The overall story was good. Kazan, the main character, decides to not only get mad when she is kidnapped by vampires, but get even too. While the story moved well, some parts felt awkward. The main spicy scene felt like it was added and not really a part of the story. The last couple of chapters were actually the best in the whole book. The title doesn't seem like it fits the story. The cover fits the story really well. Thank you NetGalley and Angry Robot for sending this electronic book for review. All opinions are my own.

This book really did not go as expected.

The best description of how I felt while reading is that it’s a fantasy, vampire-filled ball akin to ‘The Masque of the Red Death’, with the unexpectedness of ‘The Cabin in the Woods’. Because yes, there are vampires, swordfights, heroes and villains, but it is definitely not predictable in any way whatsoever.

And it’s an absolute ride.

Kazan is a female blacksmith seeking revenge. Unfortunately her cunning plans don’t quite go as anticipated, as en route to enact them, she’s ambushed - apparently at random - captured and held in a castle with the world’s most powerful vampires, crowned Queen for three days before she will be their sacrifice.

She is, quite naturally, rather confused at this.

Of course, she tries to escape and overcome her grisly fate, and repeatedly discovers that no, she is effectively doomed.

That’s the start.

Our protagonist is not The Chosen One. She’s not a beautiful heroine, nor a brave warrior - she’s a woman with a very specific skillset, there’s nobody she can really trust, and all doors (real and metaphorical) are locked and barred at the top of a cliff.

I’m not going to say any more, because I found myself turning the pages faster and faster and would very much like you to as well. What would I do in this situation? Would I even last the three days? Nothing’s like the romance novels; these vampires are extremely deadly and laugh in the face of the tropes.

The scenario, which is essentially a lethal escape-room with a ticking clock, is beautifully drawn, and the characters are engaging and multifaceted. I found myself trying to think ahead, to see around corners, pick up the breadcrumbs and solve how Kazan will survive each day while working towards her freedom, but the author is as cunning as Agatha Christie - solutions are blocked one after the other. The tension is constant, only allowing pauses for breath when our heroine has to sleep, which are thus ‘lost’ hours she’s not able to spend trying to escape.

This is a brilliant, original adventure, and while clearly a standalone, I’d love to see what the author does next. Definitely recommended.

Overall, this is not normally the type of fantasy I enjoy but this one really did it for me. It was gritty, suspenseful, and EVERYONE is morally gray! We love to see it.

My one hangup is the list/description at the start of the novel. I think I was more confused at first trying to utilize that reference rather than going in without one.

* Spoilers *

Kazan is not a typical FMC but I came to adore her in the end. I loved her determination and stubbornness, her deviating from basically every plan she was involved in, and her almost “descent into madness” in the end. At first I didn’t like that she became a vampire, but she retained so many human qualities and became so savage in the end I felt that decision made more sense by the time I finished.

Last thing, thank you for the FMF threesome, always a fan. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

“Dedicated to everyone who read Twilight and thought: Why are these vampires so Mormon?”
 
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️

With a dedication like the above, I was sold on this book. The Hunter’s Gambit is a story surrounding one woman caught by a clan of vampires who plan on k*lling her at the end of her three day “reign” as vampire queen. However, the FMC, Kazan, is not someone to be messed with. She is a liar, a blacksmith, and downright feisty woman. She ends up finding herself with no allies, except an alluring pair of vampires, but can she really trust them?  

Overall, Ciel Pierlot created a beautifully captivating vampire book with a touch of spice that keeps you interested in what Kazan might do next to get out of her situation!
 
You should read this if you like: 



⚔️ Enemies-to-Lovers
⚔️ Court Politics and Intrigue
⚔️ Vampires
⚔️ Why Choose Romances

💬 What book release are you looking forward to this year? If you are not sure, what book can you not wait to read from your TBR?


𝘈𝘙𝘊 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘙𝘊. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘪𝘦𝘭 𝘗𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

Thank you for the ARC! I loved this story, it was extremely well written. Will definitely be on the lookout for more books by this author!

While my expectations were high for 'The Hunter's Gambit,' I ultimately found myself not fully engaged with the story. Despite its promising elements such as vampires, a strong female main character, magic, and high stakes, I struggled to connect with the prose and overall narrative. Although the premise intrigued me, the execution fell short of my expectations. While others may find merit in its concept, unfortunately, it did not resonate with me personally.

Ever been in the wrong place at the wrong time, then inadvertently be crowned the Vampire Queen, to live in luxury, dress in glamour, where every night is a party?
Me neither but Kazan has, she gets 3 days of life as the Vampire Queen and all the luxuries it has to offer before she is torn to pieces and devoured in a sacrificial ceremony. There's always a catch!

What follows is 3 days of struggle, scheming and survival, think an escape room with the added pressure of being torn to shreds if you don't get out. The stakes are high.
Kazan is selfish, sly and a liar. Skills that she will need to utilise to survive her reign as she plots her escape from the treacherous court of cunning and cruelty that is the Vampire Citadel.

The vampires are not simply monsters, but a society with their own complex rules, rituals, and motivations. Although they are common within the world this is set, they are still feared and acknowledged as the threat they are. I liked the Houses and their Seneschals set up the author has chosen, this added to the levels of distrust as they all try to conspire against each other.

