UptownOracle in Book Reviews

Uptown Oracle Reads… The Hunter and The Mage

The Hunter and The Mage Kaitlyn Davis

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A mage written in prophecy…

When Lyana wakes in the Sea of Mist, adventure is the first thing on her mind. But between her unruly new magic and an unyielding young king, the world below comes with more responsibility than she ever dreamed. An entire civilization exists within the fog, and its survival depends entirely on her.

A hunter forged in blood…

Adrift at sea on a ship full of strangers, Rafe fights to cope with his new reality. He’ll do anything to return to the sky and the people he left behind. When a surprising offer comes his way, he instantly accepts, sparing no time to consider the consequences.

Loyalties are tested and an ancient war begins anew…

With rebellion in her heart, Cassi defies her king and befriends the prince she’s been ordered to kill. Oblivious to the threat, Xander welcomes her into his inner circle, determined to rescue his mate. As one works to help and the other to hinder, an ancient enemy stirs, forcing Cassi to choose between trusting the man who broke her heart and turning her back on everything she’s ever known.

The Hunter and the Mage reintroduces all the characters from The Raven and The Dove quickly, and shows us where they left off from the first book. There’s also a good quite fast pace as the characters get to where they need to for the story to further develop.

We find out that Malek’s world does not shy away from magic, and he has a plan to try and help his cities. I do have a question about why his people are so ill, and whether it is truly just a lakc of sunlight. Da’kin is a glorious city full of people who love Malek as well as Lyanna when she arrives, but I can’t wait to learn more about it. I did enjoy how next to the glorious descriptions of the cities above, Da’Kin still felt magical.

Now that our characters have gone below the clouds, magic is much more prevalent and we get a full magic system to explore. There’s Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, and Spirit magical elements and each element can have multiple “types” of magic users. For example, Cassi is a Dormi’kine which is a dreamwalker, and uses a spirit element, but Lyanna has completely different powers which also uses spirit (I think!). I actually enjoyed this system and was trying to remember all the different types of users (Photo’kine, Ferro’kine, Chrono’kine, Agro’kine etc) and how these linked to magic made me feel more involved when reading the book.

Whilst the avian cities above the clouds and Da’Kin are very different places with different ways of living, there’s a clear mirror of the conflicts both are facing throughout the story. I enjoyed how Davis allows us to feel for both factions through the actions of the characters, and how both felt just as important. You automatically assume that you would route for the above clouds as that’s where we spent time in the first book, but by the end you want all the cities to be saved.

Speaking of cities, we also get to visit the City of Secrets also known as Rynthos. This is the home of the owls, and the House of Wisdom and is full of libraries and books. Both a book lovers dream, and a way to find out a lot of secrets and push the story forward for Cassi and Xander – I loved these chapters even though they were a lot slower.

Cassi and Xander’s chapters as a whole brought a whole load of character development to the two characters. Whilst Lyanna and Rafe are the main characters, these two are also pushing to find out more about the mysteries in this world. On top of this, they are ways of exploring a different kind of relationship than what has been shown for Lyanna and Rafe previously. Cassi’s straightforward attitude, and ability to voice her opinion so honestly is what makes you love her character despite her clear flaws.

“Why must women always be the ones to sacrifice for men? What’s romantic about that?”

– Cassi, The Hunter and The Mage

Then there’s magic training for Lyanna and dragon hunting for Rafe. Lyanna has to learn and re-learn about herself as she has to alter her way of thinking towards her powers. Similar to the first book, Lyanna still feels overly naive at times which can be frustrating, but in the end I think her character matures the most and develops into a strong queen that is needed.

Rafe has to survive without the use of his wings, and I found his pain to be so well written as he still rushes towards what he wants most in the world, Lyanna. He learns new skills and he tries opening up to new people. The friendships he forms are really interesting, and it expands upon his backstory from the first book believably.

There’s also Malek who we see a LOT more of in this book. Previously we only see hints of him and we don’t truly know much about him, but in The Hunter and The Mage we learn a lot. There’s clear motivations there, and whilst misguided you understand him as a character very clearly.

The ending was something that I just did not expect. The twist definitely had some foreshadowing looking back in hindsight, and I loved that this was still shocking as you read. For a second book I found it to amplify what was good about the first one, and I liked that whilst relationships were a core part of the book it expanded outside of them too.