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The Wolf and the Woodsman
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Fantasy (2021)In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.
But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.
As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.
In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, this unforgettable debut— inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology—follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.
But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.
As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.
In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, this unforgettable debut— inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology—follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published June 8, 2021
About the author
Ava Reid
7 books4,093 followersAva Reid is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of gothic fantasies, including A Study in Drowning, Juniper & Thorn, and Lady Macbeth. She lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 4,782 reviews
August 2, 2021
kinda brave for marketing to compare this to two really successful books. definitely creates high expectations, which can be dangerous.
in my opinion, is this as lyrically beautiful as ‘the bear and the nightingale?’ nah, not even close. is the writing reminiscent of ‘spinning silver?’ sure, both are pretty dense and laboriously slow-paced.
i like the idea of the story. i think the combination of jewish and hungarian mythology is really interesting, but i didnt enjoy the execution of it. i actually think there is too much of it. every other page, the characters seem to be taking a break to tell a story about some god or the creation of magic. readers who enjoy fairytale-esque stories probably wont mind this, but it really caused the main plot, which i was trying to enjoy, to drag for me, personally. and as the story went on, i slowly found myself caring less about it.
dunno. maybe i just wasnt in the right mood to read this, but i do wish i had liked it as much as i loved the idea.
↠ 2.5 stars
in my opinion, is this as lyrically beautiful as ‘the bear and the nightingale?’ nah, not even close. is the writing reminiscent of ‘spinning silver?’ sure, both are pretty dense and laboriously slow-paced.
i like the idea of the story. i think the combination of jewish and hungarian mythology is really interesting, but i didnt enjoy the execution of it. i actually think there is too much of it. every other page, the characters seem to be taking a break to tell a story about some god or the creation of magic. readers who enjoy fairytale-esque stories probably wont mind this, but it really caused the main plot, which i was trying to enjoy, to drag for me, personally. and as the story went on, i slowly found myself caring less about it.
dunno. maybe i just wasnt in the right mood to read this, but i do wish i had liked it as much as i loved the idea.
↠ 2.5 stars
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June 9, 2022Check out this review (and more) over on my blog!
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Quick Stats:
Overall: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot and Themes: 4.5/5
Awesomeness Factor: 5/5
Review in a Nutshell: It’s official. I’m adding this book to my "books I will not shut up about" list.
// Content Warning: Violence, Death, Mature Content, Self Harm (for Magic/Religion), Child Abuse, Abuse, Animal Death, War Themes, Murder, Gore (Graphic), Amputation, Torture, Antisemitism, Cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing //
Release Date: 6/8/2021
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Page Count: 432
Premise:
The Wolf and the Woodsman follows Evike, a magic-less pagan woman with a Yehuli father, making her an outcast in her village. When the Holy Order of the Woodsman comes to take a pagan girl as a sacrifice, her village betrays her and volunteers her to be taken. But, on the journey to the palace, she and the Woodsmen are attacked, leaving only her and the captain alive. But he isn’t who she originally thought. The two of them are forced to rely on each other to survive, but as they journey together, they realize they do have something in common: their desire to prevent the cruel prince from taking the throne.
This book is amazing, and because of that, my thoughts about it are fairly chaotic. So, we’re going to ignore my normal reviewing format in favor of trying to string together these rambling thoughts.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is a fantastic debut and an absolutely captivating story.
If you want:
- enemies to lovers
- huddling for warmth
- ruthless protagonist, secret cinnamon roll love interest
- intricate worldbuilding
- forbidden love
then you need to read this book.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is stunning. You can tell the amount of research and thought that went into crafting this world and these characters. The different cultures in the book have clear real-world influence, from Hungarian history to Jewish mythology (I'm not an ownvoices reviewer, so I would highly suggest reading ownvoices reviews discussing those aspects of this book).
This novel feels atmospheric and dark, showing a brutal world full of violence and gore, but still had moments for hope and love inside of it. The relationship in this book was beautiful, and the two main characters on their own were incredible and will stick with you long after you close the book.
- Conclusion -
Pros- Great characters, fascinating world, amazing writing
Cons- if you aren’t a fan of gore, this might be a hard read for you (I usually don’t care either way about gore, so this didn’t really bother me)
Overall- 5/5 stars.
I loved every minute I spent reading this book, and I can't wait for more people to experience it.
Follow Me Here: Blog ||Tumblr || Bookstagram || Twitter|| Reviews
Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Quick Stats:
Overall: 5/5 Stars
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
Plot and Themes: 4.5/5
Awesomeness Factor: 5/5
Review in a Nutshell: It’s official. I’m adding this book to my "books I will not shut up about" list.
// Content Warning: Violence, Death, Mature Content, Self Harm (for Magic/Religion), Child Abuse, Abuse, Animal Death, War Themes, Murder, Gore (Graphic), Amputation, Torture, Antisemitism, Cultural genocide and ethnic cleansing //
Release Date: 6/8/2021
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Page Count: 432
Premise:
The Wolf and the Woodsman follows Evike, a magic-less pagan woman with a Yehuli father, making her an outcast in her village. When the Holy Order of the Woodsman comes to take a pagan girl as a sacrifice, her village betrays her and volunteers her to be taken. But, on the journey to the palace, she and the Woodsmen are attacked, leaving only her and the captain alive. But he isn’t who she originally thought. The two of them are forced to rely on each other to survive, but as they journey together, they realize they do have something in common: their desire to prevent the cruel prince from taking the throne.
This book is amazing, and because of that, my thoughts about it are fairly chaotic. So, we’re going to ignore my normal reviewing format in favor of trying to string together these rambling thoughts.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is a fantastic debut and an absolutely captivating story.
If you want:
- enemies to lovers
- huddling for warmth
- ruthless protagonist, secret cinnamon roll love interest
- intricate worldbuilding
- forbidden love
then you need to read this book.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is stunning. You can tell the amount of research and thought that went into crafting this world and these characters. The different cultures in the book have clear real-world influence, from Hungarian history to Jewish mythology (I'm not an ownvoices reviewer, so I would highly suggest reading ownvoices reviews discussing those aspects of this book).
This novel feels atmospheric and dark, showing a brutal world full of violence and gore, but still had moments for hope and love inside of it. The relationship in this book was beautiful, and the two main characters on their own were incredible and will stick with you long after you close the book.
- Conclusion -
Pros- Great characters, fascinating world, amazing writing
Cons- if you aren’t a fan of gore, this might be a hard read for you (I usually don’t care either way about gore, so this didn’t really bother me)
Overall- 5/5 stars.
I loved every minute I spent reading this book, and I can't wait for more people to experience it.
Follow Me Here: Blog ||Tumblr || Bookstagram || Twitter|| Reviews
February 15, 2021
this book. has everything?? a nuanced and brutal view of the violence of nation-building and the complexities of cultural identity, AND ALSO a prideful, tortured prince brought to his knees--his 𝓴𝓷𝓮𝓮𝓼--by his doomed and fragile love--
it has the unsettling-but-compelling gore of henderson's The Year of the Witching, the folkloric lilt of The Bear and the Nightingale, and the moral complexity of Seeing Like a State. i'm......obsessed.
it has the unsettling-but-compelling gore of henderson's The Year of the Witching, the folkloric lilt of The Bear and the Nightingale, and the moral complexity of Seeing Like a State. i'm......obsessed.
December 14, 2023
[2.5/5]
The Wolf and the Woodsman is Reid's debut fantasy about a young woman from a remote village and a disgraced prince who must work together to preserve the kingdom from the prince's violent, religious zealot half brother.
And this book literally took me too long to finish. It has a good start and I was hooked at the beginning, but then it gets lengthy and I started to get bored.
Plot:
This book just has a lot to unpack. I've never been so absent-minded in reading a book, that I don't think I truly pay attention to its world-building. I was informed that the author literally studied ethnonationalism religious history which reflected in her writing that was indeed profound. The stories of the tribes and their beliefs were well written but the information started to get repetitive and long-drawn; especially when Évike keeps on narrating the same folklore, over and over.
This book was also supposed to be a mix of Spinning Silver as well as The Bear and the Nightingale but mind you it does not even come close to measure what it's comparing. I'm not sure if this is just me?I don't think it's just me but I definitely failed to see the resemblance, thus the book fell short in being impressive. I just wished the book would end sooner since nothing happened for the majority part of it. Not until the last 40 pages where the plot started to pick up again.
Writing Style:
This is where my major problem comes from and it's not because the author writes poorly. It was decent and expository. However, the author style of using the same word or phrase over and over again is becoming apparent that it started to annoy me.
And trust me, the list doesn't stop there. I don't know how many times do the characters blushed/flushed/warmed their cheeks in every conversation they have. It feels like that is all they do to a point it is becoming their default. I am utterly flabbergasted.
Romance:
Definitely did not dig into the romance. I understand Évike does not have the best upbringing but I believe, instead of being deprived, that woman is simply horny. Get back to the repetitive writing style with one horny character. Insufferable.
I am literally impressed with how Évike managed to think about how Gáspár's on every second she could; how his warm body was closed to her or for when they kissed. That narrative repeated for almost every chapter, it's exasperating.
You both are out there in a cold with nothing but the cloaks. Isn't it sensible to find warms in each other's bodies? Yet Évike's mind always seems to have wonders of its own.
Characters:
This also brings me to say, none of the characters here is likeable nor interesting. I have nothing to bring to the table. Not Évike, not even Gáspár.
In short, this is a disappointment. This book could be for you, but not for me.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is Reid's debut fantasy about a young woman from a remote village and a disgraced prince who must work together to preserve the kingdom from the prince's violent, religious zealot half brother.
And this book literally took me too long to finish. It has a good start and I was hooked at the beginning, but then it gets lengthy and I started to get bored.
Plot:
This book just has a lot to unpack. I've never been so absent-minded in reading a book, that I don't think I truly pay attention to its world-building. I was informed that the author literally studied ethnonationalism religious history which reflected in her writing that was indeed profound. The stories of the tribes and their beliefs were well written but the information started to get repetitive and long-drawn; especially when Évike keeps on narrating the same folklore, over and over.
This book was also supposed to be a mix of Spinning Silver as well as The Bear and the Nightingale but mind you it does not even come close to measure what it's comparing. I'm not sure if this is just me?
Writing Style:
This is where my major problem comes from and it's not because the author writes poorly. It was decent and expository. However, the author style of using the same word or phrase over and over again is becoming apparent that it started to annoy me.
"...cheeks still burning"
"...him and his flustered, prayerful blushing"
"My cheeks flush"
"The barest flush of his cheeks"
"No, he agrees, cheeks flushing faintly"
"...a blush deepening her exceptionally pale face"
And trust me, the list doesn't stop there. I don't know how many times do the characters blushed/flushed/warmed their cheeks in every conversation they have. It feels like that is all they do to a point it is becoming their default. I am utterly flabbergasted.
Romance:
Definitely did not dig into the romance. I understand Évike does not have the best upbringing but I believe, instead of being deprived, that woman is simply horny. Get back to the repetitive writing style with one horny character. Insufferable.
I am literally impressed with how Évike managed to think about how Gáspár's on every second she could; how his warm body was closed to her or for when they kissed. That narrative repeated for almost every chapter, it's exasperating.
"...struggling not to think of his body flush against my own"
"...remembering the line of his body against mine"
"...I didn't imagine his body pressing along the length of mine..."
