Well, it has been ages since I last read an urban fantasy novel! And, after vaguely remembering reading a couple of Lilith Saintcrow books during my binge-reading phase back in 2018-20, I had planned to order a second-hand copy of Saintcrow’s 2008 novel “Hunter’s Prayer” because of Calvin Chu’s cool cover art for it.
But, to my astonishment, the website pointed out that I’d already bought this one back in January 2020, probably shortly after reading “Night Shift” (2008). And, after searching the outer layers of my book piles, I found it – and some other interesting books I’d forgotten that I had. Ha! Manifestation 🙂
Whilst this novel takes place after the events of “Night Shift” (2008), and is the second part of a five-book series, it sort of works as a stand-alone story. Yes, some elements – like Jill’s scar and her complex arrangement with Perry – might be mildly confusing at first, but they are either explained again or they make sense from the context.
Anyway, let’s take a look at “Hunter’s Prayer”. This review may contain SPOILERS.
This is the 2008 Orbit (UK) paperback edition of “Hunter’s Prayer” that I read.
Set in the American city of Santa Luz, local demon hunter Jill Kismet is given a particularly nasty case by the local police department. A killer, unlikely to be human, has eviscerated someone who was working the streets in the seedy part of town… and it isn’t too long before other victims start showing up in this part of town.
One of the things that I will say about this novel is that it’s a thrilling, fast-paced, hardboiled and action-packed novel which goes at full intensity throughout 🙂 It’s ridiculously edgy in the way that only something from the 1990s/2000s could be, it’s on first-name terms with the horror genre and – in the classic pulp tradition – it never gets boring 🙂 Seriously, they don’t make ’em like they used to! Old-school urban fantasy was so awesome 🙂
Whilst this novel is too fast-paced and badass to be genuinely terrifying, there are a surprisingly dramatic array of horror elements here. As well as the paranormal cosmic horror, occult horror and monster horror that you’d expect, there are also some incredibly well-placed moments of gory horror that could easily rival a splatterpunk novel, as well as some psychological horror elements and a surprising amount of disturbing sexual horror/violence/criminality.
And, yes, this is the sort of novel that would probably be plastered with multiple content warnings (exploitation, assault etc...) these days. But all of this stuff is relevant to the plot, clearly presented as evil, viewed from a mildly-moderately feminist perspective, there to show how Jill relates to her past etc… It’s an edgy 2000s novel, but it isn’t just “edgy for the sake of edgy” with certain subject matter.
For the most part, this is an old-school pulp thriller that has been updated for the 2000s, with cool magic and scary monsters added to it. Jill is an expert warrior and a hardboiled detective, whose boyfriend – Saul – is a tall and muscular were-cougar (like a werewolf, but he turns into a giant cougar). Jill investigates crimes but also spends a lot of her time getting into brutal and/or spectacular fights, only surviving thanks to the abilities she has gained from a diabolical deal with a demon called Pericles. This is a novel where characters knock back shots of whisky as if they are water, carry guns everywhere, are almost killed multiple times and stuff like that. It is “turned up to eleven” throughout and it is ridiculously badass and very compelling 🙂
Also, on a side-note, it’s refreshing to see a fantasy-genre novel where the romantic elements show the characters already in a relationship. Although Jill and Saul argue occasionally, their relationship is surprisingly good, there’s no power imbalance and it also contrasts well with the more grim parts of the story as well. It’s a reassuring background element of the story. This isn’t really a “spicy” novel, but it doesn’t need to be. Jill and Saul are too busy fighting alongside each other, investigating crimes, recovering from battle injuries etc… for any of that, but you also get the sense that they probably have a pretty wild time together “off-screen”.
And, whilst the detective elements take a slight back-seat to all of the action sequences and the thrills, these elements are well-plotted enough that they all make sense by the end of the story. In the classic 1920s-50s hardboiled crime fiction tradition, there is a complex web of criminal activity, as well as a decent amount of moral ambiguity as well. And, whilst the characters are all fairly stylised, they’re complex and well-written enough to keep the story compelling, with Jill also walking a fine line between being heroic and being an anti-hero.
Saintcrow’s writing style is really good too, with the sort of fast-paced first-person thriller narration that you’d expect from the urban fantasy genre. There are also, especially in scenes involving Jill’s magical scar, lots of overloads of sensory descriptions as well. This novel feels like a goth metal album turned up to eleven, like a film with hyper-saturated colours. And, again, the writing also feels like a much faster and more modern version of the sort of narration you’d expect to see in an old hardboiled crime novel as well 🙂 Literally the only fault I could find with the writing were a few moments where Jill dramatically “thumbs back the hammer” on a name-brand pistol which, famously, doesn’t have a revolver-style hammer.
The chapters are long enough to feel satisfying but also short enough to keep the story moving at a decent pace. There’s almost always something cool, dramatic, edgy, intriguing, atmospheric or horrific happening. It’s a gripping novel from a time when the “popular” version of the fantasy genre was a bit more edgy and gothic and FUN. When romance was a well-written sub-plot, a reassuring contrast to the dangers the main character faced, rather than the main focus. Where the main focus was cool monsters and spectacular action sequences and awesome magic spells and stuff like that.
And that’s all I can really think to say about this novel. It was an absolute blast to read 🙂 326 pages of gripping, awesome, “turned up to eleven”, edgy, fast-paced thrills and drama. This is a novel that was written to be entertaining and it has succeeded perfectly in this regard. It is a more fantastical 2000s version of the sort of pulp crime novels that thrilled audiences back in the 1920s-50s. And, whilst it might be too edgy for some modern readers, anyone who grew up reading horror, thriller etc… fiction will probably have a blast with this one 🙂
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it would get a solid five.
