Book notes: The Wild Huntress

By Emily Lloyd-Jones.

Everyone else in the family read this book, which makes it must-read for me.

Scoring:

• Axe for the frozen sea: 9/10.
• Page count: 417, effective page count: 300.

This is fun teen fiction reading. It starts with a map of a medieval land, and all of the locations are Welsh-sounding names like “Annwvyn” and “Caer Dathyl” so you have a pretty good idea of what’s about to come. It gets a 8/10 on the “Princess Bride” scale: It has fencing, fighting, revenge, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, and miracles, but not torture or giants.

Main takeaways:

• Plant magic is more powerful than fire and iron magic.
• If possible you should steal some magic to give to your newborn children, but only put the magic in one eye!
• Relationships are mendable, but it could take a year if you’ve really messed up.
• An afanc-tooth knife is badass. Honestly I want one. Searched for “afanc tooth knife”, first hit was a site selling knives made out of deer antlers. Not bad!

I wonder how many people have experienced Gwydion’s path in life… keep other people at a distance using wit and clever (trickster) tricks so you don’t get hurt, then come to find you made friends along the way that you truly care about.

(Spoiler) Is there an alternate ending where Pryderi doesn’t meet the same fate? I liked the plan where he wins the hunt and creates a new friendship between kingdoms (and some personal growth in the process). But maybe that ending is too tidy.

In the Acknowledgements the author described how she wanted to combine three Welsh myths: the Wild Hunt, Battle of the Trees, and the tale of the midwife. That’s an interesting insight into how the book came together.