"My body remembers the shape of his, from so many nights curled together"
You both are out there in a cold with nothing but the cloaks. Isn't it sensible to find warms in each other's bodies? Yet Évike's mind always seems to have wonders of its own.
Characters:
This also brings me to say, none of the characters here is likeable nor interesting. I have nothing to bring to the table. Not Évike, not even Gáspár.
In short, this is a disappointment. This book could be for you, but not for me.
September 1, 2021
dnf'ing because i am ethically, intellectually, and aesthetically offended by the idea that you can slip a young adult pitmad manuscript in an adult hardcover, add a bit of sex and a sprinkle of gore (in the same puerile prose), and not touch the style or substance at all. it's not the worst young adult novel i've ever tried to read, but it is written childishly, for children—both in its stilted sentences and in its self-righteous conviction that the story's simple moral allegory is doing Very Important Work.
lipstick on a pig, baby.
lipstick on a pig, baby.
Read
December 18, 2020Since ARCs of my book are beginning to enter the world (and I am henceforth banning myself from Goodreads, which is a space for readers, not authors), I thought it would be a good time to provide some grounding and content warnings for THE WOLF & THE WOODSMAN.
I've pitched this book as having a "magic system based on body horror," which is I think apt - and so, naturally, there are a lot of graphic, on-the-page depictions of gore. (I've listed out the various iterations of that below).
I think it's also worth noting that this is fundamentally a book about nation-building, which I depict as a violent process that requires constant, aggressive forms of propaganda (aka, fairytales) in order to maintain. Religious persecution, cultural genocide, and ethnic cleansing are at the core of this book. My aim is, obviously, not endorsement, but rather a realistic representation of the oppression and marginalization experienced by ethnoreligious minorities. I am anticipating that some will categorize this book as grimdark, though I'm ambivalent to that descriptor myself.
TL;DR: Gore and genocide abound. Also, this book is not YA; it is adult. Take care of yourselves, and stay safe!
Content warnings:
I've pitched this book as having a "magic system based on body horror," which is I think apt - and so, naturally, there are a lot of graphic, on-the-page depictions of gore. (I've listed out the various iterations of that below).
I think it's also worth noting that this is fundamentally a book about nation-building, which I depict as a violent process that requires constant, aggressive forms of propaganda (aka, fairytales) in order to maintain. Religious persecution, cultural genocide, and ethnic cleansing are at the core of this book. My aim is, obviously, not endorsement, but rather a realistic representation of the oppression and marginalization experienced by ethnoreligious minorities. I am anticipating that some will categorize this book as grimdark, though I'm ambivalent to that descriptor myself.
TL;DR: Gore and genocide abound. Also, this book is not YA; it is adult. Take care of yourselves, and stay safe!
Content warnings:
Want to read
May 1, 2021an adult inspired fairy tale-esque book ??!! GIVE IT TO MEEEEEE!!!
June 29, 2021
I absolutely loved this – my favourite book of 2021 so far, which has shot straight to my list of all-time favourites. Ava Reid paints a rich and complex picture of a kingdom steeped in ancient magic, straining along seams of religious and cultural tension. From the first page to the last, every facet and detail is beautifully wrought.
Rooted in history and myth, The Wolf and the Woodsman is a stunning debut – a powerful and haunting tale of a young woman’s will to live, of love flowering in defiance of tyranny. Every single facet and detail, from the first page to the last, is so beautifully wrought, from the lyrical descriptions of nature to the tortured, slow-burn romance. It will twine like a dark forest around your heart.
Rooted in history and myth, The Wolf and the Woodsman is a stunning debut – a powerful and haunting tale of a young woman’s will to live, of love flowering in defiance of tyranny. Every single facet and detail, from the first page to the last, is so beautifully wrought, from the lyrical descriptions of nature to the tortured, slow-burn romance. It will twine like a dark forest around your heart.
August 11, 2021
I am so so sad that this didn't work out. With all the comparisons with Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden I was sure it would be my favourite. Now I'm worried about For the Wolf, another upcoming release that is compared with Novik and Arden. ( UPDATE: For the Wolf was as bad as this one )
The entire plot of this story revolves around heroine trying to save the people who severely abused her all her life. Personally, I found that extremely triggering and can't continue with this book. I strongly believe that it's not the responsibility of the abused to save their abusers.
Any book that argues against this simply goes into my hate-list.
If that wasn't bad enough, the characterisation is also awful. Simply put, the main character doesn't read like someone who has been abused her whole life. If anything, she reacts like a brat who always had everything she wanted. She's rude. She says everything that comes to her mind before she thinks about it. She doesn't give a single thought about angering her captors. Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with her because I think she's unlikeable. I have a problem with her because there is no way someone who has been bullied her whole life would act like this.
Here's the thing, people, all people, are extremely adaptable to their environments. That means that if you're in an environment that every time you talk, there could be the risk of physical abuse ( which through her memories we see that's the case ) you end up thinking very carefully about what you say. And you'll continue to do that even after you leave that place. I expected someone with her background to act very differently. If not broken, then at least she should've acted like a very cautious person.
Now I see why the author might have wanted to write her as someone with a lot of rage inside her. That could be expected from someone in that position. A more skilled author could've written her as someone with a lot of suppressed anger, who doesn't show it and can also act very cautiously to avoid immediate pain. Something I learned from this book though, is that Reid is not a very skilled author.
----
pre-reading:
OMG OMG it's here!
I've heard Novik comparison and I honestly don't need to hear anything else.
The entire plot of this story revolves around heroine trying to save the people who severely abused her all her life. Personally, I found that extremely triggering and can't continue with this book. I strongly believe that it's not the responsibility of the abused to save their abusers.
Any book that argues against this simply goes into my hate-list.
If that wasn't bad enough, the characterisation is also awful. Simply put, the main character doesn't read like someone who has been abused her whole life. If anything, she reacts like a brat who always had everything she wanted. She's rude. She says everything that comes to her mind before she thinks about it. She doesn't give a single thought about angering her captors. Just to be clear, I don't have a problem with her because I think she's unlikeable. I have a problem with her because there is no way someone who has been bullied her whole life would act like this.
Here's the thing, people, all people, are extremely adaptable to their environments. That means that if you're in an environment that every time you talk, there could be the risk of physical abuse ( which through her memories we see that's the case ) you end up thinking very carefully about what you say. And you'll continue to do that even after you leave that place. I expected someone with her background to act very differently. If not broken, then at least she should've acted like a very cautious person.
Now I see why the author might have wanted to write her as someone with a lot of rage inside her. That could be expected from someone in that position. A more skilled author could've written her as someone with a lot of suppressed anger, who doesn't show it and can also act very cautiously to avoid immediate pain. Something I learned from this book though, is that Reid is not a very skilled author.
----
pre-reading:
OMG OMG it's here!
I've heard Novik comparison and I honestly don't need to hear anything else.
June 4, 2021
I received a copy of this book to review. This in no way changes my opinion of the book.
Rated 4.5/5 stars!
This is the kind of story that seeps into your very bones.
It's both haunting and beautiful, brutal and magical. It's so many contradictions in one, and yet it all just works. The mythology is so prominent within the story, and you can really feel the atmosphere seeping into your skin as you're pulled in.
This isn't a story for the faint hearted - while seemingly whimsical with its magic and romance, everything comes with a sharp edge. There are some gory scenes peppered throughout, the cause of each scene being so inherently interwoven into the story that it's not something to skip over. And you wouldn't want to - it's all part of the story.
But amongst that, you have a main character you can't help but love. Not in an endearing-automatic-adoration way. But in the way where you see the faults, the quiet fierceness, the determination, and can't help but admire her as she makes her way through the world and everything it throws at her. I adored reading about Evike, and she's not a character that will be easily forgotten.
Will also note that the audiobook for this book is wonderful, the tone of the narrators voice seeming to match Evike's perspective so well. The direct way of speaking, while also acknowledging such magic and emotion through the story...they really brought the story to life audibly. Also a massive help for anyone wanting to work on pronunciations (note - there's a guide in the back too).
I actually already want to reread this one, convinced there is so much more to find within that just went over my head. In fact, I know there is, based on other reviews and from what the author has said themselves. But I can tell this is one to marvel at, while being entertaining all in one. I really loved it, and can't wait to see what else Ava Reid has to write in the future!
Rated 4.5/5 stars!
This is the kind of story that seeps into your very bones.
It's both haunting and beautiful, brutal and magical. It's so many contradictions in one, and yet it all just works. The mythology is so prominent within the story, and you can really feel the atmosphere seeping into your skin as you're pulled in.
This isn't a story for the faint hearted - while seemingly whimsical with its magic and romance, everything comes with a sharp edge. There are some gory scenes peppered throughout, the cause of each scene being so inherently interwoven into the story that it's not something to skip over. And you wouldn't want to - it's all part of the story.
But amongst that, you have a main character you can't help but love. Not in an endearing-automatic-adoration way. But in the way where you see the faults, the quiet fierceness, the determination, and can't help but admire her as she makes her way through the world and everything it throws at her. I adored reading about Evike, and she's not a character that will be easily forgotten.
Will also note that the audiobook for this book is wonderful, the tone of the narrators voice seeming to match Evike's perspective so well. The direct way of speaking, while also acknowledging such magic and emotion through the story...they really brought the story to life audibly. Also a massive help for anyone wanting to work on pronunciations (note - there's a guide in the back too).
I actually already want to reread this one, convinced there is so much more to find within that just went over my head. In fact, I know there is, based on other reviews and from what the author has said themselves. But I can tell this is one to marvel at, while being entertaining all in one. I really loved it, and can't wait to see what else Ava Reid has to write in the future!
August 8, 2021
DNF 30% - this is a hard no from me. The Wolf and the Woodsman is everything I dislike in YA fantasy (the first person present tense narration, the libidinous teenage couple in the foreground) plus a dash of the stuff I dislike in adult fantasy (mutilation, gore, religious zealotry). The most interesting bits of Hungarian folklore are relegated to side notes, the writing is a mess, and my favorite character is an exploding chicken monster.
Oh, and the libidinous teenage protagonist? Evike is actually 25 (going on 16) but still has mean girl problems, a penchant for pissing off people who save her life, and an internal monologue so tortured that it takes her three paragraphs to eat a bowl of stew. And that's nothing compared to how many paragraphs are devoted to thinking about boning her captor / secret prince / traveling buddy Gaspar.
Maybe a better writer could have carried off the story, but Ava Reid confuses verbosity for lushness and commits terrible crimes against figurative language. Individual sentences may not seem that heinous ("The memory of her telling is perfectly lucid, crystalline, and it shines in my mind like a bit of broken glass"), but they compound like interest on a bad credit card and drag the whole story down.
First of all, I don't think this is how the phrase 'cast a pall over' works; secondly, the moon metaphor does absolutely nothing here; and thirdly, are we really supposed to find 'dainty flushes' attractive?
More imprecise language from my reading notes: "We move farther in until I am drowned up to my waist." This is not how drowning works. Although Evike seems to think with the organs between her legs, so maybe she also breathes with them? Hmm. "Its breath reeks of burning flesh and rotted wood and a few tears prick at the corners of my eyes, futile and doomed." Can something be futile without also being doomed?
Ignore the comparisons to Katherine Arden and Naomi Novik. There might be interesting mythology, history, and religion buried deep in The Wolf and the Woodsman, but it's not worth wading through the turbid prose and unlikable characters for.
