A review by jeaniegreenie
Woodborn by Heather Nix

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Woodborn by Heather Nix

To preface my review, I urge you to look into the content warnings prior to dabbling in this novel, as there are quite a few graphic and triggering scenes right off the bat. These scenes are handled with extreme care, but please be forewarned.

Thank you Heather Nix for an ARC copy of your debut novel in exchange for an honest review!

I was in a serious book rut when I began reading Woodborn. I honestly asked myself, "why did I sign up for an ARC right now?" But, it turns out that Woodborn is just what I needed! While a little slow to start, once things got started, I was enamored! High fantasy has always been my genre of choice and Heather Nix made me fall in love with the genre all over again.

In a market saturated with fae-centric plots, the incredible world and diversity of Idythia is a breath of fresh air. The worldbuilding that Heather Nix has accomplished is absolutely incredible. Idythia has real depth and life, which grows more and more over the course of the novel. The magic systems are unique and fleshed out and definitely have a DnD vibe, which I know heavily influence Nix. You definitely feel like you are along for the journey with the characters, many of whom are also discovering the different parts of the world with you.

The story is told from multiple points of views, with each character really coming to life with Heather Nix's words. Her writing style changes a bit from character to character, which was beautifully done and really added to their personalities. Every love story, every interaction, their journies with their pasts and traumas, each one of them are so dear to me! But especially Jynn ;) Even the minor, non-POV characters are so well-done. Not only is there great diversity in fantasy creatures in this book, but also in character representation -- varying body types, LGBTQIA+ / sapphic representation, gender identity journeys, etc. The spicy scenes are also so good! I hate spice for the sake of spice, but you will not find that here! The spicy scenes are beautiful, fun, and super well-written.

I am so excited to see where the rest of the Song of Gods series takes us and SO crushed for the impending wait I will suffer from :')
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