A review by 16rcampbell
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

Did not finish book. Stopped at 40%.
There was a lot of politics and religion in this book -- way more than I was expecting -- which is normally fine, if I know that's what I'm getting into first. Regardless of the surprise of it, all of the metaphors and symbolism felt way too literal. It's blatantly obvious who is being cast in which roles, which religions we're talking about, etc. Instead of creating her own religion with which to expose the abusive, racist, and sexist under AND overtones of religion (a certain religion in particular) and the horror that comes with an organized religion like this, it felt like a copy and paste. If I wanted to have those kinds of discussion, I would have picked up a non-fiction book. I understand the frustrations, and share many of the same sentiments and beliefs as the author seems to encourage, but reading this just made me angry. I encounter enough of the bs of the "love interest" in my everyday life, I don't need to relive those comments, beliefs and arguments in a fantasy book. I am all for using fiction as a way to digest and discuss contemporary issues, but the way it was presented here made me feel frustrated and angry instead of allowing me to become involved in the conversation. And there's never a break. It's constant. If we're not shitting on each other's religions, we're condemning their politics. If not that, we're fighting some monsters (and not well). Or we're sleeping. I don't understand characters' choices, I don't feel connected to them, I'm not really rooting for them because if they succeed it's still a shitty end result, and I don't like a single person in the book so far. The only reason I read this far is because I felt like I had to be missing something since it was recommended and praised so many times. 

I also felt absolutely no chemistry between the main character and the supposed love interest. Accents are used purely for aesthetic purposes instead of and indication of pronunciation and it didn't look good and just confused me as I read. 
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