The Wild Hunt is dealing with a pair of heavy cases: a new hate group targeting humans and shifters with public terrorist attacks and a serial killer that kidnaps and kills little girls. With a large death toll from the two first two terrorist attacks and a climate of fear rising in the city, it’s hard to juggle the smaller case, but Ember can’t give up on it especially when there’ a chance they could find the current missing little girl before she’s killed. Throw in the fact that Ember’s Fae coming of age is imminent and the ritual could kill her or drive her mad, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
This one gets the balance between the overarching plotline for the series and the plot for the book right. For the first time in a couple of books, Ember’s personal journey doesn’t overpower what’s going on with the case. Which is good because these were too very serious cases, and Ember is torn enough trying to focus on handling both of them to the best of her ability without other things getting in the way. My only quibble with this one is the fact that after the serial killer case is resolved, the hate group plot line is mostly dropped. To be completely fair, they have a lead but can’t follow up on it at the present time, but I wish the matter didn’t completely disappear from the story with the exception of a brief mention at the very end. Ember does go through her Fae coming of age in this book, and it makes a satisfying end to that arc.
Overall, this is probably the best book of the series so far, and I’m very curious where the new plot with the hate group is going to go. It does feel like the author has finally found the right balance for these novels, and I hope that continues into the next one. Three out of five stars.