This is an epic fantasy with truly great female characters, but the language is such an enormous chore to read that it’s not fun or entertaining, but work.

Maybe if you’re really into old English this might be for you.

This book has it all. Adventure, strong characters and growth, action, a touch of romance and magic and myths. Strong female characters and remarkable men. Court intrigues and family feuds.

This book hit home for the relatability and how I could learn from it in my personal life. It came at a time that was needed. Song of the Huntress will be sitting with me for a while.

Thank you Redhook Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to obtain this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Breaking a curse, fighting with ancient magic and a badass main character. What else can one want?
Lucy Holland did it again. The writing style was so enchanting and this was a great novel.

Where to begin? I enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it as much as "Sistersong." I enjoyed the brief tie in's that this one had with that one. The characters are beautifully written, as I expected from Holland. The writing and the sense of place were also spot on, and I always enjoy an inclusive, feminist twist on history and folklore.

I think what I really didn't enjoy about this one was the insta-love between Aethel and Hurla. I understand that Aethel was in a very unfulfilling marriage, and she and Hurla were incredibly attracted to one another. I don't know - their relationship just didn't read as love to me. I felt like there were a few times when the plot dragged, and I wanted it to move a little faster.

That being said, this was still a beautiful book about what we are willing to sacrifice for the ones we love, what we have done with the gifts the earth has given us, and what it means to treat people as "other" simply because they are not of the same blood, race, heritage, what have you.

This is more fantasy than I typically read but I am so glad I gave it a shot.
This book has everything: Revenge. Sapphic Love. Wights. Murder. Curses. Magic.

I haven't read Sistersong but after reading Song of the Huntress I can't wait to read more from Lucy Holland.

This book is a literal masterpiece. Not only is the author's painstaking dedication to research obvious from the jump, the story is rich and inventive and the characters are worth rooting for.
I was left breathless by the love shared between the characters and the moments of sincere heartbreak and betrayal throughout.
The book is long but I found myself not wanting it to end. 11/10 no notes

I came for the sapphic folklore and was happily surprised with the asexual representation. A fun, emotional read! I recommend.

**I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley and Redhook Books in exchange for an honest review**

**NO SPOILERS** Song of the Huntress is a beautifully written retelling of Herla and the Wild Hunt and land torn by war over religion. Herla has been cursed for 600 years when she finally begins to escape the curse of the Wild Hunt thanks to a mortal Saxon queen – Æthelburg. In Wessex Æthelburg’s husband and King, Ine, faces a discontented court and evil is taking hold among his people.

Song of the Huntress is written in the third person and told from the points of view of Æthel, Herla and Ine. For me this book was a little bit of a slow read. I really needed to slow down and contemplate some of the scenes to completely grasp what was happening. That being said, the writing is thoughtful and well done.

At the beginning of this book I had mixed feeling, however the more I read the more I began to love it. By the end, I can definitely say this is one of my top reads so far for 2024, and while it is still early in the year I think it will stay on the top of my list of books I have loved. This is a story one of grief, love, triumph, powerful women, sacrifice, and doing what is right even when it might be the difficult thing to do.

This is a wonderful retelling of Northern European folklore, the world is rich, the characters are relatable, and I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone that reads fantasy, feels kinship with powerful women, enjoys stories of love and loyalty, or has any interest in folklore retellings. While I struggled in the beginning, this book turned out to be a 5 star read for me!

Could not wait to get my hands on this book since I've heard so many good things about Sistersong from Holland and the voice that she gives to her characters.

Loved the magical depth of Song of the Huntress. A LOT of meticulous research was done for this story and Holland has pieced it all together very well. The pacing could've been a little more gripping, but other than that, fantastic writing.

Thank you Redhook and Orbit for the digital ARC!

This is a well researched and well written historical fantasy that was interesting but ultimately didn’t wow me. I think I’m the opposite of most of the other reviewers where they felt the beginning dragged. I get the opposite. I was pulled it immediately and it did fizzle a bit. I love folklore and mythology, that being said I’m not too familiar with British myths and the history of the pagan-christian conflicts, but I didn’t feel lost. Holland has a way with writing, it was smooth and entrenched in verbiage from the time which is immersive. The characters are complex, and gender diverse.
I liked this book, I originally was pulled in but my interest did wane a bit after Herla and Æthel met. There was also an odd scene *spoiler ahead* where Herla watched her bathe which put me off a bit.