Oh, and the libidinous teenage protagonist? Evike is actually 25 (going on 16) but still has mean girl problems, a penchant for pissing off people who save her life, and an internal monologue so tortured that it takes her three paragraphs to eat a bowl of stew. And that's nothing compared to how many paragraphs are devoted to thinking about boning her captor / secret prince / traveling buddy Gaspar.
Maybe a better writer could have carried off the story, but Ava Reid confuses verbosity for lushness and commits terrible crimes against figurative language. Individual sentences may not seem that heinous ("The memory of her telling is perfectly lucid, crystalline, and it shines in my mind like a bit of broken glass"), but they compound like interest on a bad credit card and drag the whole story down.
I don't think I'm imagining the note of regret in his voice, nor the dark pall that casts over his face, but it does nothing to calm the fury and horror boiling in my belly. What little gratitude I had toward him for saving my life slivers away, like a crescent moon turning new. His dainty flushes and proud nose, the pliant tenor of his voice - all of it is a veneer for his barbarity.
First of all, I don't think this is how the phrase 'cast a pall over' works; secondly, the moon metaphor does absolutely nothing here; and thirdly, are we really supposed to find 'dainty flushes' attractive?
More imprecise language from my reading notes: "We move farther in until I am drowned up to my waist." This is not how drowning works. Although Evike seems to think with the organs between her legs, so maybe she also breathes with them? Hmm. "Its breath reeks of burning flesh and rotted wood and a few tears prick at the corners of my eyes, futile and doomed." Can something be futile without also being doomed?
Ignore the comparisons to Katherine Arden and Naomi Novik. There might be interesting mythology, history, and religion buried deep in The Wolf and the Woodsman, but it's not worth wading through the turbid prose and unlikable characters for.
August 14, 2021
I kept putting off writing this review, because how do you review a book that doesn't take your culture seriously? :/
The Wolf and the Woodsman is marketed as "inspired by Hungarian history", so I feel like once you mention some famous historical figures, you should expect readers to place this story in that historical context. And so, even though the succession of kings in the book is incorrect, this book tells you that the first king was Szent István, aka St Stephen (and also mentions Géza, but he's less known). He is considered the first Hungarian king, and it's easy to remember because he was crowned in 1000. Now, the current king in the book is only the 5th one, so if you google the kings quickly, it's easy to deduce that this story is placed around late 1000s, maybe mid 1100s. So 11th-12th century.
The reason why I insist on the importance of placing this in a historical context is because of the amount of historical inaccuracies. I'm not even a history buff, and I noticed so many inaccuracies... starting with the currency, the forint, which is present but which was only introduced in the early 14th century. Then you have the very anachronistic goddamn PAPRIKA mentioned, which 1) comes from Latin America so has absolutely nothing to do in 11th century and 2) only became popular in Hungarian cuisine in 18th century. Moreover, the fact that people judge the main character, Évike, a peasant girl for not being able to read? I'm sorry, but since when is reading/writing an everyday skill in medieval Hungary???
There's also the manifold linguistic issues... starting with the random Hungarian peppered throughout the text. While this was no issue for me, I think it can be very confusing for non-speakers. Even more so because only some names are in Hungarian (like Ezer Szem forest), but not others (Black lake... which ironically would also be an easy name but whatever).
Perhaps even more annoying is the linguistic-geographic relationships in this text. The book uses code names, like Merzani for Turkish and Juuvi for Finnish. And so medieval Hungary is somehow bordered by Turkey on the South and Finland in the North??? Not only that, but the main character understands both languages? How? I would like that superpower please! Like yes, Hungarian is a Finno-ugric language, but 1) I do not understand Finnish AT ALL. A friend who studied it says the grammar has some similarities and basta. and 2) Turkish again, I would not be able to understand at all. If you google it, you will find out that there are only about 400-500 Turkish words/word roots left in Hungarian. So how? And even if you might counter "but this is old Hungarian!", I still doubt they could understand those languages then. The oldest text in Hungarian is from 12th century (only Latin beforehand) and I understand about 70% it!
Inaccuracies like this are to be found even regarding the story... we know it's placed around St. Stephen day (20th August), and yet they're freezing in the nights? Hungary has a temperate weather, so I think they were fine during the hottest month of the summer. There's also the matter of spelling mistakes in the Hungarian, which tells you that no Hungarian had read this text before publication... because yes, I can forgive Király Szek being spelled like that once, but it shows up repeatedly in the book. Szek means nothing, while Szék means chair, or in this context, the King's Throne. And I know it looks just like an accent, but it's different from French, it's a different sound and letter. This was not the only mistake, but it's the most prominent one.
And while one might set aside all these issues, there's also the plot and characters and all I can say is ... no. There are so many useless side quests, the middle part of the book really drags on. What was the point of their first travel to the north? Or the clay witch and the other forest being? Absolutely nothing. And the gore... yikes.
I initially wanted to give this 2 stars, because the last two chapters really picked up, but writing this review made me realise that the author basically spent 30 minutes on the wikipedia entry of Hungary, and that was all. :/ So I don't think I can give a book that disregards and disrespects Hungarian history and culture even that.
Rep: Hungarian-Jewish coded main character, Hungarian-Turkish coded love interest
The Wolf and the Woodsman is marketed as "inspired by Hungarian history", so I feel like once you mention some famous historical figures, you should expect readers to place this story in that historical context. And so, even though the succession of kings in the book is incorrect, this book tells you that the first king was Szent István, aka St Stephen (and also mentions Géza, but he's less known). He is considered the first Hungarian king, and it's easy to remember because he was crowned in 1000. Now, the current king in the book is only the 5th one, so if you google the kings quickly, it's easy to deduce that this story is placed around late 1000s, maybe mid 1100s. So 11th-12th century.
The reason why I insist on the importance of placing this in a historical context is because of the amount of historical inaccuracies. I'm not even a history buff, and I noticed so many inaccuracies... starting with the currency, the forint, which is present but which was only introduced in the early 14th century. Then you have the very anachronistic goddamn PAPRIKA mentioned, which 1) comes from Latin America so has absolutely nothing to do in 11th century and 2) only became popular in Hungarian cuisine in 18th century. Moreover, the fact that people judge the main character, Évike, a peasant girl for not being able to read? I'm sorry, but since when is reading/writing an everyday skill in medieval Hungary???
There's also the manifold linguistic issues... starting with the random Hungarian peppered throughout the text. While this was no issue for me, I think it can be very confusing for non-speakers. Even more so because only some names are in Hungarian (like Ezer Szem forest), but not others (Black lake... which ironically would also be an easy name but whatever).
Perhaps even more annoying is the linguistic-geographic relationships in this text. The book uses code names, like Merzani for Turkish and Juuvi for Finnish. And so medieval Hungary is somehow bordered by Turkey on the South and Finland in the North??? Not only that, but the main character understands both languages? How? I would like that superpower please! Like yes, Hungarian is a Finno-ugric language, but 1) I do not understand Finnish AT ALL. A friend who studied it says the grammar has some similarities and basta. and 2) Turkish again, I would not be able to understand at all. If you google it, you will find out that there are only about 400-500 Turkish words/word roots left in Hungarian. So how? And even if you might counter "but this is old Hungarian!", I still doubt they could understand those languages then. The oldest text in Hungarian is from 12th century (only Latin beforehand) and I understand about 70% it!
Inaccuracies like this are to be found even regarding the story... we know it's placed around St. Stephen day (20th August), and yet they're freezing in the nights? Hungary has a temperate weather, so I think they were fine during the hottest month of the summer. There's also the matter of spelling mistakes in the Hungarian, which tells you that no Hungarian had read this text before publication... because yes, I can forgive Király Szek being spelled like that once, but it shows up repeatedly in the book. Szek means nothing, while Szék means chair, or in this context, the King's Throne. And I know it looks just like an accent, but it's different from French, it's a different sound and letter. This was not the only mistake, but it's the most prominent one.
And while one might set aside all these issues, there's also the plot and characters and all I can say is ... no. There are so many useless side quests, the middle part of the book really drags on. What was the point of their first travel to the north? Or the clay witch and the other forest being? Absolutely nothing. And the gore... yikes.
I initially wanted to give this 2 stars, because the last two chapters really picked up, but writing this review made me realise that the author basically spent 30 minutes on the wikipedia entry of Hungary, and that was all. :/ So I don't think I can give a book that disregards and disrespects Hungarian history and culture even that.
Rep: Hungarian-Jewish coded main character, Hungarian-Turkish coded love interest
June 13, 2021
Contrary to the blurbs from the publishing company, this book is nothing like “Bear and the Nightingale” or “Spinning Silver.” I repeat, if you are looking for the glorious escapism of “Bear and the Nightingale,” the fine craftsmanship of “Spinning Silver,” or an exploration of belief in “City of Brass:” this is not the book for you. If you’re looking for a half-baked body horror/romance/magical adventure/ commentary on religious persecution/Game of Thrones fanfiction then this book is for you. And I hope you enjoy it.
If you aren’t looking for that then: Buckle. Up. I’ve got things to say.
First up, I want to explain my two star review because this book as a whole was not good. But I really wanted to give it one and a half stars because it did interesting things that I wish the author took time to develop and explore because they were actually really promising. The body horror magic system. This was really really cool. Like, I truly enjoyed seeing where it would go (it ending up going...somewhere?) and I did enjoy that themes of religious persecution were a major part of the book. As there were parallels to medieval Catholicism and Judaism, and how the Jewish people were treated terribly and kicked out of country after country. She calls them Yehuli and I found their story very compelling, and ultimately wanted them to be the focus.
The thing I hated most about this book was it’s awful first person narrator: Évike. Or as she calls herself incessantly, “wolf-girl.” She’s awful. No wonder she was bullied mercilessly in her village. Okay that’s a joke and a bad one at that. No one ever deserves to be bullied. But if anyone *did* deserve it, it would be her. She’s so flipping MEAN. Like actually mean. She prods and pokes and goads and blames everybody but herself and she didn’t change. She’s a 25 year old brat who makes terrible decisions. She is chiefly mean to our Woodsman, Gáspár, who is an angsty prince just trying his best, and is constantly being insulted by wolf-girl as he keeps saving her life. We’re supposed to fall in love with them as she makes fun of him as they trek to the frozen north to do...something. Also she’s supposed to struggle with her identity but like....she doesn’t???
A request: STOP MAKING “DIFFICULT WOMEN” CHARACTERS PLAIN OLD ASSHOLES. IT’S NOT FEMINIST IT’S AWFUL. TOUGH WOMEN CAN ALSO BE NICE.
Onto the next reason I disliked this book: the treatment of Gáspár. He never got to become a fully realized character, which was a shame because he was much more interesting then wolf-girl as he is not only a shunned prince but he is of mixed race- which is something that was never really addressed. I read this as him being the only dark-skinned person in this country, and his treatment in it flummoxed me. I am a white woman who is going to try to talk this through, and I acknowledge that I may not be the best person to talk about this, but I’m going to try.
