summary & overall impression:

i went into, ‘the hunter’s gambit,’ with high expectations but i was sorely disappointed. i don’t typically read vampire fantasy, but this did catch my eye on netgalley. it had a lot of potential with the introduction of blood magics combined with the ongoing vampire vs warden conflict. this novel centres around a blacksmith called kazan who gets her life entangled with a renowned bloodthirsty vampire seneschal, adrius de vere. after being kidnapped by the vampire king, dasar, and his hunting party, she is trapped in their citadel to serve as queen. this is part of a yearly tradition where one human is sacrificed at the end of a 3 day celebration to prevent the destruction of their home.

main characters:

kazan was a very hyperactive haphazard character. when she wasn’t being a pathological liar (which was 85%) of the time, she was busy running around dasar’s castle trying to escape. this situation can only be compared to going to the grocery 10x to buy eggs, when you already know there’s none. she’s also supposedly this mostly self taught fighter, but i still don’t know how she was able to defeat aged vampires with her skillset. this was just unrealistic. kazan is also very selfish and i didn’t fully understand her motives most of the time. for example, after she was accidentally turned into a vampire and her replacement was brought in for the sacrifice, she didn’t even care to find out if he was alive after ruining adrius & reya’s plans. her excuse being she’s a bad person?? her also eating the king’s heart when she didn’t want to be a vampire in the first place is also weird to me but pop off queen.

reya is a one of kazan’s love interests and a very one dimensional character. her most interesting aspect was being able to transform into a black cat. i feel she didn’t really do much except being described as pretty and being able to do some super powerful magic which wasn’t even described in depth.

adrius was most definitely the most well thought out character but there were still so many flaws in his actions. it didn’t seem very consistent of him to excuse kazan’s several lies so easily. his fight scenes were very cool though, i have to admit.

critques:

- none of the side plots were very well developed e.g when kazan teamed up with the geist, alphonse, who was adrius’ brother that he killed accidentally. those scenes just felt all over the place and predictable.
- there was definitely too much back and forth between the reya & adrius vs kazan, with the who trusts who and who’s lying to who. it just felt like that couple would always choose each other over her based on their dialogues. then they would spin around and always save her when she did something stupid. very contradictory.
- isadora, kazan’s lady in waiting was killed so brutally and quickly like she wasn’t even part of the book was just a bit unnecessary and dramatic.
- her decision to not go to glassdow at the end in order to live her life as a human felt rushed and like she didn’t really make that choice for herself. they just booted her out the carriage. this felt like she was being forced to follow the vampires’ plans once again with no real mind of her own. after that, kazan then randomly decided she’s trading her whole house for a horse to go find them. like please be for real.

1⭐️ & 0/5🌶️

The Hunter's Gambit by Ciel Pierlot
Published by Angry Robots
4/5 stars

Love, love, love!!! I absolutely love a good vampire book and that is exactly what Pierlot has delivered!

Kazan is determined and intelligent, but she is fascinated by vampires. She gets captured by them and becomes their Queen for 3 days, however there will be a grand celebration where Kazan is the main course of the feast! Kazan will do anything to survive.

This book was brilliant, it contained so much adventure, action and some spice! I fell in love with this and cannot wait to read more by Pierlot.

Thank you to Ciel Pierson, the Publisher and NetGalley for this arc!

First, I want to say thank you to both netgalley and the publisher/author for allowing me to read this arc. This was a fairly quick read for me, I did find myself skipping sentences and some paragraphs here and there just because I did get a little bored during some parts. I was hoping for a more intricate and in depth plot which was unfortunately not the case. I LOVE the concept of the plot and book though, just wish there was more world building. I would love to be able to imagine a bigger picture but found it slightly hard to do so. The fact its a standalone is amazing since you dont have many fantasy books these days as standalone books.

I'll be honest here. The blur about the book had me feeling a bit "meh" about the story. I like fantasy, vampires, lovers to enemies tropes, but nothing jumped out at me to really grab this book. Until I read the dedication... "Dedicated to everyone who read Twilight and thought: 'Why are these vampires so Mormon?'" I decided I had to read it for that sole reason.

