The Beast Hunters: Blood Oath (The Beast Hunter of Ashbourn #3), by Christer Lende
22 Mar 2023The Book
Synopsis:
From award-winning author Christer Lende comes the thrilling conclusion to his debut trilogy, The Beast Hunter of Ashbourn. Grab on to your beastiary—you’re in for a monsterrific ride.
A new king reigns over Ashbourn, relentlessly spreading his plague to every soul in the city. Ashbourn plunges into despair as his dark power turns citizens into mindless fanatics.The maniacal zealots force his tainted blood down the throats of the people, and the city falls into chaos. Unable to stop the king’s crazed horde from growing within the city, only a single district stands against his might. With the whole of Ashbourn clawing at their walls, it’s only a matter of time before they are overrun.
Hope fades as Ara scrambles to uncover the secrets to defeating this new king, their dark connection revealing to her his inevitable progress towards total domination. The fraction of his power coursing through the veins of her tainted arm might give Ashbourn and the beast hunters the hope they need—unless it’s all part of his plan.
My Review
The Beast Hunters: Blood Oath marks the end of the Beast Hunter of Ashbourn trilogy, this dark fantasy series that I really like, and that would make the delights of The Witcher fans. And what a conclusion, perfect for the journey we had made with Ara, Topper, and Khendric.
After the cliffhanger that we were left in book 2, this final novel picks directly where we left our characters. And it feels good to be back with our trio, as after three books, I personally started to appreciate them.
Our beloved crew is in the middle of a conflict that threatens to end the world, after a Voreen god has been crowned as the king of Ashbourn, gaining more followers, something that makes him even more powerful.
While hope is not exactly the most prevalent sentiment on Ashbourn, the little group formed by our beast hunters are still working to stop the feet of this God, which will imply more investigation, but this time, in a really dark atmosphere; and probably I would say that's one of the best elements in this final installment, how oppressive the atmosphere becomes under the hand of Chronor.
We are also spectators on the first line of how the relationship between our little family, our trio of characters has evolved since they picked Ara in the first book. Exploring their past trauma will also become a key piece of the story, letting us understand how they behave and how they are marked by their past experiences.
And this conclusion is seriously epic, despite at some points there being scenes that feel too convenient, a sort of plot behaving in the intended way. And to be fair, it works, as the stakes have grown a lot since we started this series; but at some point, I kinda missed the small and compressed nature of the first book. Still, I feel this ending lands in the perfect territory; or at least, in the epicness I expected.
Said that, Blood Oath is a great final novel to this trilogy. If you liked the previous books, and taking into account how Dark Sovereign finished, picking this book is a no-brain decision. In general, I loved my time with this series, and I can't wait to see what more Christer Lende has ready for us. If you like dark fantasy, and are a fan of The Witcher, pick this series.
The Author/s
Christer Lende
Christer Lende began writing in a library, which sounds fitting, only he was supposed to be there working on his engineering degree. He is a professional screenwriter, working with the Norwegian movie producer behind “One Love”, “Who Killed Birgitte” and “All about my Father” Bjørn Eivind Aarskog, together they are eveloping the manuscript for a Norwegian thriller. Bjørn hired Christer after reading The Beast Hunters, trusting Christer could bring his vision to life.
Christer lives in what Norwegians call a city, but people from actual cities would call a town. Of proud Viking blood, he honours his ancestors by heroically sitting in front of a computer writing Fantasy and Science Fiction books. He believes in writing a little bit every day, through weekends, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and even his own birthday. When he’s not writing, he takes care of his two dogs and tries to broker peace with his girlfriend. He’s often found at a gym, trying to compensate for his height issues, or lazily playing video games.
Christer did get that master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, despite procrastinating by writing fiction in the library, and works for a large IT firm, but writing and storytelling are his passions