The Huntress A Novel

Wow just wow. Katie Quinn so artfully balances the line between building detailed context, while still keeping the story riveting and moving along. Every single character was complicated, layered, and human. I wish I could forget this book just to re read it for the first time again!

This book was terrific. The story follows a hunt for a Nazi war criminal through multiple storylines. The author does a great job of unfolding the story over time and through the characters and although this is a long book, it draws the reader in and hooks you. I kept looking for reasons to be able to sit and read what happens next. The characters are not all likeable, clearly, but they are fully developed and they all add to the story. Would be a great book to read with book club to discuss.

2 Stars *Someone finally writes about one of my favorite pieces of history, and it ends up this disappointing* If you have suffered through my book rants, then you’ve probably heard my oft repeated refrain of “A disproportionate percentage of historical fiction novels are set in WWII and most of them cover the same areas of the war in the same way.” Which is followed by, “If people are going to write about WWII, why can’t they ever write about the often-overlooked portions of the war such as the invasion of the Aleutian Islands or die Nachthexen.” Don’t get me wrong; it’s important to talk about those well-known areas of the war such as the Nazi occupation and the Holocaust. But that doesn’t mean everyone should constantly write the same generic stories while ignoring the other areas of the war. This is the biggest, most devastating war in human history. There is no lack of angles from which to write. So when I saw that someone had written an adult fiction about die Nachthexen, I was absolutely over-the-moon excited. Not familiar with die Nachthexen? It means “The Night Witches.” That was what the Germans called the Soviet’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment. This was an all-female regiment started as little more than a publicity stunt / Hail Mary due to the lack of manpower and the Soviet’s bleak situation in the war. There were three all-female Soviet air force units though the 588th became the most well-known. These were the first women officially allowed to fly in combat. They left their lives behind. They faced massive amounts of sexism and ridicule. They were sent through intense, highly accelerated training. Everything they were given – from their uniforms to their planes – was secondhand and subpar. Their fleet was primarily made of Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes (outdated planes designed for crop-dusting and definitely not meant for combat. These planes were mostly made of plywood for crying out loud!) These women often were not even issued parachutes or any defensive ammunition. After all, a direct hit to a Polikarpov meant almost certain death, so why waste supplies? Despite all of this, the women of 588th persevered. They had to fly their planes at low altitudes because of the weight of the bombs which meant they could only fly at night. And they would often idle their engines and glide towards their target. The soft, broom-like whooshing of their planes combined with their nocturnal attacks and deadly accuracy led to the nickname of “The Night Witches.” They were the epitome of badass and they were unapologetically proud of being women. These amazing women were crucial to the war. But although they were the Soviet’s most highly decorated air force regiment, they were quickly shunted to the sidelines of history and largely forgotten about. So yes, I was ecstatic to read a story about them. Sadly, my expectations were much too high. Ok, I will admit; some of the blame lies with me. I didn’t read the synopsis thoroughly enough. I saw the words “Night Witches” and got really, really excited and said “GIMME NOW!” If I had proceeded with more caution, then maybe I would not have been so disappointed. Then again, this book had many flaws. Even aside from my disappointment, this could never have been five stars for me. Probably not four stars either. Side Note: I just reread the publisher’s description. They used the word “cocksure” to describe Nina. They really couldn’t have used a less sexist adjective? Just because she is a strong, independent character doing a traditionally male job doesn’t mean you should erase her femininity. I usually cringe when people start talking about latent sexism in words, but this is undeniably a prime example. Being strong shouldn’t only mean physical, male strength. Being confident shouldn’t have anything to do with genitalia. The 588th regiment followed twelve “commandments.” The first one was “Be proud you are a woman.” So, HarperCollins, stop enforcing the idea that women are only strong when they emulate men. And get a damn thesaurus! The story is told non-chronologically and follows multiple POV in multiple timelines. There is Nina, a member of the 588th regiment, whose story mostly occurs during the war. There is Ian, a British journalist turned war