I loved how the main character is not a good person, and I don't mean she's a little flawed, I mean from start to finish she is not a good person.
It was a good choice to acknowledge that, let's face it if you want to avoid being mauled to death your moral code might have to disappear. It's a desperate struggle for survival, no matter the cost. There are no heroes here.

It's got blood-thirsty vampires, rituals and revenge. What more could you need?

Thank you, NetGalley, Ciel Pierlot, and Angry Robot for the advanced copy.

This was an intriguing read and struck me as something that could form part of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It was refreshing to read about vampires fully embracing their blood thirsty violent selves. I didn't feel any chemistry between Kazan and the two semi love interests however. The vampire politics were an interesting concept if a tad complicated. Kazan was a likeable lead, strong and capable of fending for herself (most of the time at least). Thank you to Netgalley and Angry Robot for the advanced copy.

A dark fantasy book with devious vampires? Yes please!

This is not your typical fantasy book. This is not a love story between a vampire and a human who beat the odds and save each other. This is a gritty tale of survival, anger, selfishness, and revenge and I loved it!

We follow Kazan who is a skilled blacksmith who gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and finds herself in a fight for her life. It's her against a castle of vampires determined to eat her.

Kazan is haughty, selfish, quick-witted, and most notably a liar. However, in her story, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. She uses her skills to survive the best she knows how while she navigates her escape from the vampire castle.

This book had twists and turns everywhere you look and I found myself gasping out loud on more than one occasion. There was one twist that I didn't see coming so much that I had to reread the section several times to make sure I read it right, and then read a few chapters back to see how I missed it (and yep, it was so cleverly hidden I definitely missed it).

This world was incredibly unique in a way that made vampire society a common occurrence though still feared. There is a solid world set up here that could allow sequels and side stories to emerge....I know I definitely want to see more from a handful of characters.

The characters that Pierlot wrote were amazingly flawed. No one is a hero. No one claims to be. This is not a tale of good vs evil and it's riveting because of it. The writing was smooth and flowed so easily that I lost myself in the story.

Overall: recommend!

2.5 rounded up

I loved the protagonist and the setting, but the plot and pacing just fell apart after the 40% mark. A fun concept without direction.

For a book that takes place over a period of just three days it felt like Kazan spent weeks wandering the vampire manor, aimlessly. She seemed to have a lot of strong feelings about survival but rarely acted upon them except to flee from one hallway to another when a scene needed to come to a close.

I liked the love interests but the chemistry was lacking, there didn't really seem to be a believable reason why they took an interest in Kazan, other than that they flirted with her a few times and she reciprocated. The motivations behind their political allegiance felt equally shallow.

I am sure this book will hit the right note with others - the worldbuilding is fun and grisly, the weaponry especially. Kazan is an interesting character, a little morally grey, and she is satisfyingly perceptive. The writing was easy to consume and in some places beautifully descriptive. For me though, this one really lacked depth and despite it being fairly short I struggled to stay invested.

------------------------------------
My rating system:
✧✧✧✧✧ - loved it, no complaints
✧✧✧✧ - loved it, some technical flaws
✧✧✧ - liked it
✧✧ - disappointing
✧ - unenjoyable

I was intrigued by The Hunter’s Gambit since the last book I read about vampires was Twilight. It is time for me to explore a fresh take on the world of vampires. There are a couple romantasy books on my TBR that explore this world. In the meantime, I wanted to give Ciel Pierlot the chance. I was kindly provided and ARC by Net Galley and Angry Robot in exchange for an honest review.

“Dedicated to everyone who read twilight and thought: ‘why are these vampires so Mormon?’”

The Hunter’s Gambit is about a blacksmith that is captured by vampires to be their queen for three days until they feast on her human life. Kazan’s specialty lies in crafting swords designed to kill vicious creatures. She is familiar with the world of vampires but not skilled enough to defeat them. She must use the three days wisely to scheme for a way out.

Overall, I enjoyed The Hunter’s Gambit. The plot was intriguing and Ciel Pierlot presented a unique POV. I enjoyed the plot, but the character arc fell flat. I enjoyed the supporting characters more than the main character and each character's personality seemed a little too similar. The romance this book was meant to have felt like it missed the mark. I would have potentially enjoyed this story if it removed the romance all together. The romantic elements distracted from the story and I did not feel resolve from the romantic conflicts in the end. I would consider this to be young adult fantasy. It was an easy, overall enjoyable read.

Thank you Net Galley and Angry Robot for this Advance Reader Copy.

I enjoyed this book. Gave me empire of vampire vibes. Has a strong female lead that I enjoyed. I love vampire books and this one did not disappoint

Thank you for the opportunity to read The Hunter's Gambit.

It was decent. the story lacked a bit of the plot.
There was a happy ending.

The hunter's gambit is a fantasy novel about a blacksmith who is kidnapped and brought to a vampire castle, where she will be crowned their queen for three days.... only to be eaten later.
The premise was giving serious Ready or Not vibes tbh. I wasn't expecting the romance, not that I'm complaining.