Ultimately if you’re looking for a quick read this isn’t it. If you want a slow burn historical fiction with deep roots in politics and the pagan-christian conflict this is for you.

Thanks NetGalley and Redhook books for an honest review in exchange for a ARC!

I enjoyed Song of the Huntress a lot more than I thought I would. I wasn't really sure what to expect from the summary, it easily could have gone one way or another. But Lucy Holland crafted an incredible story with strong, rounded characters who were all unique and capable in their own ways. I even teared up a bit in the end, I won't say why, because spoilers, but it hit me a lot harder than I expected. Lucy Holland obviously spent a great amount of time studying this culture and mythos, and her attention to detail really stands out. Song of the Huntress was a well crafted epic, a story that bards would have written songs about. The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because I felt like the beginning was a little clumsy. It was difficult to get into as the scene was set but once the action got started I was unable to put it down.

DNF'd at 47% - I really wanted to love this book. The Wild Hunt? Wessex? count me in, but it just fell flat for me. I felt like the swaps in POV did not work in this book well and I felt like if you didn't have a pretty robust knowledge of this time period you may end up pretty lost in what was going on. It also just felt... dry to me, I didn't connect with any of the characters and honestly found most of them annoying. I know there are people out there that will devour this, i just was not one of them and I kept reading for longer than I should have hoping it would get better

Thank you so much NetGalley and Redhook Books for giving me early access to this book!

Publishing Date: March 19, 2024

This book was so good. It felt like I was on my very own adventure with these characters. The multiple POV’s were great.

The third person perspective always throws me off but after a while I got so engrossed in the story that it didn’t even matter.

If you liked the historicism of Hild by Nicola Griffith but wished it had more blatant magic and lesbians, this is the book for you. The lyrical prose and the enmeshment of myth and history are a treat. Unfortunately, the slow burn political intrigue and the resolution of the love triangle didn't click for me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book!

Song of the Huntress is a feminist re-imagining of the Welsh iteration of the legend of the Wild Hunt. The story is told through three perspectives: Herla (re-drawn as a female character), leader of the Hunt, Æthelburg, Queen of Wessex, and Ine, King of Wessex. I was not personally familiar with the legend prior to reading this book but to provide a brief summary, the Wild Hunt is a legend found in multiple European cultures of a mythological band of warriors who hunt souls to bring to the underworld. In the Welsh tradition, Gwyn ap Nudd is the king of said world, known as the Otherworld. Song of the Huntress begins in 60 AD Britain, where Herla travels to the Otherworld to consult with Gwyn ap Nudd to fight against the invading Romans. Gwyn however tricks Herla, forcing her to become the new leader of the Wild Hunt, and when she returns to Britain she finds that she hasn’t been gone for three days, but for 300 hundred years.

Meanwhile, Ine rules over Wessex with his fierce, but controversial, Queen Æthelburg. Æthelburg is a warrior by nature, but the court of Wessex expects her to be a traditional queen and produce an heir to the throne. Contempt against Æthelburg heightens even more after her risky decisions on the battlefield result in a significant blow to her army. As tension builds against the King and Queen, dark, strange events begin to take place that pose a threat to Wessex and its people. Without giving too much about the story away, Herla, Æthelburg, and Ine’s paths eventually cross, and the three must grapple with powerful, ancient forces to protect Wessex and defeat Gwyn ap Nudd.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel! It scratched the itch I had been having for a heavy, folklore-inspired fantasy story. While I was not well-versed in Welsh folklore prior to reading, I have always had an interest in this time period, and Holland’s novel was a perfect introduction. Fair warning though, as other reviewers have mentioned, this is definitely a dense novel and took me some time to get through. Although Holland provides a brief forward to provide context of the lore surrounding the Wild Hunt, if you are completely unfamiliar like I was, you’ll still find yourself pausing to quickly Google a name or phrase to better understand the story. The pacing of the story also suffers a bit, as Holland has to take time to develop the characters of Herla, Æthelburg, and Ine for the reader to understand the context of the plot later on. Again, I don’t want to give too much away, but beyond the Wild Hunt, this story features magic, Christian-Pagan conflict, a love triangle…the story has a lot to offer, but that naturally requires a lot of build up.

