, Herla must find her humanity—and a way to break the curse—before it’s too late.

I’m always down for a good mythology retelling, and extra points for one that doesn’t tell a story of Greek mythology. So when I got the chance to read a fantasy retelling of the Wild Hunt in a feminist tale? There was no chance I’d pass this one up. Especially since it focuses on British and Celtic history and mythology.

The story starts out in first century Britain, where Herla makes a last-ditch deal with the king of the Otherworld, and she winds up cursed to be the Lord of the Hunt, leading the Wild Hunt for centuries. She does this for centuries, until she finally sees a Saxon queen across a battlefield, and is captivated by her ice-blue eyes. 

Chapters are told through varying viewpoints, told through the perspective of Herla, Æthelburg, and Æthel’s husband Ine. I liked the different viewpoints, because it helped to provide a wide lens with which to see the world, especially since the characters were often in different locations, so there was a lot going on. Rather than first person narration, the author chose third person narration, so it was always easy to differentiate which character the chapters focused on. 

The pace of the story is a slow one. At first, everything is just kind of meandering along as the author gives her readers space to really get to know the characters well before throwing them into any action or politics. But since Ine is a king and Æthel is a queen, you know that court politics are going to play a role at some point. Fortunately, things started moving along a bit once different plot lines started to really play a role—Herla’s quest for freedom from her curse, Æthel and Herla’s growing attraction to each other, Ine’s indifference to sex and how that affects his marriage to Æthel as well as her reputation for not producing an heir, and some political intrigue as well.

I really enjoyed this story, although I do think that there was a bit too much filler, and some material could have been cut to fine-tune the story. Other than that, this was a really well-done book. The Celtic mythology kept me so intrigued, as well as the historical aspects that are included, the Boudicca aspect in particular. Æthel and Herla develop a relationship quite naturally, and it didn’t feel forced, but I also loved the dynamic between Æthel and Ine. They’ve been married for a while, and have a partnership and friendship that I enjoyed watching change even over the course of the book, as circumstances change between them. If you enjoy fantasy, mythological retellings, feminist stories, and historical fiction, this is the story for you.

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