The Great Pursuit by Wendy Higgins
Book Two of the Eurona duology
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: March 7, 2017
Rating: 3 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
Summary (from Goodreads):
In The Great Pursuit, the dramatic sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Great Hunt, Wendy Higgins delivers another thrilling fantasy filled with dangerous enemies, political intrigue, searing romance, and a princess who is willing to do everything to protect her kingdom.
One hunt has ended, but the pursuit for love and justice continues.
The kingdom of Lochlanach has traded the great beast that once terrorized the realm of Eurona for something far more dangerous: the ire of powerful Lashed woman Rosaria Rocato. Rosaria demands that Eurona overturn the laws prohibiting magic, or an innocent will be killed each day.
Despite the king’s resistance, Princess Aerity believes they must make peace with the Lashed, and though she’s accepted a betrothal to the man who took down the beast, she cannot help thinking about Paxton, the Lashed man who stole her heart and disappeared.
Aerity soon discovers that Paxton has joined Rosaria’s army in the war against her family. Though her feelings for him are still strong, her duty to her kingdom and her family is stronger—especially when her parents are kidnapped and she has to step up to the throne and once again put aside what’s best for her in order to do what’s best for her people. Paxton and Princess Aerity must fight to see what is more powerful: their love or the impending war between the magical Lashed and the non-magic humans.
What I Liked:
***SPOILER-FREE REVIEW***
(Well, there will by The Great Hunt spoilers. But not The Great Pursuit spoilers.)
One year ago, I read and loved The Great Hunt, with exception of the ending. I hated that Aerity is now forced to marry Lord Leif Alvi, because he (and not Paxton) killed the wild beast. But now, there are more beasts coming for Lochlanach, created by Rozaria Rocato, a powerful Lashed. Aerity and her parents must comply with her demands - burn the list of Lashed names - or face death every night. Meanwhile, Paxton has fled and stumbles upon Rozaria's army. He joins her in order to infiltrate her ranks and gain her trust. Though far apart, Aerity and Paxton are fighting to save Lochlanach from Rozaria - and another unseen dark force, Prince Vito.
This novel is told in the third-person perspectives of many characters. Paxton, Aerity, Vixie, Wyneth, even Tiern have exclusive (third-person) POVs at some point during the book. Since the entire book is written in third-person, this wasn't confusing at all and I actually really enjoyed this method of narration. It was interesting because many of the characters were apart and doing their own (important) thing elsewhere, so it was crucial to know what they were doing and how it affected the story overall.
Aerity is at the castle, trying to stave off riots and chaos and inevitable war. She is being forced to marry a young lord who is rather promiscuous and really doesn't care to marry her - though he has feelings for her cousin, Wyneth. Paxton, hunter and Aerity's love, has fled, and she doesn't know if he is safe or not. Aerity is on her own at many times during this book, which is critical to her character development. She thinks she isn't ready to be Queen, but she becomes ready.
Paxton has the harder path, in my opinion. He is Lashed and he must run for his life. He knows of the danger of Rozaria Rocato, but stumbling on her and her army provides a unique opportunity: gather information about her plan for Lochlanach, and hopefully get that information back to the royals before it's too late. Paxton has a difficult role to play, especially when Rozaria decides that she likes him... that was a weird plot. Nothing happens there, and Paxton is very disgusted by her in general. But he has the hardest journey and the most difficult tasks, of any of the characters in this book. For all the significance of Aerity being princess and soon to be Queen, it's Paxton that does all of the work and in the end, "saves the day".
Nevertheless, I adored both of them. Both of them stick to their duty and they think of their kingdom and home and loved ones first, and themselves second. I hate but understand why Aerity still went through with her engagement to Lief. It was hard because most of this book has Paxton and Aerity separated - but not always. It's interesting to see how Higgins throws the pair together at random times throughout the story. Also, note that I said "engagement" to Lief... and not marriage.
So, I didn't mind the romance, despite the separation of Paxton and Aerity, and Aerity being very engaged to Lief, and Paxton having to play Rozaria's lackey. When Paxton and Aerity come together, there is no illusion as to their feelings for each other. I love how the romance ends up working out, for these two. Not in a convenient way, necessarily, but perfectly.
There are many romantic subplots! Vixie and Tiern have a flame between them, but my person favorite pairing is Wyneth and Harrison. I have a feeling about Harrison, but remember, the start of The Great Hunt is Wyneth's love dying (who is also Harrison's cousin, so...). It's cute, watching them get closer, though they've been friends for their entire lives.
Shout-out to Furball, the most adorable beastly creature. I wouldn't mind having one of him! He sounds like an overgrown puppy that is also quite fierce when someone messes with his humans.
I would also like to say that this novel felt so timely, especially given the recent USA elections and happenings of January 2017. In this series, the Lashed are hated because they can wield magic (some can). Some Lashed are evil and want to hurt "normal" humans, and because of that, there is a list of Lashed names, and the Lashed are constantly treated abominably. In this book, the Lashed are driven out of their own country. Sound familiar? I like that, even though this is a fantasy, made-up world, and Higgins wrote the book long before everything that is happening now (January 2017), the conflicts and issues felt modern and current.
