Reviews

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

Editorial Review - Kirkus Reviews

Eleven tales, 1984-86, from a writer of weird tales whose rise to fame has been meteoric--and deservedly so. One secret of Shepard's success is that his stories have an intriguing philosophical basis: they occur in worlds (ours, too, perhaps) where technology and science (reason) are slowly giving way to magic (unreason, intuition); Shepard's stories anticipate the turmoils and terrors associated with such a transition. His war stories, for instance, project the Vietnam experience ahead into a nightmarish, equally terrifying and meaningless clash in Central America: soldiers deranged (or inspired) by supernatural events struggle to come to terms with themselves, in combat (""Salvador"") or behind the lines (the long story ""R & R""). Other yarns superbly evoke the lush Caribbean landscape and its juxtaposition with the spirit world. Shepard's horror tales, too, are far from routine, what with wind elementals, Hindu shadow-creatures, and Nazis in various guises. And there are parable-like entries (a confidence trickster vows to slay a vast, immobilized dragon--by covering it with toxic paint; a civilized female alien is trapped in a male human body on barbaric Earth). All these, even when they don't quite come off have a satisfying depth and weight; Shepard never panders nor retreats into empty phrases. The price tag is hefty, but worth it. If you read no other story collection this year, read this one.

User reviews

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Goodreads

I have been known to open this book at random and real aloud whatever sentence my eyes fall upon; always, I find something gorgeous, evocative, rich , and powerful.

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Paul - Goodreads

Mixed bag of short stories/novellas, the best being 'R&R' and the title story. Tends to fall between literary and genre fiction, and leaves the reader somewhat disappointed. Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Luke Van Lant - Goodreads

Every single one of the stories in this collection is amazing in a different way – just as I thought there couldn't be a story better than the one I just read, one came along. The stories covered a ... Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Jaime - Goodreads

I'll just leave this encomium to Mr Shepard here since my very first exposure to his work was through the short stories & novellas run in Asimov's Science Fiction waaay back in the day. It may be an ... Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Jen - Goodreads

I had read "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Graiulle" in an anthology and was amazed by it. This is the book it first appeared in so I bought it hoping it would have more of the same but was ... Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Lane - Goodreads

My favorite would be "The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule." Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Jessica - Goodreads

This was an excellent collections of short stories with a slight sci-fi or fantasy twinge that ook place in lots of exotic locales. The author moralizes about the decay of the human soul, a bit much ... Read full review

Review: The Jaguar Hunter

User Review - Adam - Goodreads

I tried to read this collection before and loved the first two stories but not the third and gave up on the fourth. Not sure why I picked it up again but I read the novella “R&R” first and then had to ... Read full review