Book Review: Lullaby and Other Stories from Lidian by Abigail Hilton (Hunters Universe #2)

 A short story compilation as well as a continuation of Hunters Unlucky. Spoilers ahead.

This sequel/story compilation has two shorter and one longer story. One of them is about Keesha helping Arcove, the second focuses on Sauny as a herd leader and the third on Arcove having to find a way to lay Charder to rest. 

If you're looking for a direct big story continuation of the first book you might be disappointed by this as it's just a few short stories, but for what it is I think it is done well. The author in the afterword mentions finding it very difficult to top the first book, so I think that going the short story route for sequels is probably a good way to go.

I found these stories for the most part enjoyable and they gave some neat extra insight into some old (and some new) characters, such as Keesha, Arcove and Sauny. Sauny's story was probably my favorite as she is also one of my favorite characters, but I also greatly appreciated the last story Lullaby for it's grander scale and heartfelt and thrilling moments.

I guess the only one I wasn't really able to get into is Awake, the story about Keesha. But the reason for that is simple: It's a story about Keesha. I simply do not like Keesha as a character, so reading from their POV isn't a joy for me. I don't think they're a bad or poorly written character, not in the slightest. They're well-rounded and Hilton did a good job on writing them.

But I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed them as a character, both here or in the original book. I prefer reading form the ferryshaft or creasia's POVs, or heck even Shaw's if we're talking Keesha's species. Something about Keesha just puts me off from liking them and I'm glad their story was rather short. It's not a bad story or bad character it's about, I just don't enjoy reading it.

Overall a solid short story compilation. I do still we hope we get somewhat of a more direct and grander sequel than this in the future (I haven't read the last two books published yet), but for what it is this is solid.

Rating: 4/5