criminal hunter. And then there is Jordan, a random seventeen-year-old American girl who somehow gets caught up in all this. The latter two POV occur in miscellaneous years mostly in the 1950’s. Nina was by far the best of the POV even though I was disappointed in her story. She did have a lot of stereotypes. Ian was mostly boring. His character arc was not as developed, and it felt like his fixation on The Huntress (a suspected Nazi war criminal) existed to further the plot rather than feeling like a genuine, organic motivation. And finally, we have Jordan: the annoying, inconsistently-written teenager. Her plotline was so dull, particularly in the beginning because it mostly focused on whether or not she should have sex with her boyfriend. I get that her story was meant to explore overthrowing societal expectations, but I don’t think it fulfilled its potential at all. She was an insecure mouse with massive daddy issues who (not surprisingly) ends up dating a man way older than her and not being all that independent. It was all so clichéd. Considering her relationship with her stepmother, her storyline could have been so much more impactful and inspiring. This story isn’t actually about the Nachthexen. There are only a couple of flashback chapters that cover it, and those chapters are more about a random romance than they are about the amazing accomplishments of the regiment. The action is all done through fade-outs then recapped through dialogue. It was so disappointing. Most of the plot is so slow and drawn-out. There isn’t any mystery about who The Huntress is, so there is also no suspense to the story. This book would have been so much more interesting if some of it had been told from her perspective. Was she truly a psychopath? Was she someone who went along with terrible things for her own survival? Was she operating under her own moral code and truly thought her actions were justified? Instead, her character was left as an amorphous blob. Her actions were so inconsistent. Why was she allegedly such a coldblooded killer yet so terrified of certain people? It just didn’t make sense. Anyway, the other characters remain frustratingly oblivious, and the story drags on for hundreds of pages with almost nothing happening. It’s very character-driven, but the character building was immersive or stirring. Looking back, I have no idea what took this story so long to say. This is yet another example of a non-chronological timeline used to disguise a lack of content. The story circles around the theme of hunting. You have the war criminal nicknamed “The Huntress.” You have the people hunting her. You have some animal hunting and lots of hunting themed references. It was mildly interesting, but the story felt so contrived. There are a series of events that are the catalyst for nearly everything in the whole story. This involves the big “secret” teased in the book blurb. The WWII timeline leads up to those events and the later timeline works backward to trace the aftereffects of those events back to their source. So both timelines put massive importance on those moments. They spend most of the book obtusely referencing them without telling the reader what actually happened. (Another cheap trick that drives me nuts!) Then when the characters finally reveal those events, it was done in the most anti-climactic way possible: through some choppy recap dialogue that obliterated all of the emotional impact. These are the events that caused the entire plot of the novel, that were teased for most of the book, and that’s the reveal we get? A rushed, half-assed spurt of dialogue?? I was already disappointed in the book, but that was the moment that tipped this book from three to two stars. From there, the reader is rushed onwards to a deus ex machina ending. Once everyone was finally on the same page, it became a mad dash to wrap everything up. It was unsatisfying. The plot holes left me with too many questions. The epilogue was sweet and all, but it just didn’t cut it. The best thing I can say about The Huntress was that it didn’t have nearly as many anachronisms as some of the other recent WWII novels I’ve read (glares ferociously at The Nightingale and The Lost Girls of Paris). But the dialogue was too modern. So I wouldn’t say that the historical accuracy is a strong point of the novel; rather, I would say it isn’t as awful as my other recent examples… which isn’t glowing praise by any stretch of the imagination. As I mentioned, even aside from my disappointment regarding the Nachthexen, this still would have been a “meh” read for me. It didn’t incite strong enough emotions for me to love it or hate it. This had such potential to showcase strong women in both heroine and villain roles. Yet that opportunity was wasted. And my disappointment about that is the only thing keeping this lackluster book from instantly slipping from my mind. RATING FACTORS: Ease of Reading: 3 Stars Writing Style: 2 Stars Characters and Character Development: 2 Stars Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars Level of Captivation: 2 Stars Originality: 3 Stars

