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kimberlyoliveira's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
saeliphil's review
dark
3.5
This book was super interesting! I was really fascinated by its exploration of religion, morality and belonging and it was also the darkest fantasy book i‘ve ever read! So brutal wow, but i liked it. My main complaint is just that the plot felt rushed, especially towards the end. I wish it had taken more time to explore certain developments and dynamics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Antisemitism, and Religious bigotry
archaicgambit's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This is a heavy book. It is also brilliant. The first person present tense voice is immediate and vivid. Evike’s relationship with Gaspar is one of the best enemies to lovers romance arcs I’ve ever read. The multiculturalism and the cost of the magic was handled deftly. I loved the constant weaving of folktales throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Emotional abuse and Grief
crownedaimee's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
“If you stare long enough into the darkness of the forest, eventually something will stare right back.”
The Wolf and the Woodsman follows Evike who is an outcast in her village due to her lack of magic. When the Holy Order of the Woodsman comes to take pagan girl as a sacrifice, her village is quick to betray her and volunteer her to be taken. But on the journey to the palace, the Woodsman and Evike are attacked, only leaving her and the captain alive. But he isn't who she originally thought he was. The two are forced to rely on each other to survive and soon realise they have something in common as they journey together.
I was really hoping to like this book because of all the hype but I just kinda got annoyed with it? I felt like parts were so choppy. Without going into too much detail and spoilers, there was a part towards the end where Evike and the Woodsman was doing something and in the next moment, there was a bunch of people with no explanation on how they got there? I don't know if it was just me and my mind completely skipped a whole scene because let's me honest, it happened a lot in this book or whether it actually happened like this. And don't get me started on how much stories was in this book. I swear it was like every chapter, I was so done with it.
The start of this book almost had me dnfing it straight away. It felt like such an information dump with all these names and places that I couldn't read because my head couldn't wrap around the names. Can we make it a rule where the pronunciation guide is at the start to avoid these confusions? It did hook me in at the start once I got over this but it got lengthy and I was struggling to push through it.
I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and the pacing was off. I couldn't really connect to it. or once, I couldn't really find a likeable character. They didn't have much personality and it pained me. Plus we're supposed to fall in love with them as Evike constantly makes fun of the Woodsman and makes terrible decisions?
If you do plan to read this book then please check the trigger warnings, some include: magic requiring self harm, torture, animal death, antisemitism, child abuse and more.
Would I read anymore books by Ava Reid? Possibly. This is the debut novel afterall and I do like to give other books by authors another chance but if it's anything like this then perhaps not.
“Stories are supposed to live longer than people.”
The Wolf and the Woodsman follows Evike who is an outcast in her village due to her lack of magic. When the Holy Order of the Woodsman comes to take pagan girl as a sacrifice, her village is quick to betray her and volunteer her to be taken. But on the journey to the palace, the Woodsman and Evike are attacked, only leaving her and the captain alive. But he isn't who she originally thought he was. The two are forced to rely on each other to survive and soon realise they have something in common as they journey together.
I was really hoping to like this book because of all the hype but I just kinda got annoyed with it? I felt like parts were so choppy. Without going into too much detail and spoilers, there was a part towards the end where Evike and the Woodsman was doing something and in the next moment, there was a bunch of people with no explanation on how they got there? I don't know if it was just me and my mind completely skipped a whole scene because let's me honest, it happened a lot in this book or whether it actually happened like this. And don't get me started on how much stories was in this book. I swear it was like every chapter, I was so done with it.
The start of this book almost had me dnfing it straight away. It felt like such an information dump with all these names and places that I couldn't read because my head couldn't wrap around the names. Can we make it a rule where the pronunciation guide is at the start to avoid these confusions? It did hook me in at the start once I got over this but it got lengthy and I was struggling to push through it.
I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and the pacing was off. I couldn't really connect to it. or once, I couldn't really find a likeable character. They didn't have much personality and it pained me. Plus we're supposed to fall in love with them as Evike constantly makes fun of the Woodsman and makes terrible decisions?
If you do plan to read this book then please check the trigger warnings, some include: magic requiring self harm, torture, animal death, antisemitism, child abuse and more.
Would I read anymore books by Ava Reid? Possibly. This is the debut novel afterall and I do like to give other books by authors another chance but if it's anything like this then perhaps not.
“Stories are supposed to live longer than people.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Antisemitism
mjwhitlock18's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I loved lots of things about this. It has a sentient forest, a prickly stubborn female main character, a magic system derived from multiple different religions, and an forced proximity enemies to lovers subplot. The influence of Eastern European and Jewish history and folklore lends the worldbuilding a rich fullness, but the plot wandered substantially and the pacing seemed weird, slow at times and blazing quick at others. I love the verbose, lyrical descriptions, as it really helps me feel immersed in the world, but I can imagine that it will make others feel bogged down.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Antisemitism
Minor: Death of parent
ridesthesun's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really love the premise of this one! The variety of culture and mythology was really cool, and I loved seeing the Jewish stories woven in so lovingly.
