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This book was temporarily available for free on Kindle, and I never say no to free books. This dystopian(?) book looked pretty cool to me. As always, free book does not equal a good review and I won't let the fact that I got to read this without having to pay for it impact my judgement of it. Spoilers ahead.
In this book we follow Ravyn, a girl with a special ability and a dark past, and Thorne, a pretty decently ranked Warrior in the Valley. The two meet and soon develop a romance, all the while an army of a villain known as "the General" seems to be pursuing Ravyn.
This book had pretty good world building, for starters. It took me a while to figure out it was probably dystopian and not high fantasy as I expected (somehow overlooked the gun on the cover). But still, for what it is, it's very interesting. I like the societies Pugh establishes, all with their unique rules and such. The Sabers were also a cool addition, as someone who likes Smilodons, though I feel like Sabers more fit a loose interpretation of one.
I'm glad that the sexism wasn't too prevalent, what I thought was going to happen at first. In Thorne's forces, Warriors can in fact be female. I'm just not big on massive sexism in a story if it doesn't even serve that much of a purpose, so I'm glad it was rather minor here. Still not a fan of women consistently being referred to as "females", even by Ravyn herself. It comes across as dehumanizing. Just say women, it's not that hard, people.
The characters weren't mightily amazing, but not boring, either. I liked Ravyn, though she was kind of standard for a skilled heroine with a dark past. But I was fascinated learning about her, her ability and the abuse she suffered in the past. Thorne I find a whole lot more boring. I didn't vibe with his character when first introduced to him, and still do not after having finished the book. I also find the age gap between him and Ravyn a bit... I don't know? He's nineteen and she's seventeen, so it's not a huge gap, but he is still an adult and she is still a teenager. It did rub me slightly in the wrong way. Maybe not so much if he'd been eighteen, but not a fan of the current ages.
The romance between the main leads I also didn't fully buy. Just this whole attraction so soon after meeting, especially after Ravyn has been careful of who to trust for so long now, it just felt rushed and not fully flashed out. Needed more time to develop.
Overall, I'd say that Hunted in the Valley is a pretty decent start to this series. Not sure if I'll pick up the other books, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to read this one at least.
Rating: 3/5
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