5/5 ⭐ | The Hunter in the Shadows: Book One of the Thule Trilogy by Joab Stieglitz

Author Joab Stieglitz has seamlessly taken reader favorite Dr. Anna Rykov straight out of his Utgarda series and made her the lead of this next series, The Thule Trilogy.  Kicking off with book one “The Hunter in the Shadows” readers are reintroduced to familiar names and characters such as Dr. Rykov, Eliezer Feldman, and Sobak, Anna’s fictional sister.  But we are also given new, intriguing, and mysterious characters such as Dr. Cornelius Lyton, Dr. Wolfram van Juntz, and my favorite Ogden Shroud. 

With her dog Cletus by her side, Anna sets off for Boston to eliminate the Xuxxaax on behalf of the Collective to rescue Sobak from capture.  Set in the period of the Great Depression, “The Hunter in the Shadows” takes on a more historical feel than Stieglitz prior work.  Showing the poverty and homelessness present in Boston immediately upon Dr. Rykov’s arrival and the lengths people will go to survive, readers are endeared to Anna as she uses her wealth and fortune to further her cause.

“The Hunter in the Shadows” felt more emotionally enduring than Stieglitz prior reads.  Firmly planting readers in familiar Boston soil, we encounter a more sensitive side of Anna, even glimpsing some romantic tension between our scholarly lead and a certain Boston resident she encounters.  Using the locals for assistance in her quest, Anna takes on a more relatable quality to readers, further cementing her as a favorable central character.

Anna’s work for the Longborough Foundation really spearheads this latest series as readers are promised more action, more fantastical creatures, and more ties to other realms.  Stieglitz imagination is vividly captured on the pages of this read.  Transporting readers right into the action, the chase, and the promise for more.

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Picturing a Nation: The Great Depression’s Finest Photographers Introduce America to Itself by Martin W. Sandler

Publication Date: October 12^th, 2021

Rating: 5 Stars

Picturing a Nation is an outstanding pictorial history of the great depression.  Sandler does a great job of setting up the background on the accumulation of this book.  For instance, he informs readers about the Resettlement Administration, created in 1935, which made the monumental decision to create a historical section, staffed with photographers, to capture ways in which the administration was directly helping the farmers and citizens in an effort to provide the government evidence of its use of funds.  However, what they didn’t anticipate was the fame, accolades, and emotions these pictures would encapsulate all these years later. 

Traversing the country, this book is split into regions such as South, Midwest and East with pictures and brief text setting the scene for the visual art on the page.  Ultimately, profiling eleven key figures involved in this project, this book documents the nation at a crucial time in history. 

Nothing like this had ever been done before, nor has anything like it been done since, as a mirror on the nation is held up for all to see.  This is a powerful and insightful reminder to where we’ve been and the history of our nation.

*Disclaimer: A review copy was provided; all opinions are my own.