"Good but slow moving"
Parts of Hallowed Hunt were good while other parts were extremely slow going. It got better as the plot progressed after a long, slow start. The narrator did a good job giving the book an atmospheric feel.
This was my first Bujold book. It was on sale and I decided to try it even though a number of reviewers commented that it is not one of her best. I liked it well enough that I will probably listen to some of her other books.
"Good story, poor narrator choice"
Good story, but tlnarrator's male voices were poorly executed and we're hard to tell apart.
"Intriguing Characters "
Bujold has encouraged me through many difficult times in life by giving me an escape into a world of inspiring and intriguing characters. She is a master of the unlikely hero, the complexity of right and wrong and setting fourth good as the ultimate end.
"Narrator wasn't great"
Book and the writing were fine as far as I heard but I couldn't finish it due to the news-person-like cadence to the reader's voice. Her tone doesn't feel natural or engaging. I keep trying to push past it though.
"Dull"
I liked the style Ms Bujold used in two books I this series. The plot grabbed you quickly, good use of character development and the relationships and interactions between the characters was plausible.
It is a personal irritation when a writer takes a series, and adds another book to the series and that book bears little relationship to the previous books.
A number of times I had to re-listen to a section because the reader and the story line were boring.
I finished the book but iI had to make myself do it.
"Disappointing."
Not nearly as good as the first two books., which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not zbujold's best work, but it won't put me off trying other series.
"Deep characters"
The storyline keeps moving and the characters are good. Narration takes you into the heart of the story
"Gets better on the second listen"
Was not too impressed the first time round it was sufficiently out of time from the first two books that I had trouble relating to the time and setting. On the second listen, being more aware of the story line I found it quite intriguing and quite cleverly written. Be prepared for it to be different and enjoy.
"Better Than Everyone Else Is Saying!"
I had read the reviews on this site before listening to this book, so my expectations were low. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was just as gripping as the first two books in the series. In fact, in some ways it was better, as the plot was more complex and the depth of magic and history was meatier and more interesting.
I found the story quite gripping and engaging. There were enough original ideas in it to keep me thinking. The love story was deep enough to engage my heart. As a lead character, Ingrey was definitely not as likeable as Cazaril and Ista were in the previous novels, yet I still cared about him and I also cared about the other central character - Ijada, whose fate is interwoven with his. And I also found myself getting quite drawn in my the central "evil" character in the book, whose motivations were complex enough to evoke my compassion and empathy. Some of the side characters were wonderful too like the learned Holina. In the first few chapters I was sad that there were no links with the characters in the previous two books and that it is set in a completely different land, but I soon realised that the thread that ties these three books together is not characters or history but theology. Indeed the ideas of gods and saints and spirits are taken much further in this book than in the others.
The narrator didn't bother me, although I do tend to prefer it when the gender of the reader matches the gender of the main characters. The only thing that irked me was that all 3 narrators in this series pronounced key words differently, like place names and character names. Don't they listen to each other?
All told, it was an engaging book to listen to and helped me get all my dishes done each night!
"Enjoyable"
I was a bit cautious after reading the poor reviews but I thought to myself it seemed very unlikely Lois could write a ho hum book. I really enjoyed it and had no problems with the narration. The Hallowed Hunt contains all the twists and turns I expect from this wonderful story teller.