“Ine stares at her, his expression slack with disbelief. ‘The leader of the Wild Hunt? Æthel, you cannot be serious. The way Cadwy described her … she seems a force of nature to be feared, not consulted. All she wants is blood.’

They have said similar of me, she thinks at him. That I give no quarter, that battle is all I know. But how can Æthel compare with the glorious figure on the horse, antlered helm and mane of hair cascading down her back, face tipped in triumph to the stars? How can she compare with the woman who clashed blades with her, who said anyone would be proud to call her wife?”

Long-time readers will know how much I loved Lucy Holland’s Sistersong (2021). That book was a revelation, a glorious work of mythic fantasy that fused imaginative ballad retelling with inventive historical fantasy, a work that told the stories of those frequently erased in the historical record whilst capturing the wondrous magic and sterling character work that brought so many of us to Fantasy in the first place. I have been eagerly awaiting Holland’s next work ever since. Song Of The Huntress lives up to my giddy expectations and then some. This time Holland tackles the Wild Hunt with just as much skill and aplomb. Beautifully written and with characters the reader will immediately fall for, Song Of The Huntress confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that Holland is the true heir to Ursula Le Guin and Patricia McKillip, a writer uniquely able to tap into the mythic and make it relevant to the modern day. 

Herla made a terrible bargain with Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the Otherworld. Hoping to gain the strength and power to save her lover and queen Boudica and defend their land from the invading Roman forces, she and her warriors are tricked. Herla and her sisters spend three days in fairyland which become three hundred years in the real world, returning long after Boudica is dead, they cursed to lead the Wild Hunt in rage and stay mounted on their horses until Dormach, Gwyn’s dog, leaves the saddle. Three centuries later, Æthelburg the Queen of Wessex is a fearsome and respected warrior, but outside the battlefield she’s having troubles. Her husband King Ine is withdrawing from her, even as his brother Ingild turns the court against her as part of his plot to usurp the throne. When Geraint, the King of Dumnonia, makes a secret visit to Ine with a dire warning he is killed by Ingild, and soon the magical threat he came to warn of is causing havoc in Ine’s lands. But before his death, Geraint’s magic causes Dormach to leave the saddle, granting Herla and her warrior sisters a temporary reprieve from the curse. Herla and Æthelburg soon find themselves thrown together, kindred spirits as Herla rediscovers her lost humanity and Æthelburg discovers the romance that has been missing from her life. Soon, Ine’s survival, not to mention the entire fate of Wessex, Dumnonia and all their people, will rest in the hands of these two warrior women lovers drawn together across time. 

As with Sistersong, Holland brilliantly and effortlessly combines the mythic with the historical. This time the legend of the Wild Hunt and Annwn, the fairyland from ancient Welsh mythology, is merged seamlessly with a vividly imagined and extensively researched eight  century Saxon-controlled Wessex, which is expanding into the Wealas-controlled Dumnonia, which will become Wales. Holland once again shows her mastery for evoking past eras, drawing on the available historical records and convincingly filling in the gaps with her imagination, whilst showing a world of wonder and magic that hides just beneath the surface. She matches this with impeccable character work. Her characters jump right off the page and straight into the reader’s heart. These are real, living, breathing people who just happen to find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. Æthelburg is the heart of the novel, a compelling mixture of warrior bravado and humane sensitivity who anchors the other characters. Her relationship with Herla, where she helps this ancient being remember and recognise the human woman who she once was, is wonderful, as is her relationship with Ine, the struggles in their marriage largely coming from the miscommunication between two people who love each other and compliment each other in their personal and professional lives. 

Holland continues her focus on the lives of those frequently erased by the historical record. Song Of The Huntress is a fiercely feminist work. Æthelburg is a powerful warrior woman who leads an unconventional life for her gender in ancient Wessex, and much of her struggles against the older male members of Ine’s court come from their deep-seated patriarchal sexism and resentment. Ine himself is, to a lesser but still damaging extent, held to ideals of masculinity that his society expects of him but make him deeply uncomfortable. Æthelburg is bisexual, and her queer relationship with Herla forms the core of the novel, and Herla’s previous queer relationship with Boudica intimately shapes her character journey. Ine’s big secret is that he is asexual, and therefore cannot provide Æthelburg with the intimacy she needs and an heir to secure their lineage, and it is Ine’s fear of Æthelburg not understanding him that leads to him letting her down when she needs his support in their court. Much of the resolution of the novel involves Ine and Æthelburg communicating their truths to each other, finding out they still love each other regardless, and so rearranging their relationship into something less conventional that will better serve both their romantic and sexual needs. Holland handles these aspects with the grace and sensitivity that she handles Keyne’s storyline in Sistersong.  

Running through the novel is the love of storytelling, the idea that telling stories can be its own important kind of magic. For, as Holland well knows, there is power in a story, in whose voice gets to be heard, in the way they link us to our heritage whilst showing new ways to be with the world and with each other. This is what all great fantasy, all great storytelling, intrinsically understands. Song Of The Huntress is a masterpiece of modern fantasy, a work that confirms the brilliance and importance of its author in the first ranks of modern storytellers. 

Song of the Huntress is available now. You can order your copy on Bookshop.org