To begin: His mother is constantly referred to as being dark-skinned and being from the south, so I assumed that meant he is Black or Hispanic or just of a more Mediterranean skin tone in this vaguely Eastern European fantasy country. He is also referred to as the “black prince” and his “blood blackened” and having olive skin. Which to be fair, “black prince” is an sobriquet used to refer to a fierce reputation or status as the “black sheep” of the family, not their skin color. But it was never fully addressed in the book why he was called that exactly, and I was left with many uncomfortable questions about it. Was he called that because of his darker skin? Are we to assume that it’s the fantasy world’s racism? Do we conflate his outsider status with his skin color or his independent character? If so, why was this never addressed in any meaningful way? Why did Gáspár never get to talk about having a skin color darker than the people in country he rules over? Did he experience any racism? Or are we to just assume that he experienced racism because of our own reality- and is that in and of itself racist? I would have assumed that this was to be addressed within the world itself, and by wolf-girl herself as she called him the “black prince” to his face with an implication that this was negative. Why does she not apologize? Or is this just me bringing this reality into this fantasy? I don’t really have an answer, and that is very troubling to me. In a more skillful book, this questions would have be asked but also answered in some way. Maybe it was and I utterly missed it?
To make a long paragraph short: the treatment of the only character of color was problematic and gave me so many unanswered questions. And I don’t think the author’s intentions were bad, I think of this as a victim of poor writing and not thinking every decision through.
And thirdly, and most hilariously, was its very clear inspirations from the hit tv show “Game of Thrones.” Because this was actually insane. I, like many other people, enjoyed the show immensely and elements of it have stuck with me. Here are somethings from the show that I found in this book that made me think this began as a GOT fan fiction:
-One-eyed religious zealot with a flaming sword
-praying to The Godfather of Life (Lord of Light ahem) and things magically happen
-wild woman with a bow (Ygritte) is taken by a man (Jon Snow) in a special group of soldiers who can take no wives and father no children
-the Woodsman (Night’s Watch) wear flowy capes
-someone literally says “winter is coming”
-someone literally says “bend the knee”
-someone literally says “widows wail”
-someone literally says that everyone south of the north is a southerner
There are also probably a ton more references that I missed but you get the picture.
This is a book to skip.
*Update 4/16* So I stumbled upon a preorder campaign for this book and there’s art available with the two main characters are featured and Gáspár’s skin tone is very dark and it makes me all the more confused about his treatment in the book.
If you aren’t looking for that then: Buckle. Up. I’ve got things to say.
First up, I want to explain my two star review because this book as a whole was not good. But I really wanted to give it one and a half stars because it did interesting things that I wish the author took time to develop and explore because they were actually really promising. The body horror magic system. This was really really cool. Like, I truly enjoyed seeing where it would go (it ending up going...somewhere?) and I did enjoy that themes of religious persecution were a major part of the book. As there were parallels to medieval Catholicism and Judaism, and how the Jewish people were treated terribly and kicked out of country after country. She calls them Yehuli and I found their story very compelling, and ultimately wanted them to be the focus.
The thing I hated most about this book was it’s awful first person narrator: Évike. Or as she calls herself incessantly, “wolf-girl.” She’s awful. No wonder she was bullied mercilessly in her village. Okay that’s a joke and a bad one at that. No one ever deserves to be bullied. But if anyone *did* deserve it, it would be her. She’s so flipping MEAN. Like actually mean. She prods and pokes and goads and blames everybody but herself and she didn’t change. She’s a 25 year old brat who makes terrible decisions. She is chiefly mean to our Woodsman, Gáspár, who is an angsty prince just trying his best, and is constantly being insulted by wolf-girl as he keeps saving her life. We’re supposed to fall in love with them as she makes fun of him as they trek to the frozen north to do...something. Also she’s supposed to struggle with her identity but like....she doesn’t???
A request: STOP MAKING “DIFFICULT WOMEN” CHARACTERS PLAIN OLD ASSHOLES. IT’S NOT FEMINIST IT’S AWFUL. TOUGH WOMEN CAN ALSO BE NICE.
Onto the next reason I disliked this book: the treatment of Gáspár. He never got to become a fully realized character, which was a shame because he was much more interesting then wolf-girl as he is not only a shunned prince but he is of mixed race- which is something that was never really addressed. I read this as him being the only dark-skinned person in this country, and his treatment in it flummoxed me. I am a white woman who is going to try to talk this through, and I acknowledge that I may not be the best person to talk about this, but I’m going to try.
To begin: His mother is constantly referred to as being dark-skinned and being from the south, so I assumed that meant he is Black or Hispanic or just of a more Mediterranean skin tone in this vaguely Eastern European fantasy country. He is also referred to as the “black prince” and his “blood blackened” and having olive skin. Which to be fair, “black prince” is an sobriquet used to refer to a fierce reputation or status as the “black sheep” of the family, not their skin color. But it was never fully addressed in the book why he was called that exactly, and I was left with many uncomfortable questions about it. Was he called that because of his darker skin? Are we to assume that it’s the fantasy world’s racism? Do we conflate his outsider status with his skin color or his independent character? If so, why was this never addressed in any meaningful way? Why did Gáspár never get to talk about having a skin color darker than the people in country he rules over? Did he experience any racism? Or are we to just assume that he experienced racism because of our own reality- and is that in and of itself racist? I would have assumed that this was to be addressed within the world itself, and by wolf-girl herself as she called him the “black prince” to his face with an implication that this was negative. Why does she not apologize? Or is this just me bringing this reality into this fantasy? I don’t really have an answer, and that is very troubling to me. In a more skillful book, this questions would have be asked but also answered in some way. Maybe it was and I utterly missed it?
To make a long paragraph short: the treatment of the only character of color was problematic and gave me so many unanswered questions. And I don’t think the author’s intentions were bad, I think of this as a victim of poor writing and not thinking every decision through.
And thirdly, and most hilariously, was its very clear inspirations from the hit tv show “Game of Thrones.” Because this was actually insane. I, like many other people, enjoyed the show immensely and elements of it have stuck with me. Here are somethings from the show that I found in this book that made me think this began as a GOT fan fiction:
-One-eyed religious zealot with a flaming sword
-praying to The Godfather of Life (Lord of Light ahem) and things magically happen
-wild woman with a bow (Ygritte) is taken by a man (Jon Snow) in a special group of soldiers who can take no wives and father no children
-the Woodsman (Night’s Watch) wear flowy capes
-someone literally says “winter is coming”
-someone literally says “bend the knee”
-someone literally says “widows wail”
-someone literally says that everyone south of the north is a southerner
There are also probably a ton more references that I missed but you get the picture.
This is a book to skip.
*Update 4/16* So I stumbled upon a preorder campaign for this book and there’s art available with the two main characters are featured and Gáspár’s skin tone is very dark and it makes me all the more confused about his treatment in the book.
May 31, 2021
a beautifully wrought and surprisingly romantic tale that is rich with real-life political allusions. rtc!
> 4 stars
*
why yes, I am absolutely obsessed with the fact that so many dark woodsy books with wolf in the title seem to be coming out in 2021!!
okay fine maybe it's like . . . 2 books . . . this one and For the Wolf
a note: a lot of people are marking this as YA but it's actually adult pals <3 just a heads up
thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review!
> 4 stars
*
why yes, I am absolutely obsessed with the fact that so many dark woodsy books with wolf in the title seem to be coming out in 2021!!
a note: a lot of people are marking this as YA but it's actually adult pals <3 just a heads up
thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review!
April 13, 2023
I am so, so in love.
CW :
Above everything, The Wolf and the Woodsman is about the power of stories , how they shape and mold us — how they can soothe us and yet pierce our hearts all the same, how they're both used as balms and propaganda. So many myths and tales inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology are entwined into Évike and Gáspár's journey — it's no secret that the path to my heart is through them, and I loved nothing more than discovering this new-to-me folklore. Ava Reid's words lulled me until the real world disappeared — they reached into my soul and tugged . I would recommend this novel for these stories alone — but they're only one of its numerous appeals.
But The Wolf and the Woodsman is also very much about trauma , both personal and generational; about oppression, persecution and ethnic cleansing — about survival through it all. It's graphically violent at times — I mean, Ava Reid said that she pitched this book as having a "magic system based on body horror," and it doesn't shy away from gore — but perhaps the scenes that affected me the most were the ones that alluded to the pain one feels when belonging somewhere doesn't seem to be an option. How to build oneself when rejection is waiting everywhere, when colonization and war work hand in hand with the aim of erasing your roots and heritage? As a biracial woman whose family stories were forever lost in violence and heartache, I've been asking this question to myself for a very long time, and it cut deeply in me in a way I didn't know was possible. Maybe that's why seeing Évike take back both her Yehuli and pagan heritages meant the world to me. If the parallels with Jewish history are obvious, and heartbreaking, I appreciated the anti-zionist message and the way religion was handled, too.
Served with compelling writing and lush imagery — the scenic quality is wonderful, and the settings a living thing in more ways than one — The Wolf and the Woodsman pictures characters I'll always keep close to my heart and whose slow growth was fantastic.
Raised in a place that holds magic above everything, Évike thrives to belong somewhere. Despite all the bullying she faced her whole life, she's so fierce and strong — I love her so, so much. The way she grows into herself and flourishes throughout the novel appeased a secret place of my heart and I will never forget her.
Gáspár's gentle, tortured soul carved a place into my heart and I felt so much for him. He's gone through his fair share of bullying and if his title of prince acts as a smoke screen at first it's obvious that he craves love just as much as Évike. No matter how he tries at times, he can never hide how very soft he is. My god.
Their romance is fraught with many hurdles and I adored it to pieces : their banter is a delight, they're so stubborn, yet so very loyal and protective — I rooted for them entirely too soon, but hey, I can't resist enemies to friends to lovers done right, okay? Évike and Gáspár's chemistry is palpable and the way they slowly start caring about each other is perfectly paced — this is how you write a believable and tremendously enjoyable romance. Please take notes.
But Évike and Gáspár are not the only ones to set foot in this story, and the fact that no character — villain or otherwise — is one-dimensional is one of my favorite aspect of the novel. Indeed even though we're not meant to like every one of them — and I certainly hated some of them with passion — the reasoning behind their actions is complex and believable, even when we can't condone or forgive them. There's nothing I despise more than villains that are simplistically evil and flat, and I really appreciated the layers Ava Reid gave to every one of her characters, villains included.
Bottom Line : The Wolf and the Woodsman has so much to offer, and I can't recommend it enough. The ending left me breathless - it's open in a way that could have been uncomfortable, but it feels right, and it will stay with me for a very long time.
For more bookish content, please visit:
If you stare long enough into the darkness of the forest, eventually something will stare right back.
CW :
Above everything, The Wolf and the Woodsman is about the power of stories , how they shape and mold us — how they can soothe us and yet pierce our hearts all the same, how they're both used as balms and propaganda. So many myths and tales inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology are entwined into Évike and Gáspár's journey — it's no secret that the path to my heart is through them, and I loved nothing more than discovering this new-to-me folklore. Ava Reid's words lulled me until the real world disappeared — they reached into my soul and tugged . I would recommend this novel for these stories alone — but they're only one of its numerous appeals.
But The Wolf and the Woodsman is also very much about trauma , both personal and generational; about oppression, persecution and ethnic cleansing — about survival through it all. It's graphically violent at times — I mean, Ava Reid said that she pitched this book as having a "magic system based on body horror," and it doesn't shy away from gore — but perhaps the scenes that affected me the most were the ones that alluded to the pain one feels when belonging somewhere doesn't seem to be an option. How to build oneself when rejection is waiting everywhere, when colonization and war work hand in hand with the aim of erasing your roots and heritage? As a biracial woman whose family stories were forever lost in violence and heartache, I've been asking this question to myself for a very long time, and it cut deeply in me in a way I didn't know was possible. Maybe that's why seeing Évike take back both her Yehuli and pagan heritages meant the world to me. If the parallels with Jewish history are obvious, and heartbreaking, I appreciated the anti-zionist message and the way religion was handled, too.
