An alchemist and a sharpshooter team up to hunt a mythical beast in a contest that could remake both their futures.
- Score
- 76.9
- Spice
- 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Mild
- POV
- dual
- Ending
- HEA / HFN
Tropes
Content warnings
Curated signals, not an exhaustive guarantee.
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What readers think
Readers consistently praise Saft's achingly soft, atmospheric prose and the natural, earned chemistry between Margaret and Wes, whose contrasting personalities (grumpy recluse vs. warm optimist) feel authentic rather than trope-driven. The book's handling of antisemitism, xenophobia, and immigrant identity is frequently cited as meaningful and well-integrated. The main criticism is that the titular hunt recedes into the background — the book is far more a slow-burn character study than an action-driven competition story, which disappoints readers expecting high-stakes adventure. Some also find the worldbuilding, which mirrors 1920s reality closely, neither fully historical nor fully original fantasy.
Read it if
- · Readers who prioritize emotional depth and yearning over plot momentum
- · Fans of atmospheric, prose-forward fantasy with real-world social themes (xenophobia, belonging)
- · Those who loved The Scorpio Races and want a similar cozy-dark mythical-hunt energy
Skip it if
- · You want a fast-paced hunt or action-heavy competition plot
- · You need a fully realized secondary fantasy world rather than a thinly veiled 1920s analogue
- · You're looking for explicit romance — the heat stays mild throughout
If you liked this
- · For fans of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater — same mythical-creature hunt, same slow-burn emotional core
- · Like A Deadly Education but softer: a competition setting where the real story is two outsiders finding each other
- · For readers of Sorcery of Thorns who love competent, prickly heroines and gentle romantic arcs
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