This book wraps up really nicely - every loose end is taken care of. The romance ends so well, the conflict with Rocato and Vito end, well, in a bloody way, but fairly well, and the situation with the Lashed is handled in a realistic manner.
What I Did Not Like:
Obviously I'm going to complain about the romance. The whole forced engagement thing is one of my least favorite tropes (right behind love triangles). I wouldn't ever call the romance in this book a love triangle type of romance, because Aerity has no interest in Lief, and vice versa. But the engagement is annoying, especially since Aerity is honorable and refuses not to do her duty. I'm also not really amused with Leif in general? He clearly has no boundaries when it comes to lovers and because he's charming, everyone seems to be fine with that. And the stupid plot of having Rozaria be attracted to Paxton? Obnoxious and unnecessary. While it's clear that Paxton wants nothing to do with her and really just wants to get information from her, the fact that he has to interact with her at all, let alone flirt with her, is annoying.
Poor Paxton! He gets the short end of the stick every time. I kind of hate how he does pretty much all of the work to bring the bad guys down, and yet, it felt like everyone has glorifying Aerity all of the time. I get it, she's the future queen, feminism, girl power, blah blah blah. But why write a book with a (supposed) strong female character that has to severely depend on men (specifically, Paxton) to bring her kingdom to safety? Don't get me wrong, I loved that Paxton was so determined to help and that he did all that he did, and that he was the hero. But I wouldn't raise up Aerity as this strong female character if that's the case. Aerity does a loooooooot of waiting and vacillating and issuing orders, and when it comes down to it, Paxton saves the day. While I think Aerity grows a lot - from being a simpering princess who waits for all of the men to do the work to a stronger-willed princess who still waits for all of the men to do the work but sort of bosses them around - I wish either she was a more dominant, strong female character, or less so (and the focus was more on Paxton). I wouldn't have minded either way. I like strong alpha types (and Paxton certainly is that).
Also, I'm kind of irritated with how Higgins handled Leif's cheating on Aerity with Aerity's maid. Sure, they're not married yet, but they're engaged. And you know how Aerity reacted? She basically dismissed him sleeping with her servant, in a "boys will be boys" kind of way. Because apparently, where he is from (Ascommania), men are very promiscuous and aren't really the types to have just one partner. So that makes it okay for him to cheat on her? It makes it okay for her to flippantly dismiss the acts, because "boys will be boys"? You're kidding me, right? Regardless of the fact that clearly Aerity and Leif have no feelings for each other... both are resolute on marrying each other (Aerity, for duty, Leif, for duty and rank it seems). I get that Aerity has no feelings for him, but that doesn't make it okay for her fiance to blatantly sleep with someone else - especially her personal maid, of all people!
Basically Leif is a pig and the author makes this seem okay by letting Aerity wave it off with a "boys will be boys" attitude. Which, no, it isn't okay.
This book is definitely more boring than The Great Hunt. I wouldn't say this book is totally boring but it drags on... and on... and on... like some of you might be thinking as you read this review. It took me nearly twice as long to read this book as it would a book of that length. The first thirty percent of the book was dreadfully boring! I started skimming a little, and then a little more action started to happen after the halfway mark. Even Aerity and Paxton's short reunion in the first half of the book wasn't enough to perk me up.
Would I Recommend It:
I actually don't know if I'd recommend this series. It's an interesting and unique series, and I like the idea behind the story and its inspiration. I just don't like how not-straightforward the romance is (despite there being no love triangle or squares or anything - Aerity and Paxton keep their lips to themselves and each other), and how frustrating the romance was. I'm also a little put-out by how slimy Leif is (to the average reader, he's probably viewed as "charming", and a "lady's man"). I wanted Aerity to be much more strong and decisive, OR for her to be less so and then the focus to be more on Paxton. They share the story equally so I wouldn't have minded that. But instead we have a princess learning how to be queen but who cannot even secure her kingdom by herself.
Basically what I'm saying it - this series has its flaws. For me, anyway. It's pretty good overall and I don't regret reading the books, but I think I was hoping for this conclusion novel to be a lot stronger (and more romantic) than it was. It's probably not a bad series to binge-read but I can see myself forgetting about the series fairly quickly - it's not a new favorite and it isn't going to stick. Remember, I loved The Great Hunt!
Rating:
3.5 stars. I'm so torn as to whether to round up or down. Ultimately I think I'm going to round down, and what it tipping me downward is the fact that I was pretty bored as I was reading. That being said, boredom might not be an issue for other readers. I had other problems with this book - including the romance, the sexism, the fake show of a strong female character, how the male protagonist suffered entirely too much and more than was "fair" - but the boredom is what pushes the rating down, for me. I think I'll still read future Higgins books but I think I should stick to her standalone novels, with undiluted romances.
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