We kept no mirrors in Keszi, but I would spend hours kneeling at the riverside, watching my reflection crease and wrinkle like it was an embroidery on silk, puzzling over whether my nose belonged to my mother or my father, and what it would mean either way. There was no answer that didn’t hurt to swallow. I almost tell him that, before I remember that he’s no friend of mine.
Served with compelling writing and lush imagery — the scenic quality is wonderful, and the settings a living thing in more ways than one — The Wolf and the Woodsman pictures characters I'll always keep close to my heart and whose slow growth was fantastic.
Raised in a place that holds magic above everything, Évike thrives to belong somewhere. Despite all the bullying she faced her whole life, she's so fierce and strong — I love her so, so much. The way she grows into herself and flourishes throughout the novel appeased a secret place of my heart and I will never forget her.
“I don’t think the hawk is evil,” Gáspár says after a moment. “But I’m not a mouse.”
“And thank Isten you aren’t,” I say. “Mice don’t have the luxury of passing moral judgment on every living thing they come across. Mice just get eaten.”
Gáspár's gentle, tortured soul carved a place into my heart and I felt so much for him. He's gone through his fair share of bullying and if his title of prince acts as a smoke screen at first it's obvious that he craves love just as much as Évike. No matter how he tries at times, he can never hide how very soft he is. My god.
Their romance is fraught with many hurdles and I adored it to pieces : their banter is a delight, they're so stubborn, yet so very loyal and protective — I rooted for them entirely too soon, but hey, I can't resist enemies to friends to lovers done right, okay? Évike and Gáspár's chemistry is palpable and the way they slowly start caring about each other is perfectly paced — this is how you write a believable and tremendously enjoyable romance. Please take notes.
“You have the uncommon ability to make me doubt what I once thought was certain,” he says. “I’ve spent the last fortnight fearing you would destroy me. You may still.”
But Évike and Gáspár are not the only ones to set foot in this story, and the fact that no character — villain or otherwise — is one-dimensional is one of my favorite aspect of the novel. Indeed even though we're not meant to like every one of them — and I certainly hated some of them with passion — the reasoning behind their actions is complex and believable, even when we can't condone or forgive them. There's nothing I despise more than villains that are simplistically evil and flat, and I really appreciated the layers Ava Reid gave to every one of her characters, villains included.
Bottom Line : The Wolf and the Woodsman has so much to offer, and I can't recommend it enough. The ending left me breathless - it's open in a way that could have been uncomfortable, but it feels right, and it will stay with me for a very long time.
For more bookish content, please visit:
November 27, 2021
Now a Goodreads Choice nominee in Fantasy!
“If you stare long enough into the darkness of the forest, eventually something will stare right back.”
I’ve been looking for a good escapist fantasy I could really sink my teeth into. I’m not sure exactly how The Wolf and the Woodsman came up on my radar, but once I read the description I just knew I had to have it. I mean, just look at those comp titles— The Bear and the Nightingale, Spinning Silver?? As a debut??? I literally had no choice.
Évike is everything you could want in a heroine. She’s an outsider in her pagan village, as the only girl who has grown up to have no powers. So when the feared Holy Order of the Woodsmen make an appearance, demanding the same familiar sacrifice of one “wolf-girl” from her community, it’s not a huge surprise that they don’t hesitate to offer Évike up to be taken. She’s bound and taken away to be presented to the king of Régország, who follows the Patrifaith, and eventually face a likely death.
But nothing involving Évike ever seems to go as smoothly as it’s supposed to. The majority of their long journey back to the palace is through heavily wooded areas where all kinds of sinister creatures are known to roam. Further complicating matters, Évike meets Gáspár, who challenges what she believes she knows about the domineering religion in Régország. To survive, Évike will have to make sacrifices of her own, some more extreme than she could ever imagine, and face difficult truths about who she is and where she comes from.
As present as magic is in this novel, religion plays just as significant a role. Though the names and customs are changed, you can feel the echos of real history’s power dynamics playing out in this fictional world. The Yehuli are representative of Jewish populations in Central/Eastern Europe, and the Patrifaith is the influence Christianity was exercising at the time. Pagan villages like Évike‘s also existed, much to the disdain of the expanding Christian empires. Though with her mixed Yehuli and pagan heritage, it’s up to her which parts of her identity she will hold on to and which she will discard completely.
I have a bit of a soft spot for authors who have been told that their stories don’t belong. More often than not those stories in question feature characters that have been made to feel the same way. And I think a lot of us have held those feelings too, at one time or another. Évike is many things, but she starts as an outsider in her own community, and no matter where this story ends up taking her, that will always be a part of her identity. And the beautiful thing about Reid’s writing and fantasy in general is that you don’t have to be have the same cultural background as a character like Évike in order to identity with her. This is not a ‘clean’ fantasy where everything follows an easy formula. Expect a conflicted reading experience.
I loved my time with this book. It’s equal parts mesmerizing and vicious, equipped with the full sting of an unforgiving world. There’s some dark and brutal elements, including body horror, violence and general gore, but Reid also creates a starkly beautiful setting, full of warmth and intricate world-building. My only regret is that it’s a standalone, the ending felt somewhat abrupt. But that may just be me wanting to see more of this world. Inspired by Jewish folklore and Hungarian history, by an author of the same heritage, The Wolf and the Woodsman is interwoven with magic, blood and betrayal. You’re not going to want to miss the chance to pick it up and read it for yourself.
*Thanks to Harper Voyager for my finished copy!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
“If you stare long enough into the darkness of the forest, eventually something will stare right back.”
I’ve been looking for a good escapist fantasy I could really sink my teeth into. I’m not sure exactly how The Wolf and the Woodsman came up on my radar, but once I read the description I just knew I had to have it. I mean, just look at those comp titles— The Bear and the Nightingale, Spinning Silver?? As a debut??? I literally had no choice.
Évike is everything you could want in a heroine. She’s an outsider in her pagan village, as the only girl who has grown up to have no powers. So when the feared Holy Order of the Woodsmen make an appearance, demanding the same familiar sacrifice of one “wolf-girl” from her community, it’s not a huge surprise that they don’t hesitate to offer Évike up to be taken. She’s bound and taken away to be presented to the king of Régország, who follows the Patrifaith, and eventually face a likely death.
But nothing involving Évike ever seems to go as smoothly as it’s supposed to. The majority of their long journey back to the palace is through heavily wooded areas where all kinds of sinister creatures are known to roam. Further complicating matters, Évike meets Gáspár, who challenges what she believes she knows about the domineering religion in Régország. To survive, Évike will have to make sacrifices of her own, some more extreme than she could ever imagine, and face difficult truths about who she is and where she comes from.
As present as magic is in this novel, religion plays just as significant a role. Though the names and customs are changed, you can feel the echos of real history’s power dynamics playing out in this fictional world. The Yehuli are representative of Jewish populations in Central/Eastern Europe, and the Patrifaith is the influence Christianity was exercising at the time. Pagan villages like Évike‘s also existed, much to the disdain of the expanding Christian empires. Though with her mixed Yehuli and pagan heritage, it’s up to her which parts of her identity she will hold on to and which she will discard completely.
I have a bit of a soft spot for authors who have been told that their stories don’t belong. More often than not those stories in question feature characters that have been made to feel the same way. And I think a lot of us have held those feelings too, at one time or another. Évike is many things, but she starts as an outsider in her own community, and no matter where this story ends up taking her, that will always be a part of her identity. And the beautiful thing about Reid’s writing and fantasy in general is that you don’t have to be have the same cultural background as a character like Évike in order to identity with her. This is not a ‘clean’ fantasy where everything follows an easy formula. Expect a conflicted reading experience.
I loved my time with this book. It’s equal parts mesmerizing and vicious, equipped with the full sting of an unforgiving world. There’s some dark and brutal elements, including body horror, violence and general gore, but Reid also creates a starkly beautiful setting, full of warmth and intricate world-building. My only regret is that it’s a standalone, the ending felt somewhat abrupt. But that may just be me wanting to see more of this world. Inspired by Jewish folklore and Hungarian history, by an author of the same heritage, The Wolf and the Woodsman is interwoven with magic, blood and betrayal. You’re not going to want to miss the chance to pick it up and read it for yourself.
*Thanks to Harper Voyager for my finished copy!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
June 24, 2021
Before I begin my review, I would like to discuss some grievances I have with the publishers of this book. This has nothing to do with the author or book, as this is out of their control. I take issue with the poor distribution of ARCs to Jewish reviewers. This book was promoted heavily as a Jewish OwnVoices story, so it was disappointing to see so many gentile reviewers and an absence of Jewish voices. I am Jewish, and upon requesting this book months prior, I was declined, only to suddenly be approved the day before the book was published? This is a widespread problem in publishing, despite the rise in more diverse stories. OwnVoices reviewers should always be prioritized, but the opposite could be said for the distribution of this book.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about this book! Because-- wow. This book was amazing.
This book gave me everything I was promised, amazing Jewish folklore and even more amazing characters. This book was truly a character driven story. Though that's not to say the plot wasn't equally as engrossing. The world was complex, yet I felt like I could simply step into the world during the author's wonderful worldbuilding. This book truly is one of the most beautiful depictions of Jewish culture that I've ever seen. Reading about the Purim celebration felt like a warm hug.
The main character was so complex, but I found myself resonating with her motivations and emotions throughout the story. None of these characters felt underdeveloped, each of their stories felt completely authentic. While the romance definitely takes a back burner in much of the story, that is not to say it isn't compelling. I really enjoyed the character's dynamics, and really felt like I got to know them through the author's writing.
This book was nothing short of enthralling, and I have nothing but praise for the author.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about this book! Because-- wow. This book was amazing.
This book gave me everything I was promised, amazing Jewish folklore and even more amazing characters. This book was truly a character driven story. Though that's not to say the plot wasn't equally as engrossing. The world was complex, yet I felt like I could simply step into the world during the author's wonderful worldbuilding. This book truly is one of the most beautiful depictions of Jewish culture that I've ever seen. Reading about the Purim celebration felt like a warm hug.
The main character was so complex, but I found myself resonating with her motivations and emotions throughout the story. None of these characters felt underdeveloped, each of their stories felt completely authentic. While the romance definitely takes a back burner in much of the story, that is not to say it isn't compelling. I really enjoyed the character's dynamics, and really felt like I got to know them through the author's writing.
This book was nothing short of enthralling, and I have nothing but praise for the author.
January 29, 2023
3.5 ⭐️
As always for me, I didn’t like the romance. Very instalove. But I enjoyed the world building and all the little stories of lore and mythology that were thrown in.
Evike lives in her small Pagan village, as the only girl born without magic. She is picked on and bullied by the other girls. Once a year the Woodsmen come and kidnap one girl to take to the king.
To avoid their only Seer being taken, the head of the village dresses Evike up and allows her to be taken.
Thus follows a journey that begins with hatred and develops over the course of the book.
Like I say though, the world building was good so I would be interested to try something else by this author.
As always for me, I didn’t like the romance. Very instalove. But I enjoyed the world building and all the little stories of lore and mythology that were thrown in.
Evike lives in her small Pagan village, as the only girl born without magic. She is picked on and bullied by the other girls. Once a year the Woodsmen come and kidnap one girl to take to the king.
To avoid their only Seer being taken, the head of the village dresses Evike up and allows her to be taken.
