Huntress by Malinda Lo

Huntress

by Malinda Lo

Nature is out of balance in the human world. The sun hasn't shone in years, and crops are failing. Worse yet, strange and hostile creatures have begun to appear. The people's survival hangs in the balance.

To solve the crisis, the oracle stones are cast, and Kaede and Taisin are picked to go on a dangerous and unheard-of journey to Tanlili, the city of the Fairy Queen. Taisin is a sage, thrumming with magic, and Kaede is of the earth, without a speck of the otherworldly. And yet their two destinies are drawn together during the mission. As members of their party succumb to unearthly attacks and fairy tricks, the two come to rely on each other and even begin to fall in love. But the Kingdom needs only one huntress to save it, and what it takes could tear Kaede and Taisin apart forever. . .

Reviewed by celinenyx on

4 of 5 stars

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Expectations are everything, in the case of Huntress, as it sits a little oddly in today's YA market. Rather than being a fast-paced first-person narrative, Huntress is more like an old-fashioned fairy-tale. The world has been covered in perpetual winter, and it is up to our heroines, Kaede and Taisin, to save the world.

It's a classic tale, with the huge caveat that it features sapphic girls. One can hate on the fact that Huntress, in many ways, draws heavily on traditional coming-of-age fantasy narratives, but the reality is that sapphic girls don't get to see themselves in these stories (ESPECIALLY girls of colour). I, therefore, am incredibly glad this book exists. I wish I had read it growing up - it would have meant the world to me.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 10 November, 2018: Finished reading
  • 10 November, 2018: Reviewed