...and it was a bit of a let down. Not a bad read, but not a memorable one. The author can write and can create interesting characters, but I had a difficult time buying in to how those characters interacted with each other. The plot was interesting and how the pieces fit together to form a solution was a bit predictable. The thing that I am hung up on is the ending. It was not satisfying for me. I don't feel a sense of closure to the story, but I also do not feel like there is enough set up to have a sequel (unless you consider this novel to be a sort of origin story to future writing?).

If the author does treat this as an origin story, I would read whatever comes next.

Today I’m so excited to share my review for The Hunter’s Gambit by Ciel Pierlot ✨ Thank you so much to the amazing Angry Robot team for my stunning copy!! 💖

As soon as I saw this book described as sexy vampire threesomes I was immediately sold!! 😂

I really enjoyed this!! It was fast paced, full of action and had really fun worldbuilding! I loved Ciel’s writing style and found myself absolutely devouring this! The concept was so cool and I really enjoyed following along as everything played out.

I loved our no-nonsense, vampire hating, main character Kaz! I loved how she was determined not to go down without a fight and was going to give these vampires a taste of their own medicine. She’s sarcastic, witty and ruthless - the perfect qualities to make up a great main character! Plus the tension and instant chemistry between her, Reya & Adrius was sizzling and I really enjoyed trying to figure out whether she could trust them as her allies or not!

The Hunter’s Gambit was an amazing electric read that gave me the best vampire fix!

Thank you NetGalley and Ciel Pierlot and Angry Robot Publishing for the eARC.

This was the first book in which I was introduced to a morally grey FMC. This is typically something that is hard for me to connect with, but as the story continued, I began to see that all she does was for survival. She's very determined to accomplish her ultimate goal. I think her character arc was well written; she's not likable, she's flawed, and that's what makes her interesting.

This was a very easy and quick read. It reminds me of Dungeon & Dragons; gore, fighting, swearing, blood etc. This is a very gritty vampire book.

The world building could have been further developed because there's so much opportunity in the world of vampires to explore. I am excited to see if other books in the series will provide that!

The pacing is fast in my opinion, and the plot, once it got going, it really took off. This book does have a dash of romance, but I wouldn't say that this was the main focus.

**𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘** 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝑪𝒊𝒆𝒍 𝑷𝒊𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒐𝒕

Release Date: June 25, 2024

3.5⭐️4🌶

This book reminded me of the classic The Most Dangerous Game. The Kazan is a young woman who is also a blacksmith. She's created a silver sword that works very well on killing the vampires of this world. She's quite good a lying deceiving, and this comes in quite handy when she's captured by a group of Vampires.

This group of vampires traps Kazan in their castle-like compound on top of a rocky hill. She is the 252nd human to be their annual sacrifice to a spell that keeps the castle from crumbling around them. They make her "queen" for three days and then they will "eat" her to satisfy the spell.

She spends those three days doing everything she can, including making deals with vampires, to try and make her way out of the compound of death.

A big thank you to @netgalley for approving me for this ARC!

"The Hunter's Gambit" by Ciel Pierlot will pull readers into a world where vampires do not hide in the shadows but live among humans, even if the humans aren't exactly thrilled about it. In this thrilling, fresh take on what it means to live alongside vampires with their own rules and laws, readers will find themselves tangled up in a hundreds of years old tradition that comes with a bite.

Kazan Korvic is one of the best blacksmiths around, and she's especially skilled at creating weapons meant to take down the nasty vampires that like to prey on and terrorize human citizens. When she strikes a deal and sets off to sell her prized weapon, she finds herself attacked by a group of vampires in which not even her sword can help. Taken to the Vampire Court, Kazan is forced to play out the role of their 'Queen' for three days before celebrating the end of her rule with a feast where she will be the main course.

Instead of succumbing to her fate, Kazan plans on finding her sword and making a great escape-something no one that came before her has managed to do. With no allies and hardly any time alone to find a way out of her prison, time feels like it's slipping through her fingers. Yet, it's not long before Kazan realizes that the vampires are stuck with her, too, and they have no idea how determined she is to do whatever it takes to survive.

