Call of the Huntress
A SFINCS Novella
The Call of the Huntress was one of the better reads this year, partially due to my penchant for Bloodborne, and I got major Fromsoft vibes from this short telling. A little girl has a special ability, and it isn’t reserruction. Her brother is a hunter and he had a little training session which turned into a casual, Hey, let me use you for bait so I can hunt this demon and mount his head on my wall!
Oh siblings, you gotta love them. Even if they leave you out to hang out to dry, and you best hope the ravens get you before demonspawns do. Not that any of what I just mentioned happened. There was a little mentor trope going on. Did the mentor die? did he live? Who knows, I’m not spoiling it but you might as well guess.
The character work was breif, but believable. While we don’t spend too much time with the characters, I don’t feel like I need to. it was quick, and violent, and I generally felt connected to at least care for their wellbeing. Would emotions have been hurt had someone died? I’m not too sure I would care that much. Maybe I am the monster.
Originality. . .I’m not entirely sure what to place here because it seemed like a carbon copy of Bloodborne, sotospeak. Well, before the hunters went insane and started turning into beasts themselves. Not sure if that’s what McMinn was going for, but that’s what I got. Now, again, this didn’t detract from my enjoyment, just elevated it. So if that’s the setting you want to read, this book is for you.
If I had to critique one thing, I would say it feels like this is the starting chapter of a grand epic. There is a story arc, so to speak, and story beats that make it a story, but it feels like supplemental information was removed. Almost like taking short snippers from the Silmarillion and putting the bullet points together to make a story cohesive.