(ugh, honestly, imagine being in a triad *and* getting to murder the people you hate, in the most brutal way possible?
Good for her tbh)

Unfortunately there were moments where I ended skimming....a lot. The ending also felt rather underwhelming. Aside from that, 3 stars. Great premise, but over descriptive and underwhelming Ending.

Rarely does a dedication make you need to read a book but once I read this one I was all in!
I was completely entrenched in the world created, I loved some characters and despised others.
Morally grey fmc, found power, touches of spice and streaks of blood!

I get that the she is fierce and braving the Miss Independent facade but c'mon. I don't have to read the samw statement again and again. She is brave but blindy stupid as well. At least the plot is somewhat engaging and the cover is definitely 5stars

I enjoyed about 50% of this book, I would just fall in and out of interest constantly with this book. It had all of the ingredients to be an amazing fantasy book but it just felt very flat and 2D. The main and most important thing was the FMC was written very amazing. I genuinely loved her. I just didn’t care for the world..

📚 Book Review 📚

I have always enjoyed reading vampire novels and I love new and exciting tales of vampire lore.

This is a story about Kazan, a blacksmith, who finds herself kidnapped and held prisoner by a group of vampires in a citadel until it is time for her to be sacrificed. However, not all the vampires are keen to be controlled by the self professed leader of the vampires and there are plots a plenty.

This started off well, I really liked the character of Kazan and found her initial meeting with future vampire lover Adrius, exciting. But then it just seemed to become very slow. The writing and language is great, really strong and descriptive, but the characters for me, were just a bit boring. The whole story slowed until it concluded with newly turned vampire Kazan riding into the future on a horse and left me a little bit flat, which is a real shame because I had high hopes for this one.

The initial dedication says that “this book is for everyone who watched Twilight and wondered why the vampires were so Mormon” so I was expecting vampiric characters full of oomph. Sadly, I didn’t get that on this occasion, I’ll have to stick to my Twilight box set instead.

I’d like to thank Angry Robot Books, NetGalley and the author for the arc and the fantastic opportunity, in exchange for my honest feedback 😊

⭐️⭐️

This was absolutely wonderful from start to finish. It’s dark, seductive, humorous, frightening, and bloody. Chaotic creatures of the night coming together in celebration that lasts three days all dedicated to their chosen human sacrifice. Kazan is an unwilling participant in this ancient gathering and tries at every chance to not be these creatures next conquest but as her days dwindle she becomes more and more frightened of her impending death. Will Adrius provide aid, a vampire she met outside of these walls, or will she be absolutely alone in this sea of monsters?

I throughly enjoyed this book. I thought the author made all the right choices when deciding how to set up relationships and how to handle the pacing of the story. We started with vampires in such a casual way with Adrius that when we came face to face with the reality of these creatures I felt the cold shock of fear along with Kazan. The dance between romance, action, horror, and fantasy worked for me. You didn’t have too much of one thing within the story. It was balanced well.

The romance… THE ROMANCE. I am typically not of fan of this sort of thing (I’m trying to not give anything away) but I really enjoyed this. The author set it up just right where it made sense. The nature of the relationship just worked because of who and what they are but also the people that they are. I felt that Kazan was taken care of and provided for in all the right ways that a romantic partner should provide.

Overall, I thought this was a great story. It was enjoyable to read, it wasn’t overall complicated, the world building didn’t take chapters to get the point across, this was a game and there were winners and losers. I was happy with the ending but it could be interpreted as we could be getting more from Kazan 👀 can’t wait to see what else this author produces!

Just as a note…
If you’re not interested in blood, gore, battles, struggles, vampires, abduction, mystery, and chaos this story probably isn’t for you. But if you’re willing to read something new in the “darker” category this would be a good start. It’s not TO dark. It’s a nice balance.

The Hunter's Gambit follows Kazan a blacksmith who is captured by vampires to be sacrificed for a centuries-old tradition. She's imprisoned in a castle and her spilled blood is needed to keep it standing.
I liked her as a heroine, she was smart, witty, and selfish. She's not a good person from beginning to end but I liked that the author chose to go that route. It's nice to see a heroine doing everything she can to survive no matter the cost. Even though she enters a sort of quick steamy affair with two other vampires, she doesn't base her decisions on them.

The dedication to Twilight made me laugh and by the end, this story certainly delivered gruesome vampires with the many brutal action scenes.

The prose was a little hard to get into at first and hard to connect to the characters. I feel the ending was left open so I'm hoping we will get a second installment. I hope to see more character development, maybe some povs from the vampires, Adrius and Reya. Despite this being labeled as romance, I would say it's a very minor detail. Not really a subplot. I hope if the romance continues, we see more build-up, more tension, and more time for a relationship(s) to grow.

There were also some questions left unanswered, I hope they get cleared up, and now that the castle and all its history have crumbled what comes next?
All in all, this book was different from one I've ever read before and I was intrigued the entire time.

If you enjoy reading about savage vampires with a strong heroine doing everything to survive a game of cruelty, I recommend picking this one up!
Thank you, NetGalley, Ciel Pierlot, and Angry Robot for the arc in exchange for an honest review.