Kazan is a tough, ruthless, and fierce female lead. Yet, she also has her flaws, making her a fascinating character to follow as she often digs herself into some pretty deep holes before somehow finding a way out of them. So when she's put in an impossible situation, it's almost anxiety-inducing to watch her try and survive against all the odds stacked against her. Even under these strenuous conditions, she still has a sharp tongue and her wits, creating light-hearted moments despite tense and morbid scenes.

The plot is original and Pierlot stays away from cliches, making this an unpredictable story, especially with Kazan's spontaneity. But, Pierlot does draw on the typical themes found within vampire stories such as the seductive vampires, a castle, exquisite parties, gore, spice, and mind games. So the setting and themes feel familiar even while Pierlot flips everything on its head and delivers something entirely different for the reader to munch on in this escape-room-themed novel.

For me, this was a 3.5-star read rounded to 4. While I enjoyed the plot line and the characters, the pacing was slow. Had it not been bogged down by details in certain places, the pacing would've picked up, especially during action scenes or even some of the dialogue and that would've allowed me to immerse myself in the read more. The romance could've been developed a bit more to help the reader understand Kazan's decision at the end of the book. What she chose to do seemed to rely heavily on her feelings rather than what could be considered a logical or rational decision.

Overall, this was a fascinating read and one I think vampire lovers will be seriously intrigued by. "The Hunter's Gambit" is expected to be published on June 25, 2024. Make sure to read this one! A big thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing me with an e-arc of this story and for the opportunity to share my honest opinion in this review.

I was really excited to read The Hunter's Gambit. On paper it sounded like everything I love. Vampires, a FMC full of attitude, an interesting story line. But for some reason it just really didn't get there for me. I found the characters engaging at first but I just lost interest really quickly. It definitely wasn't bad but it wasn't up there for me.

The Hunters Gambit takes place during a time when Vampires rule the lands, humans live in provinces and are used as slaves and food. The way they dress, travel by carriage use lamps and candles makes me feel like it’s the 1800s maybe?
Kazan is our young FMC, she is a human blacksmith that has been on her own from a young age.
Kazan crosses paths with Adrius, a vampire, and they end up needing each others help more than either would like to admit.
With Kazans live in danger can she depend on Adrius help?
I was sucked into this story by the amazing world building and complex characters introduced.
I couldn’t put the book down after getting a couple chapters in.
I knew it would end on a cliff hanger but was soo sad when I reached the last page.
If you are a lover of why choose, fantasy, vampire, enemies to lovers books you’ll love The Hunters Gambit.

‘Dedicated to everyone who read Twilight and thought: “Why are these vampire so Mormon?” If that dedication isn’t enough to pull you in, I’m not sure what is. This was a fun read, I was constantly questioning how Kazan was going to escape her death after three days as the appointed sacrifice of the Vampire Queen (because she HAS to survive, right? Right?) Kazan was strong, capable, and a bit of a bitch which I’m fully on board with. She knows/recognizes her shortcomings, does she make some terrible choices? Of course. I really liked Adrius and Aishreya were fun editions to the characters, but I will admit they were p*ssing me off a bit by the end. I found this to be an interesting read, but to be honest I would have enjoyed an epilogue. There is 🌶️ in this book involving multiple players, so if you’re not into vampire spice, you might want to skip

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I love vampires, and I did like the way this book portrayed them. The FMC was VERY morally grey, a lady who lies her way through life trying to get the upper hand, and is also a blacksmith. She is trying to sell her sword she crafted, a unique vampire killing sword. But she is captured, and is supposed to attend this 3 day “party” where she will be their Queen and doted upon her every whim… but at the end she will be feasted upon by those same vampires. It definitely reminded me of the Menu movie.

My issue lies that the plot and world building was an interesting concept but just fell flat to me. It was enjoyable, but I just crave MORE. Give the plot more time to develop, make the ending not feel rushed. The FMCs earlier trait of lying has her ruining the plans Reya and Adrius had made for years, and even if she didn’t realize she did it, it’s still not a habit I’d like with lovers.

