{"id":2506,"date":"2023-01-19T16:28:47","date_gmt":"2023-01-19T21:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2506"},"modified":"2023-01-17T16:43:54","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T21:43:54","slug":"book-review-the-last-huntress-mirror-realm-series-book-1-by-lenore-borja","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/?p=2506","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW: THE LAST HUNTRESS (MIRROR REALM SERIES, BOOK 1) BY LENORE BORJA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.**<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"LTR\"><i class=\"last\">The Last Huntress (Mirror Realm Series Book 1)\u00a0<\/i><\/span><span class=\"last\" dir=\"LTR\">by Lenore Borja<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"last\" dir=\"LTR\">Spark Press, Nov. 2022<\/span><\/p>\n<p>ISBN-13: 978-1684631735<\/p>\n<p>Available: Paperback, Kindle edition<\/p>\n<p><strong><a class=\"last\" href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/a\/3144\/9781684631735\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bookshop.org<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0|\u00a0<strong class=\"last\"><a class=\"last\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Last-Huntress-Mirror-Realm-Book\/dp\/1684631734\/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2NBKUOBRIW0LL&amp;keywords=the+last+huntress+lenore+borja&amp;qid=1670472252&amp;sprefix=the+last+huntress%2Caps%2C135&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/41YXNDZ-p8L._AC_SY780_-200x300.jpg\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"LTR\"><i class=\"last\">The Last Huntress<\/i><\/span><span class=\"last\" dir=\"LTR\">\u00a0is a young adult fantasy\/adventure with romantic underpinnings, clearly targeted towards\u00a0 junior high and high school girls. \u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean adults can\u2019t read and enjoy the book: I\u2019m a 48 year old man and found plenty here to like!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Alice, Hadley, Olivia, and Soxie are four high school girls with the power to enter the Mirror Realm, a sort of \u2018between\u2019 plane of existence that contains thousands of portals to locations all over the earth. \u00a0Their task as Huntresses is to destroy the demons from another realm that cross over to Earth to wreak havoc, using the Mirror Realm as a gateway. \u00a0That\u2019s the bare-bones plot. \u00a0There\u2019s actually a good deal more, and it ties into Greek mythology through Hades, Persephone, and the Furies, among others. \u00a0In the interest of not spoiling the plot, that\u2019s as much as this review will cover.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The four Huntresses are the engine that provides the go-juice for the book; their interactions with each other are the best part. \u00a0The author nails it when portraying somewhat outcast, powerful high school girls, right down to their mannerisms and dialogue. \u00a0I\u2019ve got a decade of experience teaching high school girls, and Borje hits it perfectly. \u00a0She knows how to write for this age set (not easy for adults) and the young adult crowd will find this easily relatable. \u00a0The four of them are a smart, rambunctious bunch that knows how to get tough when needed. \u00a0Whether they are falling through a mirror and crash-landing in a restaurant, or stealthily breaking into a police station for a raid, you\u2019ll love the exploits of the four.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As for pacing and interest level, it is good throughout, with some notable high points. \u00a0One of the best is the three girls introducing Alice to the Mirror Realm. Their gravity-defying travels through the mirror halls are very well done. \u00a0The section towards the end of the book involving Hades is another standout section. \u00a0The rest of the book maintains a consistent level of interest and excitement, enough to keep the pages flipping. \u00a0The romance angle between Alice and Colin is there but thankfully, it\u2019s not the overriding book focus, it\u2019s just another color on the painting. \u00a0The book is more about ashing demons and saving the world, but there is enough of the true love\/soulmate stuff to keep\u00a0 young readers swooning. \u00a0Older readers will probably just chuckle and keep reading.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"last\" dir=\"LTR\">T<\/span><\/p>\n<p>he only minor flaw is that the plot gets convoluted at times. \u00a0With the various prophecies and deals made by the Greek gods in the book, it can get confusing.\u00a0 While readers who need everything to make sense might get frustrated, it\u2019s best to just take it at face value and enjoy the story, since it is a good one.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span dir=\"LTR\">Bottom line\u2026young girls will love it and learn a thing or two about Greek mythology. \u00a0Adults will likely enjoy reading this also, enough to generate interest for the next book in the series when it comes out. <\/span><span class=\"last\" dir=\"LTR\">Recommended.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"last\">Reviewed by Murray Samuelson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>**Cross posted from the Circulation Desk.** &nbsp; The Last Huntress (Mirror Realm Series Book 1)\u00a0by Lenore Borja Spark Press, Nov. 2022 ISBN-13: 978-1684631735 Available: Paperback, Kindle edition Bookshop.org\u00a0|\u00a0Amazon.com &nbsp; The Last Huntress\u00a0is a young adult fantasy\/adventure with romantic underpinnings, clearly targeted towards\u00a0 junior high and high school girls. \u00a0That doesn\u2019t mean adults can\u2019t read and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,20],"tags":[411],"class_list":["post-2506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-ya-books","tag-lenora-borja"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Eu9f-Eq","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2506"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2507,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2506\/revisions\/2507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/ReadingBites\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}