Synopsis:
Eli is a weapon made of a number of different things, Hawthorn, Glass and human flesh to name a few. She is the greatest assassin, the made-daughter of the witch Circanae. When she is given her next assignment, things start to go a little weary. Eli needs to make some big decisions, and being made by another, she finds this particular human right a little difficult, but she's never been one to follow the rules.


Review:
What a great story. I haven't read anything along these lines before. I enjoyed the characters, they were really well thought out, along with a touch of gender diversity, it was really lovely to read.

I particularly loved Tav, strong yet determined and unafraid to be whatever they are. Tav identifies with both genders, clearly saying so when Eli asks if they are a boy or a girl. Tav would be relatable in that sense to many people who would read this book, and I love the use of the pronouns when speaking of Tav.

I also really liked the world that Jerreat-Poole has created, there is Earth, but then there is the magic-realm where we have a forbidden forest, a secret island just for Eli and Kite, the Coven and wastelands. The whole realm is an interesting place to read about.

I didn't find the whole tale gripping and it wasn't something that I can say that I loved (I'm not HUGE on sci-fi, but working on it). I would still highly recommend The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass to readers of sci-fi fantasy and younger teens.

This could have been such a good read. I really love the LGBTQ representation in this book. It’s seemless and well done. Big thumbs up for this part of the book.
But sadly the story wasn’t as well executed as it should have been. The idea is amazing, but it kinda lacked of drive and thrill. I can’t even say what was lacking, because the worldbuilding and the characters were so so good.
But it kinda lacked something to make me bite my fingernails or be a page turner.
Don’t get me wrong it’s a good book, but it could have been an amazing one, of the story would have had a different pace and a better ending.
But if you like a book with good representation and excellent worldbuilding, you should have a look at this one.

A Teen assassin is quite a feat to put in a book. usually these types of books draw me in but I felt very removed from this book.

This book just wasn’t my thing. I did finish it so I am giving it two stars because of that. I absolutely love nevernight and that is really what made me request this—but I didn’t see many similarities and the writing just didn’t do it for me.

First I would like to thank NetGalley and Dundurn Publishers for allowing me to read and review this book.

When I first read the description for this book I was really excited. The main character, Eli, sounded like a strong and independent female character on a great adventure, set in a rich fantasy world. I believe that is is what the author saw in their head, and there everything probably made sense. However, as a reader I was left confused. I found this book hard to read, and had a difficult time following along with where the main character was going. There wasn't enough details about the different worlds Eli travels to. I found myself re-reading over parts to see if I missed something that would help me understand what was going on, but came up empty handed. I believe that what the author had in mind was a fabulous story, and I want to hear that story. Maybe if there were more details and a clearer road map it would be easier for the reader to follow along.

When I read the synopsis for this book I was prepared for magical assassin adventures. However, what I received was a bunch of extraneous purple prose, instalove, and a confused at best plot. I try to be generous with debut novels, but I couldn’t even finish this one (DNF 50%). However, I believe that there is a lot of promise here for Adan Jerreat-Poole as a writer. I just think that there needs to be a bit more development and editing.

I had a lot of problems with the writing style of this book. I found myself re-reading paragraphs because I was trying to pick out what was important to the story. Mostly I just ended up getting headaches. When you read it, it sounds beautiful, rich and descriptive, but most of it doesn’t actually describe anything or push the plot forward. It felt like reading a really long and flowery poem. I think it sort of obfuscates what is or is not going on in the story. A bit of a diversion tactic if you would.

Another issue I had was what basically amounts to instalove between two of the main characters. Eli and Tav, see each other and when they touch sparks literally fly. However, I don’t know enough about either of their characters to see how they can be attracted to each other. I guess you could say that Tav’s character is flirty, but I don’t think that’s really it. Even though I feel this way about the romance I did want to learn more about the characters.

The concepts for these characters intrigued me. I wanted to learn more about them, but for the most part the way that their stories were written or explained didn’t give me the feeling of attachment that I was hoping for. I could forgive the author for a weak plot as long as the characters are interesting. I also want to applaud all of the LGBTQ+ representation in this novel. As I am not LGBTQ+ myself, I cannot say if it is good representation, but it felt very naturally inclusive. I just wish that the characters and the plot were more developed.

