I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Razvak Hunter by Arel B. Grant
Published by BZN Writing House on February 28, 2016
Genres: fantasy
Pages: 236
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Before…
Aelwyd has worked hard to become strong. As the Fairest One of Vallenthar, her power is formidable. Years of battle honed her into a fearsome warrior who never falters in front of an enemy.
However, there are shadows that when they come, they can swallow you whole.
After a hundred years of praying against it, the minute she walks into the chilling scene of death in front of her, she knows her personal nightmare is back.
He nearly destroyed her once, but she isn't a victim anymore. This time, she will stop him, or she will die trying.

Now...
Dalbran knows nothing of friends, joy, or mischief. The orphaned ward of a ruthless warrior woman, she’s never showed him love or affection. Instead she fills his days with learning the art of battle, savage teachings of how to survive in their harsh world. Days are filled with pain and exhaustion, but nighttime used to be his own. Even that is now lost, though, for something lurks in the shadows of sleep, clawing at him the moment his eyes close. He tells himself it’s okay, that he can handle it. However daunting the voices may be, however cold the hand that chokes him in the darkness, as long as it stays within the nightmare, everything will be all right.

As long as it stays within the nightmare…

Catfairy’s First Thoughts

 

This year I promised myself that I would go outside of my comfort zone and read a book that was not a contemporary YA read and I have to say that The Razvak Hunter was a book that was far out of my comfort zone.  Actually, this book was tooo far out of my comfort zone and even though the writing was on point I just wasn’t feeling the story. One of the biggest turnoffs that I had with this book was that there were some parts that were underdeveloped in the story and I just couldn’t connect to the book as a whole!

Catnopsis

The Razvak Hunter is about a girl named Aelwyd who is the face of the people of Vallenthar. Aelwyd represents the land of Vallenthar and she is the most powerful person in the whole land. Aelwyd’s power comes from the Rose of Vallenthar which is the jewel that is nestled on her forehead. The power that she has with the Rose of Vallenthar is that kind of power that is both a blessing and a curse. Aelwyd has the type of power where she can connect to every living being on earth. She is held to the highest standard of perfection and can never do any wrong in the eyes of the people of Vallenthar. (Talk about pressure for poor Aelwyd!)

“Because the Fairest one belongs to all, never to one. The Fairest One is to be a paragon of justice, of beauty and excellence. She is never to take sides, she is never to take favorites…She is never to fall in love. But what happens when the Fairest One can’t help it?”

Aelwyd falls in love with the character of Rodan. They are keeping their relationship under wraps because the Rose of Vallenthar isn’t supposed to be committed to anyone. (I am not sure why don’t ask me.) The secrecy doesn’t stop Rodan and he is absolutely devoted to Aelwyd and will stop at nothing to protect her and keep her away from the Razvak.

“The Razvak is back, raia.”

-Rodan

Things begin to take a drastic turn for Aelwyd when she finds out that the Razvak hunter is back to terrorize the land of Vallenthar. The Razvak hunter is this dark force that feeds off of people until they surrender their souls to the Razvak. Aelwyd is determined to stop the Razvak hunter and put an end to the bloodshed until she finds out that maybe the Razvak may just be biding his time until he is face to face with Aelwyd.

Dalbran is a character that is held captive by a warrior woman whose name is Harer. He is an orphan and has known nothing about the word or meaning of happiness. She is a savage woman that is teaching him how to battle and how to face the dark demons that may await him.

(Some trigger warnings in this book are animal cruelty and there is a scene of a dead child. This was hard to read for me and I want to let my book lovers be aware of this! Oh and for all of you unicorn lovers out, there is a mention of a unicorn that is killed! Abomination! I know! Although there is no description of this unicorn killing because I would not be able to handle it anymore with this book after everything that I just read!)

 

Meet Aelwyd (Played by Shay Mitchell)

Honestly, I just couldn’t connect to the character of Aelwyd at all! I found Aelwyd to be a cold character and I just couldn’t find many dimensions to her. Aelwyd had her worries and her insecurities about fulfilling her responsibilities as the Rose of Vallenthar and feared to lose her love Rodan. Although the stakes against this character weren’t enough for me to care for this character. I would have liked to see more depth to the character of Aelwyd.

 

Meet Rodan (Played by Austin Butler)

Rodan was such a blah character to me. I know he is the love of Aelwyd’s life or whatever but I didn’t see the appeal. I needed more of Rodan, more description, more pizzazz more something…unfortunately there wasn’t much to Rodan except the fact that he was devoted to Aelwyd. Rodan was depicted as a faceless character.

 

Pop Culture References

Personally, I am tired of seeing the whole trope of women fighting over a guy. Towards the middle end of the story, the new character Rowan came out of nowhere and Aelwyd immediately gave her the stink eye when she saw she was making eyes with her man Rodan!

via GIPHY

My main concerns of the introduction of Rowan was that she was introduced too late in the story and it just wasn’t well developed. They should have shown signs of Rowan much earlier in the story and I think it would have added more drama and tension to the story.

Catfairy’s Final Thoughts

After reading this story, I have to say that I am glad I decided to read something that wasn’t particularly on my TBR list. I thought that the language and the world building was exceptional but there was a lack of development with the characters in the story. The story mostly focused on the story of Aelwyd and her world/inner conflict. It just wasn’t enough for me.

Now I am not a fantasy reader, I am more of a magical realism reader so I may be very biased in my opinion! I would still give it a try if you’re a fantasy buff and let me know if you have a different opinion of it but I just wasn’t feeling it at all! This is the first book of the series and it looks like the writer is in the works of creating a second installment! Even though this was not a five star read for me I am looking forward to exposing myself to more fantasy reads starting with the ACOTAR series by Sarah J. Mass! Comment below and let me know what fantasy reads you have read that has been your favorite/least favorite!

 

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