Review: The Hunted (The Dawning of Muirwood #2) by Jeff Wheeler

MY ⭐️ RATING: 4.25/5

Format: Kindle Whispersync

BOOK DESCRIPTION

A young woman’s burgeoning powers make her Muirwood’s most wanted in a breathtaking novel by Jeff Wheeler, Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Druid.
Eilean is rising. A foundling raised in an abbey, she was entrusted by its imprisoned druid, Mordaunt, with an ancient tome. Its magical words can change the world. Eilean’s first mission: translate it. Her second: rescue a benevolent Aldermaston sentenced to death as a heretic by the High Seer.
But wielding power, knowledge, and ambition has now made Eilean the hunted.
In pursuit is Captain Hoel Evnissyen, an inquisitor in service to the High Seer’s demands. His objective is to track Eilean and steal Mordaunt’s invaluable work. But Hoel’s quest soon yields a fascination with the woman he’s been ordered to pursue. When an invasion begins and the world erupts in chaos, Eilean and Hoel find themselves bound by their mutual wills to survive and, against all odds, realize they are not each other’s enemy.
But now Eilean must decide who is friend and who is foe. Especially when the powerful tome falls into the wrong hands. The closer Eilean and Hoel get, the nearer they are to realizing the part they must play in their kingdom’s destiny and its ties to Eilean’s own mysterious past.

MY REVIEW

I always enjoy reading Mr. Wheeler’s works, because these are easy reads with good characters, good story-telling and steeped with history. Wheeler’s stories are a great palate cleanser and an excellent light read that always draw me in further and further into the story.

It took me a while to get into this because of a lack of a “story so far” section to catch me up on the events of book 1, The Druid. This is only an issue because I read 65+ books every year. It has a good pace and once I was caught up with the story, I enjoyed the character development of Eilean and Hoel. I also enjoyed a new character the most, even though it wasn’t a huge part of the story, Púca will hold a special place in my heart. I hope to see púca in The Betrayed.

Kate Rudd does another great job with her narration of the story! I love all the easter eggs that Mr. Wheeler drops about his Harbinger series, which takes place after this series. It has been a while since I’ve read that series, so I don’t remember much about it… so I may need to give it a re-read at some point to get caught back up on the story line.

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Official Reading order of the WOJW (World of Jeff Wheeler):

• The Kingfountain series
  • The Queen’s Poisoner
  • The Thief’s Daughter
  • The King’s Traitor
  • The Hollow Crown
  • The Silent Shield
  • The Forsaken Throne
• The First Argentines
  • Knight’s Ransom
  • Warrior’s Ransom
  • Lady’s Ransom
  • Fate’s Ransom
• The Legends of Muirwood
  • The Wretched of Muirwood
  • The Blight of Muirwood
  • The Scourged of Muirwood
• The Covenant of Muirwood
  • The Vanished of Muirwood
  • The Cyphers of Muirwood
  • The Void of Muirwood
• The Dawning of Muirwood (Current)
  • The Druid
  • The Hunted
  • The Betrayed (Available: 2/21/23)
• The Harbinger
  • Storm Glass
  • Mirror Gate
  • Iron Garden
  • Prism Cloud
  • Broken Veil
• The Whispers of Mirrowen
  • Fire Blood
  • Dryad-Born
  • Poisonwell