I was filled with excitement in the begin of the book and I am so sad that I rated 2 stars but it didn’t live up to my expectations . Our fmc Kazan is a morally grey character and a pathetic liar - in the beginning of the book it appears that all her actions is a part of her way to survive but in the end she doesn’t know why she is doing everything she does -, it’s just a habit for her and it doesn’t make sense for the readers . After she was captured from the vampires the book took the downfall and in the second day there was a glimpse of light and hope that it would become better but nevertheless all the same .In my opinion the book it would be much better if there wasn’t any love interest or the love interests were all about Kazan and a relationship with her . She bulldozed everything and everyone in her way and for what ? The end and actually all of the book was a bit flat .
Thank you NetGalley and Angry robot for the Arc in exchange for my honest opinion !!

3.5 stars rounded to 4 as my rating.
The story line is an interesting one and is what caught my attention in the first place. The synopsis had me at escape room and for fans of Empire of the Vampire.
Ultimately, the story is about main character Kazan and her survival against dire odds while also finding out more about herself and what she wants in life.
I liked that Kazan wasn't a typical hero style main character. She's flawed, self-serving, and more concerned with her own survival. This was a nice change of pace as so many books focus on doing what is morally right. Kazan is morally grey. I also liked that Kazan took care of herself instead of being helpless. I do not care for a lot of romance in what I read. While there is a romantic subplot, it isn't in your face. I loved the LGBTQIA+ representation of Kazan being bisexual.
I enjoyed the story, pacing, and writing. I also enjoyed that (I think) it's a stand alone. The ending was at least fulfilling.
I will warn, there are plot holes and these holes took me out of the story and were distracting. I hope those get fixed before publishing because they should be caught by beta readers. These inconsistencies are glaringly obvious.
All in all, I would read more from Ciel Pierlot.

I really wanted to The Hunter’s Gambit to become my next vampire obsession in 2024 and I’m honestly gutted that it hasn’t been the case. The early premise has everything that I love and should’ve guaranteed a higher rating, however unfortunately the strong start began to feel flat and a struggle to get through by the halfway mark. I’m thrilled with the queer rep included in this book, however I was hoping to see more actual ‘romance’ as opposed to lust. I couldn’t feel the connection I was hoping for between our main cast of characters which is where I felt the most let down. I loved the world building and imperfectness of the characters which added more dimension to their personalities overall. I also enjoyed the human/vampire dynamics as a whole, and if I hadn’t believe I was reading a Fantasy ‘romance’ I definitely would’ve better appreciated The Hunter’s Gambit with a different set of eyes. Maybe that was my mistake and I’ve misinterpreted what the story is said to be, I’m not sure. However I do believe reader’s will really enjoy this one knowing not to expect much from the romantic sub-plot.

Thank you to the publisher for the NetGalley ARC to read and review.

The city of Mavazem is plagued by vampires who terrorise humans. However, Kazan Korvic is one of those humans who refuses to be threatened by them, regardless of her being human. She's an expert blacksmith, and through her craft she creates the very things that can strike down these vampires - weapons. When she looks for a dealer to sell her wares to she is attacked on her journey, and taken prisoner by a vampire court - they now have in their hands the most deadly weapon towards vampires, and Kazan needs to do whatever she can to get it back. There is a catch though, she is forced to act as Queen for three days and at the end of it - she will, you guessed it, die! as they intend to use her as a human sacrifce to serve their own ends. Kazan plans to get her sword and find her way out, but it's not going to be that simple. With no allies in the castle she is forced to make bargains and not one single vampire is prepared for the length she will go to in order to free herself.

If there has been one theme and trope that I've always loved in fantasy and historical fantasy it has been Vampires. I eat up these type of books because I absolutely love them, sometimes I'm willing to overlook a few plot holes, or a slight lack of character development because of how strongly I love Vampire tales. However, unfortunately, on this occasion, I cannot overlook how flat this story felt when reading it.. Let me start by saying I was very close to DNF'ing this book, and I'm really disappointed that I have to say this. The book starts off so strong, when we are first introduced to Kazan and Adrius, the banter between them and his interest in her as a human, and her interest in him as a Vampire had me sold. However, just when I think we are getting to know these two characters, the trajectory changes quite quickly. After around the 40% mark the plot started to become repetitive and nosensical, and there doesn't seem to be any clarity in what direction the book wants to go in. There was nowhere near enough time to flesh out the vampire vs human world in 400 pages. The plot felt too underdeveloped, leading me to feel like I didn't know any of the characters well enough, which made it harder for me to connect with them the further I got into the book which was such a shame.