With all that said, please don’t let the pacing or the density deter you from reading this novel. The latter half of the novel is just SO good. Holland’s writing style is lyrical and flows beautifully from the royal court, to battlefields, to the Otherworld. The “final battle” scene is especially exciting and easily one of the best plot points in the entire book. I also didn’t feel like Holland left any loose ends, which was impressive given how much is packed into the story.

Overall, while the pacing was slow and required a fair amount of side research to contextualize the story, I enjoyed Song of the Huntress and would recommend it to anyone looking for an in-depth fantasy story, especially if interested in folklore and mythology.

**Rated 4 stars on GR and NG, 3.5 on StoryGraph** unable to add half stars on GR and NG

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the free ARC in exchange for a digital copy!

Rounded up from 3.5. So full disclosure: I came into this book not having read Sistersong. I've tried to, and I think the book is absolutely lovely, but for whatever reason, it just wasn't able to grab me. But I'm a big fan of Wild Hunt lore, so I decided to give this one a shot, but unfortunately, I found myself running into the same problem. Song of the Huntress is an excellently written exploration of British lore, with strong characters, well-developed relationships, and fantasy woven throughout it, but for whatever reason, I didn't end up loving this book. This is by no means a criticism, and I highly recommend the book to anyone who thinks its subject matter looks interesting or who enjoys the author's previous works, but for me, I'm afraid it didn't capture me the way I wanted it to.

Song of the huntress took a really long time to hook me, but once it had I was well and truly hooked.

We follow æthelburg, queen of Wessex, Herla, rider of the wild hunt, and Ine, king of Wessex, as they navigate magical treachery and their own complicated relationships.

I found the first 1/3 to the first 1/2 of this book to be somewhat lacklustre. I wasn’t overly interested in the plot, the characters, or the world. In addition to that - this is a historical novel set in a period I’m not very familiar with, and it took a long time to get my bearings. The book seemed to take for granted a basic familiarity with the different factions of post-Rome Britain, and I found myself getting turned around by the politics of it.

This book also has a very distant, almost passive, narration style, so it took a long time to feel emotionally invested.

However, once I’d gotten past these initial hurdles, I fell in love with Herla and Æthel. In particular Herla’s story broke my heart in the best way. The way these two help each other to see what they had been missing, and help each other through is glorious. I’m a sucker for a bittersweet love story, and this one fit the bill beautifully. I never got super invested in the actual plot except in how it related to our characters development, but they were enough.

Thank you to NETGALLEY and Redhook for a free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was completely lost in the politics of this book. The author found a way to make complex plot easy to follow. The characters were thoroughly thought out and easy to be invested in. The blend of historical fiction and fantasy was seamless making the world just that more easy to believe.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC! Here is my honest review.
This was a wonderful mix of historic England, Fae and strong female warriors. My favorite! I thought the switching of POVs was a great way to tell each piece of the story. Aethel is my favorite kind of FMC. She is strong of mind and body and loyal. As the story is told she is torn in different directions and I found myself rooting for both. I enjoyed trying to figure out the mysteries before the characters and was pleased that I wasn’t always able to. It can be irritating at time when you can see what is going on but the characters can’t lol. Overall, this was a wonderful read and would recommend to anyone who enjoys FMCs, the show Vikings and all things Fae.

I was lucky enough to receive ARCs of this book from both NetGalley and Goodreads!Books/shows set around this time period are a weakness of mine, therefore I really enjoyed this book and its use of history mixed with fiction to further the plot. I also appreciated how the different POVs were used, but I almost want one from Ingild too, just to see what was going through his mind during the events of the book.
Review has been posted to Goodreads & will be posted to instagram on 2/1/24.

This was such an interesting premise. I enjoyed following the very true store of Aethelburg and Ine, as well as how it intertwined with Herla's story. I had a very cursory understanding of what the wild hunt is, but seeing how in myth and related to other religions it was, made the story much more relatable. Not only that but the interesting interplay between all the characters as well as the story itself and how it tended to be far more relatable when there were modern issues facing the characters, this book was a good read. I also enjoyed the fact that though they were "modern issues" facing these characters, it is highly likely these are really not "new" issues per se, because people will face the same issues time and again no matter what title you put on it. I would highly recommend this if you want something refreshing and new, but also clearly well researched historically.

This ebook was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.