Thoroughly enjoyed this book. A very detailed story set in a time I thought I knew a lot about; but apparently didn’t (as the Night Witches were new to me). Some people say it was too long, but I would disagree, I wished it were longer (I was bummed it was over when it ended). The narrator was fantastic! I would highly recommend this book - you can get lost in it. ( )

I'm perfectly fine with being "only" inspired by history and patchworking details to make more interesting characters. What I did not like was that there were important parts of the story that got mentioned a lot, but never ended up explored properly. Especially because there was so much in this book that could've been edited out of it.

I had a problem with Anneliese in particular. For a character-driven book, we get very little exploration into her psyche and motivations. She ends up being a proverbial single-dimensional nazi who is pure evil without really seeing what drew her into the ideology. Her motivations remain "self-implied", which was not really satisfying for me. If you call someone "the huntress", I'd expect to see more of that drive and a deeper glimpse into her psychology. It felt that her crimes were so random. The author partly humanizes her post-war in her relationship with her stepdaughter, but it would have been more interesting to get more of her story before and during the war.

In a way, I felt that the title of the novel was more about Nina, than about Anneliese. Nina had the primal instinct of a huntress throughout this story. She was well depicted from her childhood on. We learn where she is from, why she is there and how she became who she was in the end.
With Anneliese, this was simply not the case.

I kept waiting for the big reveal to happen, especially the chapter about what happened in Poland to Seb and Nina. That chapter was disappointing to me, despite the good build-up. Maybe I'm desensitized by all the phenomenal books I've read about WW2 and the real gruesome horror of the human psyche in those books. This was just a letdown.

I liked the mythological theme running through the novel, it was wonderfully used to connected the pieces, and it was what primarily made me stick to this novel. The final showdown, which was a triumph of this "rusalka" theme was really nice in a symbolic way but so unbelievable to me.

I guess the biggest issue I've had with this book is that It felt like a weird cross between Phryne Fisher detective stories and wartime romances. The book lacked the emotional heaviness that characters who survived WW2 usually carry. It was entertaining (and I spent a day virtually doing nothing but reading it), not much more than that. With a small exception of Nina's story, the exploration of characters stayed on the surface for the purpose of plot development.

That being said, it is unfair to judge this book on what it is not - and that is literary fiction. For a mass-marketed historical romance, this deserves a 4. Just don't fool yourself you're reading something deep. ( )

history

I really wanted to like this more. It has all the makings of a great historical fiction book, the writing just fell short for me. I thought it felt a little corny in spots and I thought it could have done without the romance, particularly Jordan’s. I just kept hearing Natasha (from Bullwinkle) every time Nina spoke. I think because of all that and the fact that the author didn’t really flesh out the characters, I never really connected to them. I did like learning about the Night Witches and would like read about them more in the future. ( )

In true Quinn fashion, The Huntress sets up three protagonists - three perspectives - to guide readers through the suspense, the terror, and the aftermath of WW2. Jordan and Ian show two different takes on finding one's place in the world after a major, life-altering ware. Meanwhile, Nina's perspective is firmly rooted in the thick of WW2 and the events leading up to what ultimately brings all of the characters together. Everyone in this story was so nuanced that you couldn't help liking them all and rooting for them. While this book definitely deals with some dark themes, it's nowhere near as dark as Quinn's previous novel The Alice Network, and it features an uplifting ending.

Ian and Nina's perspectives were the strongest. Bound together by a hasty marriage and desire for mutual revenge against the titular Huntress, these two show a tenacity that persists even through the scars incurred by the war. Nina grew up in a rural Siberian village before eventually making her way to an airfield to fight in WW2 as a navigator and pilot in Russia's famed Night Witches regiment. Her story is all about survival and how that survival hinges on the connections and relationships we make. Her story is very bittersweet and so moving. You can't help but admire her, even though none of us could ever be like her.

For his part, Ian is mourning his younger brother, who was killed by the Huntress. His story revolves around the question of morality in the face of ultimate evil and what separates justice from senseless killing. As a journalist with a heart that slowly thaws over the course of the novel, I couldn't always tell which way his character would go. Sometimes he seemed to relish a more settled life with kids and baseball games. Other times, he preferred being on the run, chasing down Nazis. I think his characterization could've been a little more consistent, but overall, I liked him.

Jordan's story was a coming of age story. Hers felt the most relatable to readers in that it was about a girl struggling to find her footing in the world without upsetting her boyfriend that she only likes and her dad whom she wants to protect. Personally, I found her story to be the least interesting, mostly because I really didn't think it was that necessary. Her big thing was that she suspects her new stepmom of being a high level and unsympathetic Nazi, but she can't quite get the upper hand. I thought Jordan's section let out the steam in the book because why else would we be following Jordan's story if her stepmom wasn't guilty? If anything, it showcased just how far our villainess was willing to go to obscure her identity, which is why the ending is frustrating to me. Up until Jordan knows Lorelai is guilty for sure, her stepmom proves herself to be quite intelligent. And then, Lorelai just gives up. It's clear she's willing to kill her own husband - Jordan's father - for self-preservation but then just decides she no longer cares when Jordan reveals her secret. She admits she'd rather commit suicide than run again, despite being quite good at running. Not only that, the ending was kind of lame. All of the heroes face down the villain, who is alone and desperate. While it was triumphant, it was too neat, too happy. It felt cliche and didn't fit the tone of the rest of the book. Not to mention that pretty much everyone gets into a happy relationship at the end. Not that I mind, and that's certainly Quinn's style. It just would've been nice if someone's ending was a bit more bittersweet.

Overall, this is a great, entertaining book that sheds a light on the million dollar question that we are still trying to answer today: who do we forgive? If you're a Kate Quinn fan or a WW2 historical lit fan, I highly recommend this book. ( )