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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not up to the author's usual high standards., January 19, 2010
Hunting Julian tells the story of Julian, who must gather special women to save his people, and Asia, who is his kindra - his soul mate.
Many of this author's books deal with this very theme - a woman who finds herself in a world she didn't know existed (literally or figuratively, depending on the story), a man who needs her love to be complete, and their trials and tribulations as they find their way to each other.
In this case, however, somehow the chemistry between the two never clicks and the happily ever after feels contrived rather than deeply emotional. Asia's reactions are completely normal given her situation - she's been kidnapped by the man she believes has killed her sister. In fact, they're probably more "true to life" than you usually find in paranormal romance, where the heroine often completely accepts what should seem impossible with relative ease. That said, she still seems unsympathetic and is hard to connect with. She is convinced that she is unworthy, which isn't an unusual belief, but that deeply rooted conviction leaves her willing to doom an entire people because she doesn't want personal connections. That makes her really, really hard to like.
Julian comes across as a strangely submissive personality, with periodic eruptions of insanity. He brings his soul mate to a new land, doesn't tell her enough to keep her protected from either her new environment or their mutual enemies and then does some other things that I won't discuss, as they're probably too far down the spoiler road. Although he's described as sexy and caring, in many respects he comes across as neither.
I gave the book two stars, despite the flaws, because the world itself is very intriguing and the culture is complex and richly imagined. I will buy the second book in the series, but I'm desperately hoping that it returns to Ms. Frank's high levels. I would NOT recommend this book. Pick up any of her others, but leave this one.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strong Female Lead or Selfish B**tch?, February 2, 2010
This review is from: Hunting Julian (Gatherers, Book 1) (Paperback)
I personally am going to have to go with selfish b**tch. And the ironic part here is that Asia continually calls herself selfish and cold throughout the entire book. She even has the gall to feel guilty about being so selfish that she's dooming an entire race (and more importantly her own soulmate). But does she bother to do anything about it? No. Not really. She does, however, vastly enjoy standing around yelling at hapless Julian about all her problems. (Which she created in the first place by attacking him, I must say.)
And the girl's not too bright to boot. I mean, hello. She's supposed to be some expert at survival and the first thing she does after finding out she's on an unknown alien planet is to go running (RUNNING!) out an open door without looking to see what might be awaiting her first. (I was a bit disappointed the nets didn't just give away and save us all the headache of dealing with her.) This character had zero redeeming qualities. And PDA, anyone? The two main characters were gasping and grasping in the most public places possible throughout most of the book (as in, in front of hospitalized children). It made me embarrassed for them.
I did enjoy Julian in the way that Frank switched the normal male/female roles-- his original and sole concern being their soul connection, hers being sex. I like how he could be physically protective and yet come off gentle and unhardened when dealing with emotions. Some reviewers thought this made him a pushover, but I just thought it made him a product of his culture.
The world Frank has created is somewhat interesting. But she tends not to stick to her guns. I mean, how many people in this dimension speak English? Whole heck of a lot, I can tell you that. Basically, everyone Asia meets. The monsters and perils of the world are not well-fleshed out enough to be interesting, and we have plenty of unanswered questions (Jewel?). Maybe it will get better as we go along in the series, but this is highly disappointed considering the rich worlds Frank usually creates.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
it was ok, January 4, 2010
This review is from: Hunting Julian (Gatherers, Book 1) (Paperback)
For those that are familiar with Ms Frank's work this is not the same as the NightWalkers series nor is connected to the Shadow people. Instead readers are taken to an all new world "Beneath" earth. Hunting Julian reminded me of the futuristic novels of the 90's. Alien like race searching for earth women to breed or to save their race in some way. In fact it brought to mind Marilyn Campbells stories of old with the Terrans living in earths core. This is not a negative though. Frank does a great job of describing the world and as always the side characters are intriguing and make your curious about their untold stories.
Asia's character reminds me a lot of Dae from the shadow dwellers only without the likeable factor. She was rough and tough but didnt know when to quit. Julian whom I adored made a lot of idiotic mistakes. He left Asia with a person in the story that he knew had a grudge and would be very negative toward Asia which of course sets the plot for the story and then he insists repeatedly that she cant go home so get over it. Once I got through some of these holes for lack of a better word this was ok. I didnt feel a great connection to the characters and there didnt seem to be a romance or passionate love affair between the two. Julian met Asia, decides she's meant to be his life mate, Asia disagrees-a lot, they have sex which in the beneath world feeds energy to the people,they fight some more and then Asia agrees to stay with Julian. Thats how it read to me, very bland in comparison to the other great stories by this author. There are some great moments and then some predictable moments so I will follow this because as I mentioned, Frank does a wonderful job of making you eager to hear about her secondary characters. Hopefully their stories will be more exciting. So 3 stars for interest and good job of world creating
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