Thus follows a journey that begins with hatred and develops over the course of the book.
Like I say though, the world building was good so I would be interested to try something else by this author.
January 30, 2023
This remains to be one of the best fantasy debuts of all time and one that i will return to time and time again. a full review is in order at some point
June 28, 2021
Before I begin my review, I would like to discuss some grievances I have with the publishers of this book. This has nothing to do with the author or book, as this is out of their control. I take issue with the poor distribution of ARCs to Jewish reviewers. This book was promoted heavily as a Jewish OwnVoices story, so it was disappointing to see so many gentile reviewers and an absence of Jewish voices. I am Jewish, and upon requesting this book months prior, I was declined, only to suddenly be approved the day before the book was published? This is a widespread problem in publishing, despite the rise in more diverse stories. OwnVoices reviewers should always be prioritized, but the opposite could be said for the distribution of this book.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about this book! Because-- wow. This book was amazing.
This book gave me everything I was promised, amazing Jewish folklore and even more amazing characters. This book was truly a character driven story. Though that's not to say the plot wasn't equally as engrossing. The world was complex, yet I felt like I could simply step into the world during the author's wonderful worldbuilding. This book truly is one of the most beautiful depictions of Jewish culture that I've ever seen. Reading about the Purim celebration felt like a warm hug.
The main character was so complex, but I found myself resonating with her motivations and emotions throughout the story. None of these characters felt underdeveloped, each of their stories felt completely authentic. While the romance definitely takes a back burner in much of the story, that is not to say it isn't compelling. I really enjoyed the character's dynamics, and really felt like I got to know them through the author's writing.
This book was nothing short of enthralling, and I have nothing but praise for the author.
Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about this book! Because-- wow. This book was amazing.
This book gave me everything I was promised, amazing Jewish folklore and even more amazing characters. This book was truly a character driven story. Though that's not to say the plot wasn't equally as engrossing. The world was complex, yet I felt like I could simply step into the world during the author's wonderful worldbuilding. This book truly is one of the most beautiful depictions of Jewish culture that I've ever seen. Reading about the Purim celebration felt like a warm hug.
The main character was so complex, but I found myself resonating with her motivations and emotions throughout the story. None of these characters felt underdeveloped, each of their stories felt completely authentic. While the romance definitely takes a back burner in much of the story, that is not to say it isn't compelling. I really enjoyed the character's dynamics, and really felt like I got to know them through the author's writing.
This book was nothing short of enthralling, and I have nothing but praise for the author.
July 4, 2021
2.5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“The Woodsmen,” she gasps. “They're coming for you.”
When the Woodsmen came for Evike's mother, the seer Virag took her in, now fifteen years later, Evike is facing her mother's fate. Evike is “barren” she has no ability for the three skills, forge metal; flame; and healing, blessed from their god Isten, so in order to save Katalin, the young seer, Evike is being sacrificed to the Woodsmen. Evike's village and people are called pagans, since they believe in the old and many gods, while most of the four regions of Regorszag have become followers of the Patrifaith and believe in only the Godfather of life and Godfather of death. A bargain was struck that every couple years, a wolf-girl (named for the wolf capes they wear to denote they can do magic or one of the three skills) must be given to the Woodsmen and brought back to the capital city of Kiraly Szek and the King. This assures that the pagans can live in peace without fear of attack. Even though Katalin has bullied Evike her entire life, Evike still goes to the Woodsmen to save her village.
The women and girls all have two faces---the wolf's and their own.
Using and incorporating Hungarian and Jewish folklore, The Wolf and the Woodsman, was a fantasy that suffered from some pacing problems in the first half but had an ending that will lock readers into the world. This is told all from Evike's point-of-view, she's twenty-five years old but aside from the, very, macabre folklore told throughout the story, a talk of her sexual past, and a short sex scene, I thought she and the Woodsman captain, that turns out to be the protagonist with her, Barany Gaspar, and the story overall, read like a young adult fantasy. I know this is being marketed as adult because of the all the content warnings (the author has listed them all) but I was a little disappointed that I don't think these twenty-five year old characters felt older than seventeen.
“Te nem vagy taltos,” he manages, eye wide as he takes in the sight of me, chestnut-haired, unmasked. You are not a seer.
“Te nem vagy harcos,” I shoot back between ragged breaths. You are not a warrior.
The beginning ushers you into the world with heavy utilizing of the folklore and generally worked to set the world but then the first half has Evike and Gaspar going on a journey to capture a turul, a magical bird, that Gaspar thinks will help his father retain his power in the face of Gaspar's half-brother Nandor, who is trying to take the throne from the father and the true born prince, Gaspar. This journey worked to bond Evike and Gaspar together but the outcome ended up making the whole journey feel mostly pointless and it really slowed the pace down. If you can make it to the second half, especially the last 20%, the pace picks up as we spend time in the capital city and the political intrigue and religious allegory give the story more promise.
If I cannot be Vilmotten, my belly bright with Isten's star, perched in the highest tree branch, perhaps I can be something else. Perhaps I can be the favored of another god.
Antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, and religious zealots and warning against them becomes the clear message that this story is trying to warn against. The way even “good” people's actions can help and hinder these movements and the question of sacrificing one for the greater good, gave the second half greater weight for me. Evike and Gaspar on their own, along with a handful of other secondary characters, were never fully flushed out for me, the folklore and outside messaging eclipsed them, making the parts of the story adequate but the overall story greater to me. I would tell adults to read this for the fantasy aspect but I don't think I would say read this for the romance, there's a developing romance between Evike and Gaspar, but, except for that one quick sex scene, their emotional connection read more young adult to me and the most important point, they get a more ambiguous happy for now.
For all that I railed against her, she loved us all more than she loved any one of us, and much more than she loved herself.
The first half was slow for me but I found this to have some invoking macabre scenes, fantastical folklore, and allegory that made the second half more appealing in it's messaging.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“The Woodsmen,” she gasps. “They're coming for you.”
When the Woodsmen came for Evike's mother, the seer Virag took her in, now fifteen years later, Evike is facing her mother's fate. Evike is “barren” she has no ability for the three skills, forge metal; flame; and healing, blessed from their god Isten, so in order to save Katalin, the young seer, Evike is being sacrificed to the Woodsmen. Evike's village and people are called pagans, since they believe in the old and many gods, while most of the four regions of Regorszag have become followers of the Patrifaith and believe in only the Godfather of life and Godfather of death. A bargain was struck that every couple years, a wolf-girl (named for the wolf capes they wear to denote they can do magic or one of the three skills) must be given to the Woodsmen and brought back to the capital city of Kiraly Szek and the King. This assures that the pagans can live in peace without fear of attack. Even though Katalin has bullied Evike her entire life, Evike still goes to the Woodsmen to save her village.
The women and girls all have two faces---the wolf's and their own.
Using and incorporating Hungarian and Jewish folklore, The Wolf and the Woodsman, was a fantasy that suffered from some pacing problems in the first half but had an ending that will lock readers into the world. This is told all from Evike's point-of-view, she's twenty-five years old but aside from the, very, macabre folklore told throughout the story, a talk of her sexual past, and a short sex scene, I thought she and the Woodsman captain, that turns out to be the protagonist with her, Barany Gaspar, and the story overall, read like a young adult fantasy. I know this is being marketed as adult because of the all the content warnings (the author has listed them all) but I was a little disappointed that I don't think these twenty-five year old characters felt older than seventeen.
“Te nem vagy taltos,” he manages, eye wide as he takes in the sight of me, chestnut-haired, unmasked. You are not a seer.
“Te nem vagy harcos,” I shoot back between ragged breaths. You are not a warrior.
The beginning ushers you into the world with heavy utilizing of the folklore and generally worked to set the world but then the first half has Evike and Gaspar going on a journey to capture a turul, a magical bird, that Gaspar thinks will help his father retain his power in the face of Gaspar's half-brother Nandor, who is trying to take the throne from the father and the true born prince, Gaspar. This journey worked to bond Evike and Gaspar together but the outcome ended up making the whole journey feel mostly pointless and it really slowed the pace down. If you can make it to the second half, especially the last 20%, the pace picks up as we spend time in the capital city and the political intrigue and religious allegory give the story more promise.
If I cannot be Vilmotten, my belly bright with Isten's star, perched in the highest tree branch, perhaps I can be something else. Perhaps I can be the favored of another god.
Antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, and religious zealots and warning against them becomes the clear message that this story is trying to warn against. The way even “good” people's actions can help and hinder these movements and the question of sacrificing one for the greater good, gave the second half greater weight for me. Evike and Gaspar on their own, along with a handful of other secondary characters, were never fully flushed out for me, the folklore and outside messaging eclipsed them, making the parts of the story adequate but the overall story greater to me. I would tell adults to read this for the fantasy aspect but I don't think I would say read this for the romance, there's a developing romance between Evike and Gaspar, but, except for that one quick sex scene, their emotional connection read more young adult to me and the most important point, they get a more ambiguous happy for now.
For all that I railed against her, she loved us all more than she loved any one of us, and much more than she loved herself.
The first half was slow for me but I found this to have some invoking macabre scenes, fantastical folklore, and allegory that made the second half more appealing in it's messaging.
April 16, 2022
take a shot every time gáspár kneels
rep: Hungarian-coded setting & cast, Hungarian-Ottoman-coded disabled li, Jewish-coded characters, sapphic side characters
tw: magic requiring self harm, blood, body horror, eye horror, gore, dismemberment, torture, antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, child abuse, animal death
rep: Hungarian-coded setting & cast, Hungarian-Ottoman-coded disabled li, Jewish-coded characters, sapphic side characters
tw: magic requiring self harm, blood, body horror, eye horror, gore, dismemberment, torture, antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, child abuse, animal death
Read
December 29, 2021Content warnings:
Hello world, please meet my new obsession. I finished The Wolf and the Woodsman just over a week ago and I haven’t been able to think about anything else since. I genuinely have severe brainrot from how much I loved this book. This is an atmospheric slow moving fantasy that’s Hungarian inspired and full to the brim with Jewish folklore. I loved how magical reading this book felt, how it wrapped me in its folds and didn’t let go of me. How eventhough it is slow paced, it is never boring. Full with tales and magic at every word. It’s also stunningly written. Ava Reid is a master wordsmith. I adored the way multiple belief systems were able to coexist. And how every single one of them was intrinsicately linked to magic. And how it inevitably shaped the way said magic materialized.
All of that is great and would have made me love the book regardless. But. But the main reason this book gave me such a severe case of brainrot is the romance. It’s enemies to lovers, full of relunctance and angst, and messy complicated feelings. The scenes between the two main characters made me go feral, truly feel unhinged. Which is a feeling I completely forgot about when it comes to ships in books. No one is doing it like Évike and Gáspár. This book set a zhole new standard for me and what I want my romance to look like in Fantasy.
Hello world, please meet my new obsession. I finished The Wolf and the Woodsman just over a week ago and I haven’t been able to think about anything else since. I genuinely have severe brainrot from how much I loved this book. This is an atmospheric slow moving fantasy that’s Hungarian inspired and full to the brim with Jewish folklore. I loved how magical reading this book felt, how it wrapped me in its folds and didn’t let go of me. How eventhough it is slow paced, it is never boring. Full with tales and magic at every word. It’s also stunningly written. Ava Reid is a master wordsmith. I adored the way multiple belief systems were able to coexist. And how every single one of them was intrinsicately linked to magic. And how it inevitably shaped the way said magic materialized.