In LOVE with Kate Quinn. Riveting, complex, honest, filled with love and hate and all of the dichotomy that makes us alive.

I read this book because I loved the Alice Network. It was great. I loved all the characters .. especially the huntress. I have never read a book where I have enjoyed the villain so much.

this was on my tbr for way too long. shame on me

Mystery, thriller, and historical fiction? Yes, please. This story of a Nazi huntress, becoming the one hunted as a war criminal, was fantastic. My only quibble was that it was a bit long, taking a while to get into. But the characters were fascinating and had growth and the story itself well written.

So Nina Markova is officially my number one bi queen because she's legendary, i take no other opinion and you can go fuck your mother (as she would say it) if you think she's not

Excellent

Its been a long time since I’ve read a book set during WWII, and probably The Alice Network by this author was the last. Despite being excellent books, stories set during the holocaust can be very distressing and that’s probably why I waited till the author’s new release. And this book is no different - featuring some amazing characters, especially women whom I can never forget. The best part of any Kate Quinn novel is reading the author’s note at the end where we get such interesting information about the real life people on whom the characters are based. While I knew about the role women played in the World Wars in the west (which was essentially at the home front supporting the troops), I was surprised to know about the Night Witches - the Russian all female bomber regiments, who dealt a lot of damage to the Germans with their nighttime raids. The author tells us their story through the character of Nina - how these young women from different strata of society came together to fight for their country, some because of their love for Mother Russia, some to prove that they are as good or better than the men and many others because they find no other future for themselves. Nina falls in the latter category, choosing to fly to escape from her life in Siberia and finding home in the skies. She can come across as bloodthirsty and abrasive, but the obstacles that she overcomes in her life are tremendous and she is just such an admirable woman. Her interactions with her fellow sisters from the regiment and especially Yelena were heartwarming to read about and her separation from them really hurt so much. The author captures every single emotion that she feels with extreme sensitivity and I truly felt all of them. We also get to know about some great people who dedicated their lives to bring those criminals to justice - the ones who weren’t at the top of the Nazi hierarchy but were the everyday participants of the support system. The characters Ian and Tony symbolize them - guys who can’t find peace just because some Nazis were punished at Nuremberg while many others just went back to living without any consequences. Ian has a personal agenda to find the Huntress, but he is relentless in his pursuit of finding anyone responsible along the way and is quite selfless. While he is the stoic one, Tony is a charmer who uses his smiles and good looks and wonderful way with words to extract information from witnesses. These two and Nina make for a very unlikely but awesome team when they finally decide to hunt the Huntress. Jordan on the other hand is a remarkable young woman, wanting to pursue her dreams despite being told her dreams are not appropriate for a woman. I loved the way she is relentless in going with her gut and following the threads that her pictures tell. I particularly enjoyed the way the author weaved the narrative around all these characters and when they all came together, it made for an explosive climax. If you enjoy historical fiction or love the older books by Kate Quinn, I don’t need to tell you that please pick up this book. It’s a wonderful story about people with the drive to bring Nazi criminals to justice, even when the world wants to forget them and move on. This book has strong women characters, an engaging plot, intense romantic elements, and a deep emotional connect that will leave you feeling mesmerized. Highly recommend.

A team set out to hunt the notorious Huntress who killed many innocents in cold blood during WWII. This book wasn’t the thriller or mystery I was expecting it to be. It was told in three alternating point of views, Nina’s chapters covered her time with the Night Witches, a regiment of female bombers. Jordan’s and Ian’s chapters were told post-war. It took a while for me to get into the book. I thought Nina’s chapters were the most thrilling; I wanted to know more about the Night Witches but these were only flashbacks. I felt Jordan’s point of view just went around in circles until the time things finally moved forward (which happened at around 70% of the book). And Ian’s...well, the plot was quite predictable so there wasn’t much of a mystery here. I heard good things about Kate Quinn’s books so I expected to love this but unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

We follow three storylines (I love multiple storylines in my HF): Ian, Nina and Jordan. At first they are all taking place in different years: 1940, 1946 and 1950 but soon they are all melding together and you uncover some deep and really dark secrets! . . While I had a good hunch I knew who The Huntress was from the start I was definitely starting to doubt my theory a bit in the middle of the book. The uncovering is the mystery was so good! I was just reading as fast as I could to see if they would uncover the next piece of the puzzle and I was just on the edge waiting for everyone’s reaction! . . Jordan and Nina are amazing characters and I loved their stories so much! Jordan was the one who was uncovering the mystery and it was great to read that part through her perspective! .

“We’re standing in the ashes of a war like no other—if we don’t try harder to see the shades of gray involved, we’ll find ourselves in the thick of a new one.” Sometimes historical fiction novels can feel predictable and monotonous, because we can look up the history behind the topic in the book. The Huntress by Kate Quinn is an example of how historical fiction should be written. It was suspenseful, moving, and thought-provoking. My favorite part of this book would have to be the characters that Quinn created to show how complex people really are. Each character was dynamic and multi-dimensional including the villains. I really enjoyed that Quinn did not shy away from expressing her characters’ conflicting and illogical emotions. However with that being said, Nina was my favorite character. She had so much inner strength and determination while still being a broken person. If you have seen this book at your local book store or have been considering it, I would highly recommend it. The Huntress will definitely be on the list of best books I read in 2020. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a fantastic book. Just like her previous story, The Alice Network, this was another gem to read. I don't usually pitch myself as a reader who enjoys historical fiction, but Quinn's books have really sold me. I thought the cast of characters was full of depth and offered an interesting look into the lives of those affected by war. The thing I think I enjoyed the most was the intertwining of the three storylines. It made for a an interesting dynamic while reading. It was as if the three storylines were orbiting each other in a three-body-problem dance, just waiting to merge in a great finale. The whole book was just a joy to read.