I also found myself not understanding the Vampire Politics, we know so little about the Vampire houses and why they don't really like each other that much. There wasn't really any clarity on who was the enemy? I also couldn't really understand what the purpose of the romance was? there was just no emotion to it at all and it didn't really go anywhere? it just felt like a filler between chapters which I was really gutted about.

I wanted to love this book, the premises of it sounded absolutely amazing - the read however, just wasn't. I think this book could've done with more editing, and consideration towards making the book longer in terms of how much was supposed to fit into this book. The initial dedication in this book says "this book is for everyone who watched Twilight and wondered why the vampires were so Mormon." I was expecting some oomph and some sparkle! but unfortunately it just didn't deliver in the way I hoped it would.

A book about vampires. At first, I was sure I was going to like this book because it was about vampires. I read too many books about vampires and kind of burnt myself out. 😆 However, I am so happy I picked up this book!! The vampires had a whole different personality in this book that I was enjoying. The characters kept me engaged and I felt their story was told with such great descriptions and lead-up that you got to know who they were. Kazan is a blacksmith who will do anything she needs to take down a vampire. This book was fast-paced and kept you drawn in. Anyone who enjoys vampires, fast-paced books, and great plots that keep you engaged this is your book! Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read this free book and give my honest review.

Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈

This book started off soooo strong.

I loved the meeting between Kazan and Adrius. In a world where vampires exist and are feared, their first encounter was buzzing with energy and lust. When Kazan is later captured by none other than Adrius and taken to the citadel, that initial attraction becomes strained.

I really enjoyed Kazans exploration of the citadel and her frustration at the vampires lack of empathy for her was palpable. She really despised them and her thirst for vengeance was what kept this book strong.

When she becomes allies with Reya, another Vampire who she feels a strong connection with, that's kind of where things took a turn for the worse in my opinion. I absolutely loved that our FMC was queer, however it affected the romance aspect as it didn't feel genuine. Maybe I didn't trust the vampires as it did feel like they were using Kazan for political gain so their romance didn't seem to go farther than lust.

The action and violence is probably what kept this book a solid 3.5⭐️ I feel like the romance could've probably been left out entirely, I would've loved to see Kazan get revenge on them all to be honest 🤣

Thank you to the author and netgalley for an advanced copy of the book.

this isn't the best thing i have read, but it's definitely up there somewhere.

full rtc after i've gathered my thoughts!

thankyou netgalley for the arc. all opinions are my own!

The Hunter's Gambit is a electrifying, seductive read involving vampires and all the debauchery which is associated with them. We follow Kazan, a blacksmith who has dedicated a lot of resources to creating weapons which kill vampires and the journey she undertakes as Queen of the Vampires.

The writing style of Pierlot flowed beautifully throughout the book and I truly felt as though I was in a medieval timeline. I very much enjoyed the detailing of all the various buildings and areas in which Kazan explores throughout the book.

The characters within the book are all also well-developed, in my opinion. There were areas in which Kazan felt a little unruly and that I didn't agree with the actions she took however it was explained by Pierlot therefore I wasn't left wondering about any plot holes. There is a slight miscommunication trope (in my opinion) in the book which isn't a trope I am a fan of however it did not impact the story for me.

The only downside was that the ending felt a little lackluster, especially after the action throughout the middle of the book. I believe others would likely enjoy the ending but for me, this was what prevented the book from being 5 stars.

Overall, this was a very good book and an eARC I really enjoyed. I loved the vampire aspect of the story and the relationships between characters. It would have been even better to know more about the vampires backgrounds as a whole but I appreciate the story wasn't based around that, I'm just interested in the world!

Thank you to the publisher, Angry Robot Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before it was published in exchange for an honest review.