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THE WILD HUNT by Jane Yolen
A Book Review by Michael Tufo
This is a story about a young boy named
Jerold. He is about 5'4", 118 lbs., dark hair, brown eyes, pale skin.
He lives alone only to be visited by a white beautiful Cat, who would not
reveal its name. The Cat says that names are powerful and (we) should
not misuse them.
Then he was in the library trying to find
an interesting book to read, when Jerold came across the book called The
Wild Hunt. This book had gruesome picture and awful words.
He couldn't get his mind off one picture of the hunter with black hideous
armor and red coal eyes that would frighten any young boy.
In a parallel dimension, the same place but
in a different world, was a boy named Gerund. He looked a lot like
Jerold. His dog, Mully, came running into the house yelling, "The
hunt is beginning."
Gerund leaped out of the chair telling the
Cat , "What was it doing there?" Strangely, it was the very same
cat that visited Jerold. Gerund packed up little food and some water and
headed for the house that the hunter could not enter.
The hunter was just like the hunter in the
book that Jerold had read. He had dark, red coal eyes, shiny armor,
was extremely tall, and traveled with a pack of wild hounds and two black
horses. The hunt first went north to the nearest compass points.
A tree names Moss-Man was accompanying the Horned Man to try to capture
the boy. The horned Man's objective was to find the name of the Queen
of Light, his wife.
As the hunt went off, Gerund eventually got
captured and put into a cage with steaming hot bars and a very cold floor.
Mully ended up at Jerold's house.
The Cat said, "What's wrong Mully?"
Jerold was curious how the cat knew that dog's
name.
Mully then said, "Gerund has been captured
by the Horned Man!"
The cat was very furious. She demanded
Jerold to put on the armor and he did. He was surprised that it was
light and didn't really make him uncomfortable at all. The cat told
Mully and Jerold to follow her to the basement. When Jerold arrived
in the basement, there was a river of blood going through it. Mully
dared Jerold to taste it and he did.
Jerold asked the Cat what it was and she said,
"The blood of dead heroes." Then he felt very sick.
Now Jerold, Mully and the Cat were off on
their journey to save Gerund. As they went on, the Cat disappeared
but they still continued. When they reached where the Moss-Man was,
they arrived in the same place at the same time. The Horned Man asked
for the boy's name, but he could not say because of the stabbing wind going
down his throat. When Gerund got out of the cage, Mully tried to
howl but the wind had went down this throat choking him to death.
Gerund cried, "Mullllly!"
But that did not stop Mully from dying.
Then a beautiful woman appeared with one human's leg and one cat's leg.
It was the Cat. She was the Queen of Light whom the Horned Man was
after. As they talked, the Cat turned to Gerund and said his name.
Then, magically, Jerold appeared. Jerold told the cat that he and
Gerund were leaving; but before Cat could say no, they walked out the door.
I thought this book was hard to read.
It had a lot of metaphors and complex words. This was a great book
though with a mysterious ending. The level is for a middle school
or high school student. I would like to read more of Jane Yolen's
fantasy books.
Written permission is required to copy this work.
Please contact the Cullen Memorial Library at smollers@peabody.k12.ma.us..
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