The Wild Hunt by Jane Yolen

The Wild Hunt Reviews

• 
  Marc *Dark Reader of the Woods*

  Jane Yolen is a ubiquitous, talented, high-output author that you might not know if you never dwell in the realm of children's books (although she has written for adults also.) I probably first noticed her name through the "How do Dinosaurs..." picture book series (illustrated by the supremely talented
  Mark Teague) then started noticing her everywhere as I started to assemble chidren's books for our home library from a previous public library's massive donation-driven book sales. Wow, she has written a lot, at high quality, with countless awards and accolades. I probably missed learning of her earlier because I had aged out of her books' most common demographic when she came into her stride.
  
  This particular book challenges age assignment. It has the form of a children's book, but the content is best suited to adults. It's a highly literary, dark, and frightening interpretation of fairy tales and classic children's fantasy, with open references to
  The Book of Job and an especially deep cut from a 19th century ballad about 13th century figure Thomas Rymer (or Thomas the Rhymer), and invocations of the boy heroes from
  A Wizard of Earthsea,
  The Dark Is Rising, and Arthurian legend. Children might follow the thrust of the story without awareness of the many references, but I can't imagine many would enjoy it.
  
  The short illustrated book is hardly a novel, not even a novella or novellette based on word count and the page count is deceptive because of copious white space, very well designed. It consists of fifteen chapters, each tripled in collated fashion, with each chapter followed by two alternate versions titled as in "Chapter Four" then "Chapter Four—Sort of" then "Chapter Four—Almost," presenting different realities that gradually intertwine to create a singular tale.
  
  I found it quite interesting, successfully experimental, with outstanding wordcraft and welcome illustrations, and representative of an authentic literary talent.
• 
  Mary Anne

  A different take on the Wild Hunt story. As always with Jane Yolen book there is magic and mystery.
• 
  Tracy

  Truly magical. It shouldn't have taken three days to read as it is a very short book. With illustrations. But it is Christmas time and I'm busy. This is the kind of story that uses words like gerund and widdershins. Delicious!
  
  Two boys are in this story. They each live in a house in a wood. The house is surrounded by Rowan trees. The house is the same but different for each of the boys. In one house there is a dog. In both houses there is a white cat.
  
  It is another story of the battle between light and dark. The Summer Queen and Winter's King. It is a story about heroes. Stories about heroes can be enormously comforting.
  
  A delightful read for a wintry morning. It does remind me that eventually it will be spring again.
• 
  Samantha

  This is one of my favorite books that I like to revisit from time to time. Not only is it a great adventure, but by the time you finish reading it, you will NEVER forget what a gerund is! Two boys, in parallel times, live in the same lonely mansion with a cat-who-is-not-a-cat. They have no idea how they came to be in that place, no name save the one the cat-who-is-not has given them. Outside the mansion, snow falls deep and the sounds of horses' hooves and baying hounds can be heard. The cat has warned the boys, in their time in space, not to venture out. Of course, one of them does...
• 
  Kristin Yuill

  this is a book i read for the first time when i was like, eleven, and i still love to read it. its a great winter time book to read in a quiet house with the snow. easy for children to read, but entertaining with beautiful images and thoughtful characters.
• 
  Victoria

  if you like humor read this book.
• 
  Johanna Haas

  It's a house, with a boy, a talking cat, and tongues that turn into knives. Then it's a different house, with a different boy, and an added dog. Then it is the wild woods where the dark hunter is mustering his hounds. Each chapter has two shadows, or two mirrors that flow into each other by the end. The old war of dark v. light, summer v. winter plays out on both human and superhuman scales. Loved it!
• 
  Amanda Walz

  I found this story a bit odd. I didn't really care for it. But that is my personal opinion. It might change when I read it again. That's the best thing about some stories. You could read it once and think nothing of it, then read it again and it's your favorite.
• 
  Joseph Carrabis

  Sorry, I didn't get it. This is a childrens/ya story, I think, so perhaps I was applying some fableistic concepts to it that didn't belong. My bad, I guess.
• 
  Alaina

  Strange and wonderful.
• 
  Ashley

  What an interesting little book... I quite liked aspects of it, and I loved that it was told in three stages/paces...
• 
  Emalee

  Clever and engaging, with attractive illustrations.
• 
  Brian

  Beautifully written but a bit complex conceptually for children (I'm not convinced it IS for children), as two parallel worlds collide during the Wild Hunt. The mystical style, "almost" chapters, and the poetic terseness of the prose make for a haunting impression but a struggle to read, at least for me.
• 
  Nicole

  Read this book in about 45 minutes. I found it to be kind of shallow and simple. Ok if you just want a really quick read for maybe an hour, but I found that the plot wasn't very intricate or intriguing, and I was reading more to see if something interesting was going to happen at the end. There were a few questions presented, but the story and answers to the questions could have probably been written out a bit better.
• 
  Jaimie

  This book had so much potential, but it didn't quite manage to reach the mythic proportions of Yolen's storytelling abilities. She was clearly channeling Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising series, the legends of the Wild Hunt, and the complexity of the fairy king and queen's rivalry, but the story was so short and underdeveloped that I feel like we only got a taste of the actual story.
• 
  Kiersten

  The triple-chapter-in-one format drew me to this book. I'm a big Jane Yolen fan, but i'm not sure what to make of this book...short, dark, and memorable. With a happy and lovable dog.
• 
  Lisa

  The Wild Hunt by Jane Yolen (1995)
• 
  Pandionhalatius37.6

  ... When something is so amazing that you respect it with silence. Read into the tiniest detail in this book. You're not going crazy, its that awesome. Fae.
• 
  Adalynd

  I read this book in sixth grade and remember loving it.
• 
  Kate Leonard

  Different; fascinating; worth reading.
• 
  Rachel

  Interesting way to tell the story, but the story itself was not gripping to me.