immovabletype's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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? Yes
3.25
man, i thought this was going to be a solid 4 stars for a good chunk of the novel, while we're following the two main characters on a quest of sorts. this is hate-to-love, and throughout their journey they're grappling with preconceptions about each other based on centuries of hatred and oppression between their people (the fantasy is very cleverly based on pagan, christian, and jewish mythology, with all the attendant real world conflicts--the author "has a degree in political science . . . focusing on religion and ethnonationalism" and her expertise shows). grappling while wanting to grapple each other, if you know what i mean. it makes for a very intimate narrative, slow-paced but propulsive . . . but then the journey ends, the world opens up, and our two lovers are separated. what was compelling me to keep reading just kind of dropped out of sight for a while and i found it harder to pick up as much as i had been, and even after they were reunited it never quite got that spark back for me. and then i loathed the epilogue.
idk. there were things that happened in the latter part of the book that i liked and i think were necessary to forward the narrative and themes. however. it just could've been done better. i will also say, this is sold as adult fantasy. i would argue it feels a lot more ya. the heroine is almost a classic ya heroine, the tropes are very ya tropes. these aren't necessarily bad things, but that's not gonna work for everyone, so i wanted to make a note of it.
i did enjoy this for the most part, i'm glad i read it because now i know that ava reid is gonna knock it out of the park for me someday (this was a debut). i'm quite looking forward to reading more from her.
idk. there were things that happened in the latter part of the book that i liked and i think were necessary to forward the narrative and themes. however. it just could've been done better. i will also say, this is sold as adult fantasy. i would argue it feels a lot more ya. the heroine is almost a classic ya heroine, the tropes are very ya tropes. these aren't necessarily bad things, but that's not gonna work for everyone, so i wanted to make a note of it.
i did enjoy this for the most part, i'm glad i read it because now i know that ava reid is gonna knock it out of the park for me someday (this was a debut). i'm quite looking forward to reading more from her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: War
Genocide isSpoiler
a constant threat, but no genocide actually occurs.triley's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Blood, Death, Gore, Self harm, and Violence
Moderate: Racism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Child death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Kidnapping
Minor: Physical abuse, Grief, and Vomit
marleywrites's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
4.25
Gáspár was my favorite character in this story, I was very pleased with how much we got to dig into his narrative and character arc. He and Évike are a really dynamic couple, this was enemies to lovers done right!!
Évike’s character has been through so much trauma, that when she finally grasped the truth of her magic, I was cheering for her. When she finally was able to wade through her trauma and get a handle on it later in the novel, I was so happy for her. The journey was rough, but we really see a lot of growth in Évike in this story. She experiences countless betrayals and is bullied relentlessly by not only her wolf-girl family, but also by the king and Nándor.
I really appreciated the comparison to Christianity, from a Jewish perspective. Reading this story made me want to dig into the stories and learn more about this religion.
Another aspect I really enjoyed was the travel involved. The journey itself was very engaging due to the beautiful depictions of nature, but I I loved meeting all the different creatures in the story. It was fascinating to see these mythological creatures come to life on the page.
Ava Reid’s writing really impresses me- it’s lyrical and lush and I can really feel every emotion and see everything just as the character sees it. I read their book <i>Juniper and Thorn</i> before this book, so I wasn’t sure if I’d find it as good. But honestly I loved both novels a lot and look forward to reading more books by Reid.
Évike’s character has been through so much trauma, that when she finally grasped the truth of her magic, I was cheering for her. When she finally was able to wade through her trauma and get a handle on it later in the novel, I was so happy for her. The journey was rough, but we really see a lot of growth in Évike in this story. She experiences countless betrayals and is bullied relentlessly by not only her wolf-girl family, but also by the king and Nándor.
I really appreciated the comparison to Christianity, from a Jewish perspective. Reading this story made me want to dig into the stories and learn more about this religion.
Another aspect I really enjoyed was the travel involved. The journey itself was very engaging due to the beautiful depictions of nature, but I I loved meeting all the different creatures in the story. It was fascinating to see these mythological creatures come to life on the page.
