REVIEW; The Hunt And The Haunting

Title: The Hunt And The Haunting
Author: Victoria Audley 
Genre: Gothic, horror.
Type: E-book
Publisher: Victoria Audley

Agnes Marchdale loved to tell fantastical stories. She never expected to find herself in one. Everything seems to be looking up for the Marchdale sisters after Marianne’s engagement to the rich and handsome Lord Blackett. But when a long-buried scandal rears its head and threatens to overturn everything, Agnes must determine where truth lies or risk greater danger than she ever imagined.

The Hunt and the Haunting is a story about ghosts, both literal and metaphorical; a story about the stories we love, the stories we believe, and the stories that shape the world around us.

This review is going to be a little bit incoherent as I reel from how much I adore Victoria’s writing. The vividness of her imagery and the poetry in her descriptions paint such an eerie picture. Every so often there is a turn of phrase I pause at because it is just so good.

Our main character is a gothic heroine to a T, loyal to her sister, lover of stories – and impulsive to a fault. I adore her. Her sister, a little less because she’s too determined to see the good in the world and ignore the bad, though when you think about it, you need that sometimes. In this case, it’s taken to an extent where it becomes a fault – a danger, even. Definitely a study in contrasts, though we see it through our heroine’s eyes so it’s always painted positively because of how much she loves her sister.

And then we have The Blacketts as the Premiere Gothic Family were a perfect background for the intrigue of this story. So much mystery and so much suspense about them.

Truth and false pretences are such an integral part of this – how Agnes’ love for stories lead to her putting pieces together in the wrong ways, makes her see what she wishes. But also ultimately lead her to the truth, and that is a story that is not pretty, not fantastical in a whimsy way but harsh and ugly. I adored that, really.

The ending made me! Happy! But also a little confused and worried because did Agnes also die and that is why she is with Cecilia or is this just a thinning of the veils between the worlds now that the truth is known? It made me think, for sure, and I love it.

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