All of that is great and would have made me love the book regardless. But. But the main reason this book gave me such a severe case of brainrot is the romance. It’s enemies to lovers, full of relunctance and angst, and messy complicated feelings. The scenes between the two main characters made me go feral, truly feel unhinged. Which is a feeling I completely forgot about when it comes to ships in books. No one is doing it like Évike and Gáspár. This book set a zhole new standard for me and what I want my romance to look like in Fantasy.
November 12, 2021
2.5 stars
I really need to pay closer attention to trigger warnings. And I read them, I did! But when everyone was saying this book was brutal I didn’t listen for some reason? And yeah, this book was too brutal/gory for my liking. Just a little bit too much where I’d put this book more under horror than fantasy but that might just be my feelings about it.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is the story of Evike, a young woman with no magic who is betrayed by her village and sent off to be a sacrificial magic wolf girl for the king. While with a group of Woodsman, they are attacked by creatures in the forest and Evik finds herself one of the survivors along with Gaspar, a one eyed woodsman who turns out to be a disgraced prince. Together they must survive the creatures of the forest despite disliking each other.
I thought this book dragged. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style and while I found some of the story to be interesting, the pacing was really off. I would get into one part of the story and then they were off doing something completely different or retelling a myth in the middle of the book. I’m not sure what to pin point, but I really didn’t connect with this book. I read it all the way to the end so I did have some enjoyment of it but probably wouldn’t read more by this author unless I knew the books were different.
I really need to pay closer attention to trigger warnings. And I read them, I did! But when everyone was saying this book was brutal I didn’t listen for some reason? And yeah, this book was too brutal/gory for my liking. Just a little bit too much where I’d put this book more under horror than fantasy but that might just be my feelings about it.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is the story of Evike, a young woman with no magic who is betrayed by her village and sent off to be a sacrificial magic wolf girl for the king. While with a group of Woodsman, they are attacked by creatures in the forest and Evik finds herself one of the survivors along with Gaspar, a one eyed woodsman who turns out to be a disgraced prince. Together they must survive the creatures of the forest despite disliking each other.
I thought this book dragged. I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style and while I found some of the story to be interesting, the pacing was really off. I would get into one part of the story and then they were off doing something completely different or retelling a myth in the middle of the book. I’m not sure what to pin point, but I really didn’t connect with this book. I read it all the way to the end so I did have some enjoyment of it but probably wouldn’t read more by this author unless I knew the books were different.
October 4, 2023
full review here
I'm in pain. the way this book was so deeply Jewish hurt my heart. I feel like I've just read a love letter to Jewish culture and history. I absolutely fell in love with Évike and Gáspár, mean girl and soft boy of the month.
I can't exactly why I'm writing this and crying at the same time. this book simply meant a lot to me, and finishing it seriously feels like saying goodbye to a part of myself. watch me reread it whenever I need to feel seen and loved.
thank you so much Del Rey UK for sending me a review copy!
I'm in pain. the way this book was so deeply Jewish hurt my heart. I feel like I've just read a love letter to Jewish culture and history. I absolutely fell in love with Évike and Gáspár, mean girl and soft boy of the month.
I can't exactly why I'm writing this and crying at the same time. this book simply meant a lot to me, and finishing it seriously feels like saying goodbye to a part of myself. watch me reread it whenever I need to feel seen and loved.
thank you so much Del Rey UK for sending me a review copy!
Want to read
March 22, 2023you mention spinning silver and the bear and the nightingale AND I AM THERE.
CONTENT WARNINGS (as provided by the author)
This is not YA, it is adult.
• release date: 8 June 2021 •
« e-arc received from penguin random house in exchange for an honest review »
CONTENT WARNINGS (as provided by the author)
This is not YA, it is adult.
• release date: 8 June 2021 •
« e-arc received from penguin random house in exchange for an honest review »
Shelved as 'abandoned'
July 1, 2021I got about 14 pages into this and it was everything that bugged me about Malice all over again, with a heroine very much the same. Despite being marketed as adult fantasy, it’s that standard YA first-person, present-tense voice; the protagonist supposedly is 25 (!), but her primary concern is being constantly and openly bullied by the mean girls of the town for being different. Her other concerns are that her mom is missing and that she might suffer corporal punishment for fighting back against the mean girls. Then, she sacrifices herself to save all these people who look down on her anyway because a female character has to be a saint to be “likeable” don’tcha know, and this totally doesn’t send the message that the only way someone who’s victimized can be a worthwhile human being is by being a doormat and thereby enabling more of the same. Putting yourself before people who go out of their way to make your life miserable? Blasphemy! The angel in the house would never do that.
There’s been talk lately about how readers are likely to label fantasy by female authors as YA when the authors themselves don’t see it that way, and I worry about having a potential gender bias there. I have indeed had this reaction to a number of recent books. On the other hand, while I haven’t read a fantasy novel by a man in a couple of years, I think I’m still able to pick it out in their works: Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, for instance, is written in quite a juvenile register despite its elevated vocabulary. It may not quite fit the YA genre, but it’s definitely best enjoyed around the age of 13.
So yeah, sometimes it’s the readers mislabeling books (not everything with a young protagonist is written for young readers), but sometimes it’s the publishers. Has fantasy always been this teenage-y? Is the popularity of the YA genre causing its tropes to creep into adult fiction? Or is this the result of authors writing essentially YA books that just can’t be marketed as such because they have a bit too much sex or gore in them (which appears to be the case here)? At any rate, it’s frustrating to pick up these books only to find them full of teenage concerns, black-and-white characterization, and lack of psychological believability (and a supposed 25 year old who could more naturally have been written as 16). I’ll pass on this one.
There’s been talk lately about how readers are likely to label fantasy by female authors as YA when the authors themselves don’t see it that way, and I worry about having a potential gender bias there. I have indeed had this reaction to a number of recent books. On the other hand, while I haven’t read a fantasy novel by a man in a couple of years, I think I’m still able to pick it out in their works: Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, for instance, is written in quite a juvenile register despite its elevated vocabulary. It may not quite fit the YA genre, but it’s definitely best enjoyed around the age of 13.
So yeah, sometimes it’s the readers mislabeling books (not everything with a young protagonist is written for young readers), but sometimes it’s the publishers. Has fantasy always been this teenage-y? Is the popularity of the YA genre causing its tropes to creep into adult fiction? Or is this the result of authors writing essentially YA books that just can’t be marketed as such because they have a bit too much sex or gore in them (which appears to be the case here)? At any rate, it’s frustrating to pick up these books only to find them full of teenage concerns, black-and-white characterization, and lack of psychological believability (and a supposed 25 year old who could more naturally have been written as 16). I’ll pass on this one.
July 24, 2022
i am RUINED
see my full review on reads rainbow
Rep: Jewish characters, sapphic side characters
CWs: magic requiring self harm, eye horror, gore, dismemberment, torture, animal deaths, Antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, child abuse
see my full review on reads rainbow
Rep: Jewish characters, sapphic side characters
CWs: magic requiring self harm, eye horror, gore, dismemberment, torture, animal deaths, Antisemitism, ethnic cleansing, child abuse
December 18, 2021
Is there such a thing as too many similes and metaphors?
Rating: 🙂🙂🙂 2.5 (entertainment counts, I guess)
(excerpts taken from a single chapter)
“Seeing him pick his way around King János’s body like he would a puddle of muck in the road is what finally jolts me from my stupor.”
“Nándor’s face is as pale as Saint István’s marble statue, smooth and unweathered by time.”
"His eyes are glazed, slick, like stones in a riverbed"
"The men and women give full-bodied quakes, like the word itself is a ghost to be exorcised"
"My heart thrashes like willow branches in the wind, my throat and stomach burning
"It spreads sickly, like a strewing of lambent petals, gleaming red and gold"
"Voices weave and tangle like a thousand dark threads."
"Putting my fath in King Janos was ike boarding a ship with green rot in its hull and hoping it wouldn't sink. But Zsigmond making a deal with Nandor is like asking the river for mercy as its black water fills your lungs."
"...they look like skewered mirror images of each other."
"...it's a terrible sound, like the braying of a mule."
"Water skims across my skin like the edge of a blade, hot and cold at once."
"The absence [ears] of it makes his head look lopsided. Like a tree with branches but no roots."
"But all my tears have been ground out of me, like dead skin scrubbed off a wound."
"The memory seems as pale and hollow as the inside of a conch now, drained of all its warmth."
"I think of Zsigmond holding me to his chest, but that memory feels twize removed, too, like I'm remembering a ghost."
"The laugh sounds all wrong, like a river bubbling over and flooding someone's sod house."
"I let Gaspar teach me a few words Merzani, and they catch my tongue like a sip of good wine."
Nah, I don't think so, no.
Also, a wonderful bonus because I love being a good human being.
"I wake sometime in the morning, when the sky is a pink as the shell of an ear, delicate and raw." (excuse me, what is this)
Soo... I loved this book. I loved it so much I spent eight days trying to get through it. Loved it to such a magnanimous extent that I was loath to finish it, because duh, it was too good to finish. I loved this as much as I loved going to any sort of place with people included.
In other words, I didn't love this at all. But I'll pretend I do, because I need to sleep and being fake always brings on the zzzz faster than any chloroform solution.
The storyline was okay. Decent enough to force me to fight through the first 50 pages, because, if I'm being honest, it was very good. Up until it wasn't anymore.
It dragged, lagged and basically made me want to tear chunks of my hair and sprinkle them upon every plot 'twist' that tried to leave me bamboozled, yet only made me question why was I still openmouthed. Maybe my expectations have lowered to such a degree that even mild changes of circumstance surprise me to a certain level. Look! A bird! Wait, no, that's a corpse being thrown! Ta da, surprise galore. I liked the pace up until the mid-point. After that, well, let's just say I felt as if my nails were being pulled out with a tennis racket. Whatever that means, honestly.
I came into the book not expecting much, left the book... still not expecting much. I'm pretty certain that I'm already in a book slump, so that's nice? Yeah, super awesome.
[Writing segment has been declined as cause of over-infused anger bombs that threatened to decimate humanity because the writing was not bad but also not good. Maybe annoying is the best word to describe it.]
The characters were basically there just to have somebody to talk about, really.
Intelligence? Let's sparkle it like rushing snow from the black mountains of Narnia.
Good character ARC? Let us rejoice in it, like getting bitten by blood filled crabs on a summer morning.
I am already feeling nauseous again. Great! See, I really don't see the point in having characters just for the sake of having characters.
The MC was irrational, dumb and if I were to have been abused, both mentally and physically, I would look for the most cautious way to go about a mission, no? Am I wrong for wishing she would've been a better character? I was annoyed with her for half of the book and confused with her, for the other half. Sometimes she would think her decisions through and actually take the best course of action IN A WAR, to then throw all that down the bloody cow toilet because 'I'm a speshul wolf-girl with speshul powers' that frankly were of no use in the long run. So yeah, sacrifice more body parts and see where your stupidity gets you. No, really, I want to see it happen. I think most of my hatred for her was how she expressed herself, and how she acted, and basically her in general. Asking the love interest to kneel and expect me, out of nowhere, to be like 'OmG that is like, so hawt OMG'. Sweetie, I'm afraid that didn't work this time. Because yes, sometimes, it actually works. I was sad to see such a potentially strong heroin be made this whinny, repetitive, annoying, crybaby, useless, thing. I'm honestly flabbergasted at how quickly my 'ooooo, this is about to be good!' stage deteriorated just by reading her entire monologues about the sky. Boo, I don't need to know it looks like a hairy back nor if it smells like puddles of poo. Direct quote? Maybe, my dahlings. I didn't need to know all the ways you could say that the villain had pale skin. I know he had pale skin. And I certainly did not need to know all the different and speshul ways to describe everyone else’s skin color. It just is, don't come here acting like some guy’s skin is like the moist bark of the Amazonian forest or something. I'm not that dense, I get it.