Thank you to Dundurn and Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own. My full review will be posted on my blog on May 11th, 2020.

I was incredibly excited to be selected to receive an ARC of The Girl of Hawthorne and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole- queer inclusive fantasy with a strong female lead and lots of magic? Yes,. please. Sign me up! And this book certainly did not disappoint when it comes to inclusivity, gayness, strong women, or magic. Those boxes were all checked and wrapped in some of the best prose I have read in quite some time.

While I really enjoyed the book and storytelling as a whole, there were times when I felt like I was missing something and had to back pedal a few pages to make sure I hadn't glazed over an important detail. Sometimes the story was very clear and precise, making sure you picked up what it put down, though usually with minor character details (like hair)... but other times it was just vague enough to be frustrating. I wanted the world to be built out more, particularly The City of Eyes. I wanted to understand better, have a clear picture. I sat on writing this review for nearly a week for that reason- I couldn't decide on a rating. I just wanted more. But my rating ultimately is in place because I enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the characters (I just want to understand the motivation behind everyone except the main). It's not perfect, but it was enjoyable. And it was weird.I like weird.

Eli is a made thing, a witch's daughter, a witch's creation. She was made with a purpose, to serve the Coven without question. She is their assassin, and the Coven expects perfection from their assassin. Creations that don't serve their purpose are unmade, and while Eli may have been created of hawthorn and glass (and a few other things), she is very much alive and would rather keep it that way. I love the thought behind the character creation, not just for Eli, but for all the characters. They're unique and colorful and.... alive.

The witches and their Coven reside in a magic realm that is entered through seams between our human world and theirs. These are the seams Eli uses to travel and carry out the assassinations entrusted to her by the Coven. She kills ghosts. Not the bed sheet kind, not ghosts like we may think of them. Threats. Ghosts that consume life. But when one of her missions is very much not what she expected it to be, Eli finds out that she cannot simply return to the Coven. Failure is not an option.

Enter Cam and Tav, bringing some wonderful diversity and a whole lot of much needed queerness into the world of fantasy reading. I really loved both of these characters but I want to understand more about what drives them. Because they're interesting, they play off each other in a wonderful way, and I want to see where their stories go. Cam is a gay boy with a deep appreciation for quality coffee, a quality that I can really get behind. And Tav is a non-binary person of color with spiked purple hair that rides a motorcycle that gave me some character-crush moments. They interested me. Especially as their story played out.

Eli, Cam, and Tav's become entangled in multiple ways that lead them on an adventure through the magical world that tests hearts, motivations, and the bonds they're forming. The City of Eyes and the realm in which it dwells could not be farther from the pastel and glitter coated fairy realms of popular fantasy. Danger lies everywhere, in every object, in every stone of this living and breathing world and the witches? Well, they're not exactly Glenda the Good.

I am looking forward to seeing where this story goes. I really WANT this book to succeed. The writing is beautifully done and our fantasy worlds need to be filled with more than just white, conventionally attractive, able bodied, straight characters.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 because of a truly original story and unique characters.

Major thanks to Dundurn, Adan Jerreat-Poole, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. My opinions (as always) are my own.

This book could have been a really nice read. The synopsis really interested me so I was very happy when I was able to read it.
Unfortunately it was a it of a dissapointment. I didnt really have a feel for the main characters and the world building lacked a lot of debt.
If only we would have gotten more debt and just MORE of everything, this could have been so great.

Eli is an assassin, designed at the moment of her making to be able to peel back the veil between the human world and that of the witches who created her. Her primary role, as with any assassin, is to murder her mark but this is tricky since her marks are already dead. When Eli fails to kill a ghost in the human world, she is trapped there by her vicious mother until she is able to complete her task, and almost accidentally seeks refuge with a group of renegades.

The plot is quite broken up, but should be appreciated more as an exploration of self. Eli has spent almost all of her life following orders, almost blind to the reason for her existence otherwise, and shedding her true form to blend in to the human world. I really loved how the author captured what that feels like - hiding behind a body, whereby a body really has no meaning anymore; Eli comes to take control of who she is and wants to be, taking ownership of herself and re-appropriating that meaning to her body, and I thought that was probably the largest success of this book.