Ava Reid’s writing really impresses me- it’s lyrical and lush and I can really feel every emotion and see everything just as the character sees it. I read their book <i>Juniper and Thorn</i> before this book, so I wasn’t sure if I’d find it as good. But honestly I loved both novels a lot and look forward to reading more books by Reid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, Blood, and Animal death
Moderate: Torture, Religious bigotry, Murder, Bullying, Death of parent, Death, and Genocide
Minor: Sexual harassment, Body shaming, and War
I’m not sure if racism was the best word to use but they were discriminating against the Yehuli people based on their religion and blood. Wasn’t sure what to call that other than religious bigotry and racism/ethnicity based discrimination.chrisljm's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.25
Meh. Not a fan of the narration, which read like poetry but in the way where I just don't know wtf they're talking about sometimes. The folklore is written well but it became repetitive and too drawn out, making the story drag.
Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr.
The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be.
Also for all the people who recommended this book because of the romance, you had to be making shit up because the romance sucked. Not to say the romance came out of nowhere, because I knew it was going to happen, but there was absolutely no build up at all. I didn't care for any of the characters, which is besides the point because they also had no chemistry at all. I truly don't understand what Gáspár liked about Évike because she was honestly dumb as fuck. She had no common sense and no sense of self preservation. She absolutely refused to think before any of her actions, even when Gáspár explicitly explains how she'd make the situation worse. She also spends majority of the book belittling Gáspár, and constantly attacking him on how she thinks he's ashamed they've laid and slept together, even though they have so many other things to worry about. He literally tries to get her to think before doing something rash and getting them both killed and she accuses him of fearing people will found out he's no longer pure. Like be fucking fr.
The book also touches on religious/ethical/moral themes but honestly with the messy plot and execution, flat characters, and confusing narration, I honestly don't know what the take away was supposed to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Religious bigotry, Racism, and Violence
Moderate: Confinement, Abandonment, Bullying, Genocide, War, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Fatphobia, and Vomit
bethsreading's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
This book was definitely a disappointment. It had an enticing concept, a matriarchal village that must pay the tithe of one girl a year to the ruling patriarchal coloniser of the area. The main character, Evike, is the only girl in her village without magic, and so she is cast away into the arms of the enemy when the tithe must be paid. I thought the story would be comprised of a dark and mysterious journey through the woods between these two enemies, with some obvious enemies to lovers romance in there. I think that if the book had been this, it would have worked a lot better. However, the scale became too grand with kings, politics, and war, and sadly it just felt flat and tropey for me. In fact most of this book was a genuine struggle to get through.
Evike on the surface is an interesting heroine, someone without magic from a community where magic defines and protects them. But she was so irritating
I did like the books commentary on religious hypocrisy, but it kept hammering it home every page as if it thought the reader was too stupid to recognise it. A lot of the book was obvious and the rest convoluted. I did not genuinely care about a single character and if I hadn’t have DNF’d Belladonna just before it, I wouldn’t have dragged myself through it. I have heard good things have Reid’s other book, Juniper and Thorn, which I would be willing to try in the hopes it is better than this
Evike on the surface is an interesting heroine, someone without magic from a community where magic defines and protects them. But she was so irritating
Spoiler
and ends up getting a dark magic anyway! Whatsmore, she is supposed to be the best huntress in her village and Gaspar (the love enemy love interest) is supposedly keeping her alive because he is a useless hunter and she will protect him. However, it ended up being him saving her over and over again — also he ends up being a really skilled swordsman which completely conflicted that element of the plot. She doesn’t save him once, except by wrapping his wounds and cooking his dinner, which feels like it is just reinforcing the gender stereotypes it was trying to subvert.Spoiler
I did like the books commentary on religious hypocrisy, but it kept hammering it home every page as if it thought the reader was too stupid to recognise it. A lot of the book was obvious and the rest convoluted. I did not genuinely care about a single character and if I hadn’t have DNF’d Belladonna just before it, I wouldn’t have dragged myself through it. I have heard good things have Reid’s other book, Juniper and Thorn, which I would be willing to try in the hopes it is better than this
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Murder, War, Violence, Body horror, Racism, and Sexual content
k_galloway's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
a promising start that fizzled out about a quarter of the way through. beautiful visual writing, almost poetic at times, that’s foiled by a scatterbrained storyline, horrendous pacing, and a string of plot devices in place of an actual plot. the love story exists in a repetitive, long-winded loop of conversation that feels more taxing than enjoyable to read. this could have been about 200 pages shorter and it wouldn’t have made a difference to the story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Religious bigotry, Antisemitism, Cultural appropriation, Gore, Racism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
excritos's review
adventurous
dark
inspiring
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Death, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Vomit and Torture
Minor: Sexual content
katievallin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Genocide, Death, Racism, Religious bigotry, Torture, Grief, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Gore, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Murder, Violence, Animal death, Antisemitism, and Bullying
Moderate: Death of parent, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Sexual content
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Body shaming, and Alcohol
fuitfortuna's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Mixed feelings on this one.