Then we have the rest of the characters. Which I cared about as much as I care about working in summer (just give us free money or something, pfft. Never mind, I must say it cultivates... ange- maturity *me pretending to know what I'm talking about*)
We have the wolf-girls, didn't really care about them.
After that, we have the high society. Wasn't very interested.
And following the previous things, we have the love interest and the villain. The latter being the only thing worthy of a lot of mention, not specifically dedicated for rant purposes.
Gaspar, the lovely so-no-like-other-woodsmen-because-I'm-a-prince-that-cannot-stand-for-myself. Can you tell him and the MC share a colonial thinking system? He gets the start and she gets the butt-end. Get it? He’s slightly higher than- okay, he was smarter is what I’m trying to say. And by smarter, I mean he didn't jump headfirst into metaphorical piranha infested waters. But then we take his personality in hand... and of course, what personality am I even referring to? I don't even know. He was nice, which was good, lost potential, which was as predicted, and that's all there is to him. Sad, yet obvious. I expected him to be a villain, I wanted that to happen. I wanted him to be at least semi evil, but noooo, he was awfully treated and misunderstood. Where have I heard that before? Oh right, all those novels that disappointed me.
One of the few characters (as mentioned above) that was at least good enough to be considered a correct use of my otherwise wasted time. The villain, Nandor. See, I really, REALLY hated him. Like, a lot. And that's exactly what I was supposed to feel! He was so full of venom, vitriol and cruel intentions, it's a surprise he didn't carry this book. Oh wait, I think he did. I didn't like him for being a bad guy, I liked him for the exact reason that he excelled in being this piece of horse dung. And frankly, that's the only thing that made me go 'wow, this man is awful. I want to see him suffer' and not want to cry because of the mental torture I was going through. My first thought (as it always is), was that he would be a love interest. Before, you know, seeing him kill and torture animals and people. That puts a certain damper to my villain-hate-to-love premise I was nurturing, if you get what I mean.
The romance doesn't even deserve a single paragraph.
But I'll still say something, of course.
Together, they made the sloppiest, most watered down, disgustingly salty, Mcdonald's soda ever to exist. That certain one that looks appetizing with all its bubbles and then, on the first drink, makes you doubt every nerve in your body that predicted it was going to be at least somewhat decent.
That's what the 'romance' was.
On a closing note, like I said up there, this book was the love of my life. And I feel so happy that I had the chance to read such a masterpiece in such a long period of time. I loved the characters, adored the writing (even when it mentioned a metaphor of pink cables when the MC wouldn't even know what cables are), would die for the romance and- actually, I would die because of the romance. That's it, really. After I gave up on trying to like this story, I knew that it would be a rant. And I also knew I would have the urge to kill something at the end of said rant.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall of Hades. I would love to know when he's thinking of new ways to torture me-
P.S: Still in a book slump. Wonder why?
............................
✅Book slump
I want the week I spent reading this, back.
I want it back.
I could've been doing so many more things.
And this is where I spent my time.
No.
I am in pain
................................
I hope this is good.
Rating: 🙂🙂🙂 2.5 (entertainment counts, I guess)
(excerpts taken from a single chapter)
“Seeing him pick his way around King János’s body like he would a puddle of muck in the road is what finally jolts me from my stupor.”
“Nándor’s face is as pale as Saint István’s marble statue, smooth and unweathered by time.”
"His eyes are glazed, slick, like stones in a riverbed"
"The men and women give full-bodied quakes, like the word itself is a ghost to be exorcised"
"My heart thrashes like willow branches in the wind, my throat and stomach burning
"It spreads sickly, like a strewing of lambent petals, gleaming red and gold"
"Voices weave and tangle like a thousand dark threads."
"Putting my fath in King Janos was ike boarding a ship with green rot in its hull and hoping it wouldn't sink. But Zsigmond making a deal with Nandor is like asking the river for mercy as its black water fills your lungs."
"...they look like skewered mirror images of each other."
"...it's a terrible sound, like the braying of a mule."
"Water skims across my skin like the edge of a blade, hot and cold at once."
"The absence [ears] of it makes his head look lopsided. Like a tree with branches but no roots."
"But all my tears have been ground out of me, like dead skin scrubbed off a wound."
"The memory seems as pale and hollow as the inside of a conch now, drained of all its warmth."
"I think of Zsigmond holding me to his chest, but that memory feels twize removed, too, like I'm remembering a ghost."
"The laugh sounds all wrong, like a river bubbling over and flooding someone's sod house."
"I let Gaspar teach me a few words Merzani, and they catch my tongue like a sip of good wine."
Nah, I don't think so, no.
Also, a wonderful bonus because I love being a good human being.
"I wake sometime in the morning, when the sky is a pink as the shell of an ear, delicate and raw." (excuse me, what is this)
Soo... I loved this book. I loved it so much I spent eight days trying to get through it. Loved it to such a magnanimous extent that I was loath to finish it, because duh, it was too good to finish. I loved this as much as I loved going to any sort of place with people included.
In other words, I didn't love this at all. But I'll pretend I do, because I need to sleep and being fake always brings on the zzzz faster than any chloroform solution.
The storyline was okay. Decent enough to force me to fight through the first 50 pages, because, if I'm being honest, it was very good. Up until it wasn't anymore.
It dragged, lagged and basically made me want to tear chunks of my hair and sprinkle them upon every plot 'twist' that tried to leave me bamboozled, yet only made me question why was I still openmouthed. Maybe my expectations have lowered to such a degree that even mild changes of circumstance surprise me to a certain level. Look! A bird! Wait, no, that's a corpse being thrown! Ta da, surprise galore. I liked the pace up until the mid-point. After that, well, let's just say I felt as if my nails were being pulled out with a tennis racket. Whatever that means, honestly.
I came into the book not expecting much, left the book... still not expecting much. I'm pretty certain that I'm already in a book slump, so that's nice? Yeah, super awesome.
[Writing segment has been declined as cause of over-infused anger bombs that threatened to decimate humanity because the writing was not bad but also not good. Maybe annoying is the best word to describe it.]
The characters were basically there just to have somebody to talk about, really.
Intelligence? Let's sparkle it like rushing snow from the black mountains of Narnia.
Good character ARC? Let us rejoice in it, like getting bitten by blood filled crabs on a summer morning.
I am already feeling nauseous again. Great! See, I really don't see the point in having characters just for the sake of having characters.
The MC was irrational, dumb and if I were to have been abused, both mentally and physically, I would look for the most cautious way to go about a mission, no? Am I wrong for wishing she would've been a better character? I was annoyed with her for half of the book and confused with her, for the other half. Sometimes she would think her decisions through and actually take the best course of action IN A WAR, to then throw all that down the bloody cow toilet because 'I'm a speshul wolf-girl with speshul powers' that frankly were of no use in the long run. So yeah, sacrifice more body parts and see where your stupidity gets you. No, really, I want to see it happen. I think most of my hatred for her was how she expressed herself, and how she acted, and basically her in general. Asking the love interest to kneel and expect me, out of nowhere, to be like 'OmG that is like, so hawt OMG'. Sweetie, I'm afraid that didn't work this time. Because yes, sometimes, it actually works. I was sad to see such a potentially strong heroin be made this whinny, repetitive, annoying, crybaby, useless, thing. I'm honestly flabbergasted at how quickly my 'ooooo, this is about to be good!' stage deteriorated just by reading her entire monologues about the sky. Boo, I don't need to know it looks like a hairy back nor if it smells like puddles of poo. Direct quote? Maybe, my dahlings. I didn't need to know all the ways you could say that the villain had pale skin. I know he had pale skin. And I certainly did not need to know all the different and speshul ways to describe everyone else’s skin color. It just is, don't come here acting like some guy’s skin is like the moist bark of the Amazonian forest or something. I'm not that dense, I get it.
Then we have the rest of the characters. Which I cared about as much as I care about working in summer (just give us free money or something, pfft. Never mind, I must say it cultivates... ange- maturity *me pretending to know what I'm talking about*)
We have the wolf-girls, didn't really care about them.
After that, we have the high society. Wasn't very interested.
And following the previous things, we have the love interest and the villain. The latter being the only thing worthy of a lot of mention, not specifically dedicated for rant purposes.
Gaspar, the lovely so-no-like-other-woodsmen-because-I'm-a-prince-that-cannot-stand-for-myself. Can you tell him and the MC share a colonial thinking system? He gets the start and she gets the butt-end. Get it? He’s slightly higher than- okay, he was smarter is what I’m trying to say. And by smarter, I mean he didn't jump headfirst into metaphorical piranha infested waters. But then we take his personality in hand... and of course, what personality am I even referring to? I don't even know. He was nice, which was good, lost potential, which was as predicted, and that's all there is to him. Sad, yet obvious. I expected him to be a villain, I wanted that to happen. I wanted him to be at least semi evil, but noooo, he was awfully treated and misunderstood. Where have I heard that before? Oh right, all those novels that disappointed me.
One of the few characters (as mentioned above) that was at least good enough to be considered a correct use of my otherwise wasted time. The villain, Nandor. See, I really, REALLY hated him. Like, a lot. And that's exactly what I was supposed to feel! He was so full of venom, vitriol and cruel intentions, it's a surprise he didn't carry this book. Oh wait, I think he did. I didn't like him for being a bad guy, I liked him for the exact reason that he excelled in being this piece of horse dung. And frankly, that's the only thing that made me go 'wow, this man is awful. I want to see him suffer' and not want to cry because of the mental torture I was going through. My first thought (as it always is), was that he would be a love interest. Before, you know, seeing him kill and torture animals and people. That puts a certain damper to my villain-hate-to-love premise I was nurturing, if you get what I mean.
The romance doesn't even deserve a single paragraph.
But I'll still say something, of course.
Together, they made the sloppiest, most watered down, disgustingly salty, Mcdonald's soda ever to exist. That certain one that looks appetizing with all its bubbles and then, on the first drink, makes you doubt every nerve in your body that predicted it was going to be at least somewhat decent.
That's what the 'romance' was.
On a closing note, like I said up there, this book was the love of my life. And I feel so happy that I had the chance to read such a masterpiece in such a long period of time. I loved the characters, adored the writing (even when it mentioned a metaphor of pink cables when the MC wouldn't even know what cables are), would die for the romance and- actually, I would die because of the romance. That's it, really. After I gave up on trying to like this story, I knew that it would be a rant. And I also knew I would have the urge to kill something at the end of said rant.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall of Hades. I would love to know when he's thinking of new ways to torture me-
P.S: Still in a book slump. Wonder why?
............................
✅Book slump
I want the week I spent reading this, back.
I want it back.
I could've been doing so many more things.
And this is where I spent my time.
No.
................................
I hope this is good.
Read
December 30, 2020Oh world, you aren’t ready for this magisterial, stunningly aesthetic work of faith and mythology. Do you maybe like beautiful, mutilated enemy love interests who look good on their knees? DO YOU?
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