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While Karen is battling with the coma in one world, Fox is fighting alongside her human friend, Mowl, to right evil wrongs in the other. This is a fascinating and unusual fantasy which keeps the reader guessing at the outcome until the final chapter. 11+
Viewpoint Winter 2002
It's an oft repeated plot. Girl receives traumatic injuries and falls into a coma which doctors cannot explain, while her spirit somehow works out the trauma in another world. Book draws to a close, girl wakes up into loving arms of real- world family, all is hunky dory. Familiar, right?
This is not that story. For a while, though I thought it was going to be. As the book opens, Karen is being viciously beaten up by a gang of girls. When the pain grows too intense, Karen passes out. While her body lies comatose in hospital, Karen's spirit wakes in another world , inhabiting the body of a fox. She finds herself joining farmhand Mowl on his reluctant quest to reinstate an ancient monarchy and rescue his land from the false religion ( and its taxes) the current king uses to control the people. While the rebel army forms, Karen Fox struggles with her confusion between her fox instincts and human thoughts, her growing feelings for Mowl and a longing for her grandmother in the 'real' world. To make matters even more complicated, as a magical arl ( Mowl tells her telepathically) she has only twenty- four days until she must transform from her fox form, or die.
As the story drew to a climax, I was rather dreading an ending where Karen Fox helps Mowl's mission to victory , overcomes the trauma of her bashing and wakes smiling form her coma, the end. But in the tradition of Gillian Rubenstein's excellent 'Foxspell,' suffice to say this is not what happens.
The finest feature of this book is the descriptive work , especially in the beginning where Karen Fox explores her new animal form and the joy in physicality that she has never before known. These 'fox' parts of the book and the preceding beating that human Karen receives are strongly and sharply written. However the middle does tend to drag a little; bands of men basically fight, run, hide and fight again as the rebel army is assembled and plans laid. Fans of heroic sword battles may disagree.. While this happens, recourses to the parallel 'real' world become fewer and fewer. Consequently, the characters of Karen's grandparents seem one-dimensional, and events such as the lead bully girl visiting Karen's bedside do not convey the intended emotional weight.
Despite these few points, this is an unusual fantasy for younger YA readers which defies plot clichés and manages the difficult melding of heroic masculine wquest with some subtle emotional undercurrents - ARP
Books Magazine
Books Choice 2002
Suspense, excitement and full blooded adventure make this a sophisticated and grippinf novle for older children, which blends an engrossing fantasy world and real world , with both totally believable. Karen Fox is attacked on her way home from school and left in a coma by her assailants. While she lies in her hospital bed an extraordinary thing happens – her spirit journeys to another world. In this parallel world Karen inhabits the body of a fox and becomes the guide to a young man called Mowl who is caught up ion a dangerous game of politics and religion. Written by the highly regarded author of Warriors of Alavna this is a challenging, intelligent piece.
North American Reviews of Hunted
Toronto Star 27/1/02
Battle swords ring out in tales.
'The title 'Hunted' sounds dull for a fantasy novel, but the story by NM Browne, is a powerful tale that will take you to a different world. It starts with a girl Karen, form modern day England , who ends up in a coma and finds herself in another world.
There's a twist. In this world she has turned into a fox, something some of the people there recognise as an arl – an animal with a spirit from someplace else. And not everyone likes arls.
There are more swords and battles, as well as strong friendships and losses in these 335 pages of excitement.
Great for ages 12 and older.
Publisher's Weekly
In her American debut, British author Browne cleverly mixes fantasy and action. A gang of girls assaults Karen so viciously that she imagines herself a "fox set upon by slavering hounds" right before she loses consciousness. When she comes to, she has been incarnated as a fox, and now lives in another, more primitive realm. (A layer of the story shows Karen's grandparents at her hospital bedside, where she lies in a coma). A shepherd named Mowl befriends Karen, suspecting the fox is an arl, an "unborn soul from another tier of being... where the spirits of men took non-human form." Soon after, Mowl finds his life is forfeit for his dead father's alleged treason, and he flees, with Karen following; they learn of a rebellion brewing against the king and his corrupt adviser. Karen is in danger, too, because arls die if they don't transform into their "natural incarnation" in 24 days, moreover, the king's men are hunting her in order to prove that arls don't exist. Browne creates a broader context by adopting different perspectives (mostly Karen's, her grandmother's, Mowl's and a soldier-turned-rebel), and she deftly develops Karen's slow realization of her true identity (in the beginning, Karen knows only that she has not always been a fox). The tonal shifts between the two realms can be jarring and the story ends a bit sappily, but the mythology and culture of Mowl's realm are fascinating, and the fight scenes, escapes and revelations will swiftly propel readers through to the conclusion. Ages 10-up. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
KLIATT - Paula Rohrlick
Karen has been badly beat up by a gang of jealous girls, and she lies in a coma in the hospital, watched over by her anxious grandmother. Her spirit, however, has traveled to a different place and time, a medieval land where magic still exists—in which Karen finds herself in the body of a fox. She meets up with a young man called Mowl, who is on the run from an evil king. The two have a mystical bond, and together they must fight off enemies and figure out whom to trust, while trying to restore the rightful king. Meanwhile, Karen feels the pull of both worlds, and she must decide which one she will live in. This dark fantasy, enlivened by fight scenes and Karen's strong sensory experiences as a wild animal, will appeal to fans of the genre. It cuts back and forth between Karen's hospital bed and the ancient kingdom in which she also struggles for survival. The ending, in which Karen opts for life in the kingdom, is surprising but satisfying. KLIATT Codes: JS—Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, Bloomsbury , 336p.
Kirkus Reviews
Karen is attacked by a group of six or seven girls and the fear and pain seem overwhelming until she suddenly realizes that she is running like a fox, the hounds are baying, and there is no safety no matter how hard she runs. Transformed by her fear into a real fox with a sharp sense of smell, bushy tail, and an animal cleverness new to her, Karen Fox gets help from Mohl, a sheepherder. Meanwhile, at the hospital, her body is in a coma and her grandparents suffer as they wonder if she'll ever come out of it. The story's core takes place in the world of Mohl and the fox. Mohl senses that Karen Fox is exceptional, and their alliance grows as he finds his own world of herding sheep suddenly turned topsy-turvy. Stunned and on the run himself, he is wanted for crimes his long-dead father is accused of committing. In this place, somewhat akin to a medieval world with a matriarchal line of succession for the kingdom and a religion emphasizing the supernatural, the outlaws gradually become involved in a rebellion. All the time the clock is ticking as Mohl early on reveals that an arl left in animal shape longer than 24 days will die. With subtlety and style, Browne gradually makes this world complex and intricate, giving Karen a critical role to play as an arl-a creature visiting from another plane of existence. Watching the Queen move from one simultaneously existing level of reality to another provides just that sense of possibility, convincing readers that there is a logic to Karen's ultimate choice. Karen must decide between returning to her body in our world or staying to help the rebels who have befriended her. Combining shapeshifting with a complexly realized fantasy world in a fast-paced plot, this would make an intriguing contrast to Rubenstein's Foxspell (1996), which emphasized the experience of morphing. Clever and compelling. (Fiction. 10-14)
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