Title The Wild Hunt Series --- Author Jane Yolen Illustrator Francisco Mora Publisher Scholastic - 1995 First Printing Scholastic - 1995 Category Middle Grade Warnings None Main Characters Jerold, Gerund, the cat, Mully, Herne Main Elements Gods

Where there are hunters, there is prey.

The riderless mine-black horses blew whole storms out their nostrils. They pawed the snow away from the rock. Where their shoes struck granite, bright sparks shop up. The sound was like a bell in a far-off church tolling the death of a man.

The hounds slavered around the horses' feet...They growled over their memories of the last hunt; they could almost taste time...

Then, like a river crashing through the rocks, the Wild Hunt began its terrible ride.

A short little book but a rather unique one. We begin in a mysterious, quiet house, where there lives a boy and a cat. The boy remembers nothing from before the house, and the cat, well she can talk but usually says things the boy doesn't understand.

And then there is the other house, the loud house, with another boy, and a dog. And it is the same house, and yet, it is a completely different house. Yes, you heard me right, I told you the story was unique.

And then there are the black horses, and the black hounds, the Moss-man, and the horned rider. The Wild Hunt. They are almost ready to run.

The story alternates between the two boys, sometimes a chapter may be as short as a single line. The tale is magical, and sometimes scary, and always beautiful. The illustrations are wonderful.

A tale of what every little boy wants to be, a hero, a champion, but at what price, and what if it wasn't by choice? What if you are not a champion but a pawn, between two greater powers who care only for their own personal rivalry, a centuries long challenge to each other to be decide by innocent mortals who don't even know they have a part to play.

Drawing on the mythology of the Wild Hunt, and the contest between Winter and Summer, Yolen has written an enchanting tale, short but powerful.