Book Review: Rune Hunter by Amelia Wilson and J. A. Cummings

I received an ARC of Rune Hunter by Amelia Wilson and J. A. Cummings in exchange for an honest review. Rune Hunter is the third title in Wilson's Rune Series, but the first to incorporate a coauthor. This series is a paranormal romance that incorporates elements of Norse mythology, vampires, faeries, witches, werewolves, and many other supernatural beings. The previous stories in the series detail the meeting, relational development, hardships, obstacles, and extraordinary abilities of Nika Graves and Erik Thorvald. This third installment in the series is a continuation of the building love story and ensuing hardships that fall upon the couple as they continue their love and life together within the mortal and immortal realms in which they live.

Readers of Amelia Wilson's work will recognize much of this story as akin to her particular style. Most of her stories contain many of the same elements of soulmates, the power of love to overcome all obstacles, and the intermingling and clash of supernatural creatures within one realm all compiled into a quick-paced, easy read.

I was, however, somewhat disappointed at the drastic differences in this new title in comparison to the first two titles in the Rune Series. I have read almost all of Amelia Wilson's previously released titles (Rune Series, Wicked Vampire Series, A Vampire in Disguise Series, and the only released title of the Cursed Angel Series), and as such am very familiar with her writing. I am not, however, familiar with the writings of the coauthor J. A. Cummings, and I believe it is the incorporation of the coauthor into the new title that effected such noticeable changes.

This series was much heavier on the romance and incorporated more explicit sexual content than any of Wilson's other titles. I am not sensitive to this subject matter, nor am I easily offended, so the incorporation of this sexual content didn't bother me, though it did seem out of place to incorporate it so much more into the third title of a series when it wasn't so present in the previous two books. Also, many of her other series books seem to pick up right where the last title left off. This one, however, seems to have some time progression between the end of book two (Rune Master) and this third book. As such, there seemed to be some missing content in the story line that I felt could have been more deeply elaborated in the beginning of this book. As well, this title introduced a plethora of new mythical and magical creatures that were not present in the first two books, and many of which are not featured in any of her other titles. There was very little description and development of these newly-introduced creatures, some of which I had never experienced in any other context before, and so had trouble figuring out their powers, abilities, places in the supernatural hierarchy, and importance to the overall story. I would have liked to have a bit more explanatory narrative on these new creatures to have a better grasp of the full development of this world. Finally, the ending of the novel felt rushed and inauthentic to the characters. Throughout the series, Nika and Erik work together to maintain unity and cohesion among both human and supernatural creatures, ensuring that no one person or species overpowers or oppresses any others. Without revealing spoilers about the ending of this book, it will suffice to say that the moral compass of Nika and Erik seems to shift slightly at the conclusion of the book which presented itself more like a digression from their previous character development.

Overall, the story is compelling and reads quickly. It is entertaining and provides a paranormal, romantic, escapist story line for readers who prefer this genre. It was not, however, what I expected of the title. I am hoping that the fourth installment in the series will clarify or clear up some of these seeming incongruities and continue to look forward to Wilson's future work.