I really liked the world building, it was interesting and I could tell that the author was really knowledgeable about the folklore that inspired the world and the magic system was intriguing.
My problems lie everywhere else. While Reid certainly is talented I often found some of the writing repetitive, the author would find a phrase she liked and rinse it multiple times within 5 pages and at times i found it very difficult to power through - i actually put the book down for almost two months when i reached the halfway point because i had no motivation to continue.
And that’s not even to mention how this almost felt like a YA masquerading as an adult? Evike is supposed to be 25 but spends most of the book acting like she’s 16. I have no real basis for this but there were multiple times where the vibes were just incredibly YA.
The pacing was also a large issue for me the first half of the book almost moved too slow and the second half moved way too fast.
I also have some conflicted thoughts on the romance. I’d heard it was more of an enemies-to-lovers type of deal and to not expect it to be the main focus of the story. And while they were certainly enemies at the very start by virtue of their backgrounds, the romance actually felt very insta-love to me,
Overall I was quite disappointed as I expected to like this a lot more than I actually did, perhaps I just built it up too much in my head. However I did still enjoy most of the book and would read some of the authors other works.
I really liked the world building, it was interesting and I could tell that the author was really knowledgeable about the folklore that inspired the world and the magic system was intriguing.
My problems lie everywhere else. While Reid certainly is talented I often found some of the writing repetitive, the author would find a phrase she liked and rinse it multiple times within 5 pages and at times i found it very difficult to power through - i actually put the book down for almost two months when i reached the halfway point because i had no motivation to continue.
And that’s not even to mention how this almost felt like a YA masquerading as an adult? Evike is supposed to be 25 but spends most of the book acting like she’s 16. I have no real basis for this but there were multiple times where the vibes were just incredibly YA.
The pacing was also a large issue for me the first half of the book almost moved too slow and the second half moved way too fast.
Spoiler
The book really started to pick up once they reached the city and then it felt like events were flying by. This was really unfortunate as once we meet Katalin once again and have the big battle (for some reason?) it feels so unearned that I just didn’t really care.I also have some conflicted thoughts on the romance. I’d heard it was more of an enemies-to-lovers type of deal and to not expect it to be the main focus of the story. And while they were certainly enemies at the very start by virtue of their backgrounds, the romance actually felt very insta-love to me,
Spoiler
with little development as to why they’d grown to care for each other. Though I agree that the romance should not be the main thing you focus on, it’s difficult not to when Evike is horny for Gaspar on like every page.Spoiler
The epilogue left me very unfulfilled, while I could understand how Evike longed to belong somewhere and loved Keszi despite her difficult history I do not understand why she would have chosen to go back there when like every single person there was terrible to her at best and actively abusive at worst.Overall I was quite disappointed as I expected to like this a lot more than I actually did, perhaps I just built it up too much in my head. However I did still enjoy most of the book and would read some of the authors other works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Self harm, Body horror, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Racism, Antisemitism, War, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
manchester_macy's review against another edition
I thought the concept was great, but there was no progression of the main character who got quite annoying. The plot also took really random side bars which didn't make sense. Even after getting half way I wasn't engaged.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Antisemitism and Self harm
Minor: Emotional abuse and Racism