I'm not sure why, perhaps it was just bad timing, but the book overall failed to really grab me. I *wanted* to enjoy it, but I found myself checking "how much longer is this audiobook" too many times. Idk if it was the pacing or what, but it felt a lot like nothing was happening while simultaneously lots of things were happening? Not sure how. Like it felt like it was dragging while simultaneously feeling under-developed.
Anyways, I would say definitely give this one a try; the concept was brilliant, the weaving of mythology was really cool, Evike and Gaspar were lovely. Also recommend the audiobook, getting the pronunciations for everything was a huge bonus.
*does deal a *lot* with anti-Semitism, and is strongly reminiscent of pogroms and pre-WWII eastern europe. The Jewish community is written beautifully and with great care, but if that's a sensitive topic for you I would avoid this one.
I'm not sure why, perhaps it was just bad timing, but the book overall failed to really grab me. I *wanted* to enjoy it, but I found myself checking "how much longer is this audiobook" too many times. Idk if it was the pacing or what, but it felt a lot like nothing was happening while simultaneously lots of things were happening? Not sure how. Like it felt like it was dragging while simultaneously feeling under-developed.
Anyways, I would say definitely give this one a try; the concept was brilliant, the weaving of mythology was really cool, Evike and Gaspar were lovely. Also recommend the audiobook, getting the pronunciations for everything was a huge bonus.
*does deal a *lot* with anti-Semitism, and is strongly reminiscent of pogroms and pre-WWII eastern europe. The Jewish community is written beautifully and with great care, but if that's a sensitive topic for you I would avoid this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Colonisation
msradiosilence's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Tldr; I was expecting a lot more, and I feel like the story would’ve benefitted from a slower pace and maybe another book for the second half. There was just a lot all the time, and it smothered what was good.
Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-wolf-and-the-woodsman.
Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-wolf-and-the-woodsman.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
bandysbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Classism
rosietoast's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Self harm, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Bullying and Fire/Fire injury
spellboundchapters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book reminded me why I like slow paced books and slow-burn romances. ♥️ But don’t be fooled, although the romance occupies quite a big part of the story, it mainly focuses on heavier topics such as ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, or generational trauma.
Even though this book takes its sweet time, it manages to never be boring; and I feel like the sudden change in the pacing made the action scenes even more intense and unexpected whenever they happened.
My favourite thing in this book was probably the addition of all the myths and legends of all the different faiths. This added so much dimension to the story. And I appreciate how they permitted to discuss religions (both as faiths and institutions), and more precisely the similarities between different religions, without it feeling forced.
The entire worldbuilding was fascinating — a whole magic system based on body horror was not something I ever thought I would want more of in my fantasy stories, but I weirdly enjoyed it. It was so different from what I’m used to reading!
The romance was a delight to read. Finally, an enemies-to-lovers where they’re actually enemies at the start! 😂 The tension and pining between Évike and Gáspár… *chef’s kiss* is all I have to say; if you love Six of Crows’s Helnik you will probably love these two as well. 🥺
Took a star off because some of the writing was sometimes a bit repetitive, and because I didn’t feel like Évike was behaving like someone who has been bullied and abused during the majority of her life. And it featured one of my least favourite trope ever: the abused sacrificing themselves for their abusers and thinking things like "but I know they still loved me even if they never told me or showed me in any way" nope nope nopeee.
Even though this book takes its sweet time, it manages to never be boring; and I feel like the sudden change in the pacing made the action scenes even more intense and unexpected whenever they happened.
My favourite thing in this book was probably the addition of all the myths and legends of all the different faiths. This added so much dimension to the story. And I appreciate how they permitted to discuss religions (both as faiths and institutions), and more precisely the similarities between different religions, without it feeling forced.
The entire worldbuilding was fascinating — a whole magic system based on body horror was not something I ever thought I would want more of in my fantasy stories, but I weirdly enjoyed it. It was so different from what I’m used to reading!
The romance was a delight to read. Finally, an enemies-to-lovers where they’re actually enemies at the start! 😂 The tension and pining between Évike and Gáspár… *chef’s kiss* is all I have to say; if you love Six of Crows’s Helnik you will probably love these two as well. 🥺
Took a star off because some of the writing was sometimes a bit repetitive, and because I didn’t feel like Évike was behaving like someone who has been bullied and abused during the majority of her life. And it featured one of my least favourite trope ever: the abused sacrificing themselves for their abusers and thinking things like "but I know they still loved me even if they never told me or showed me in any way" nope nope nopeee.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Vomit, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death