The characters are each quite interesting, with many varying representations throughout; I think the characterisation is really strong overall actually. Diverse representation isn't discussed much, which was great; rather, these preferences just simply "are", without description or explanation. I wish more authors included their diverse characters in this way, without the deliberate intention to be waving a flag to say they've included them; it feels like a box ticking exercise which completely misses the point of seamlessly including diverse representation in the first place. That's not the case here at all, non-binary characters, for example, are not introduced with a label, they just automatically are, "they". This author just gets it.

I didn't really enjoy the plot that much. I think there's a really good foundation here for an interesting magic-based world, but I couldn't really connect with it. I think the narrative voice is great, and the author has a dry humour throughout which I really liked, but the concept wasn't really developed enough or big enough for me to become invested in it even though I liked all of the characters.

This did detract from my enjoyment of the book, but I really appreciate some of the things that are within The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass which show so much potential and are things which we don't get to see handled so expertly very often. I will definitely read future work by this author, set in a different world perhaps, to see what they create next!

ARC provided from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Even teenage assassins have dreams.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass has a nice reading tempo and the writingstyle of the author is pretty good. Because of this, the book is easy to read and little delay during reading. It’s easy to read ten or more chapters in a row. The unknown world that Maria created entails quite a few surprises. And these are spread throughout the story to keep it interesting and exciting. Only the way the story is told, is not so pleasant.

Eli is an interesting character. She quickly finds out all the things she learned contained not the whole truth. When she unexpectedly starts to work together with humans and renegade witches, she discovers a lot of secrets. To get to know Eli’s background a little better, the author used some short flashbacks from her childhood. Thse are not always obvious to the story and don’t add much tot he character or the story. The other characters have quite a lot of potential, but because of the superficiality of the story, they are not fully manifested. There’s also some kind of LGBTQ in the story, but it felt forced and unnatural. Like it has been added to the story afterward.

As for the developments of the plot, the story isn’t that peculiar of interesting unfortenately. Eventhough there has been paid quite some attention to the different layers of the witch’s world, it remains to be unclear and sketchy. Some events bring more tension into the story but are not written to be interesting enough. Some happenings are just described in stead of experienced by the characters. This creates a distance between the story and the reader. While it continues and the story works towards a climax, it feels like it going to be a lot more interesting. But when something finally happens, it doens’t quite add up to everything. More at the end of the story, some happenings are not very logical and that’s why the story isn’t really easy to follow. To end the story with some kind of excitement for the second book, there’s an extra short chapter added to it about the renegade witches. This came quite unexpected because their role during the story seemed to dissappear only to come back at the very end of the story for three pages. This ending could be an invitation to read the next book, but it didn’t feel that way for me unfortunately.

So, generally this story has an interesting structure and quite some potention, but due to the mediocre world-building and happenings, the story doesn’t quite add up.

Rating: 2/5 witch worlds I still don’t understand

Format: eBook. I’d like to thank NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What it's like: The bizarre storytelling and meandering plot sort of reminded me of Erin Morganstern, but it really lacked cohesion and clarity. The seven blades Eli carries reminded me a bit of Abhorsen’s bells from Garth Nix’s series!

To sum up: This story introduces a unique MC, a girl made by a witch out of organic and inorganic matter (you guessed it, hawthorn and glass among other things). Her name is Eli, and her maker has sent her to the human realm to kill ghosts with her seven blades (each blade has a specific purpose). But when one of her missions leads Eli to kill a human, she stumbles into a world of magic in the human world that will put her on a path to discover secrets about the very nature of magic and her own making. Eli, with the help of a mustachioed gay boy, a nonbinary biker, and a witch heir that is also her ex, will need to lean on each other to save magic and their planet.

What I loved: I loved the diverse LGBTQ+ rep, a non-binary character playing such a vital role in the story, and the lyrical and unique storytelling elements. Poole has a really interesting voice that I loved for about the first 25% of the book. The elements they use in this story make the reader feel like they are walking through someone else’s LSD trip, some kind of fantastical, violent and strange world that I was super curious to understand until it all started to fall apart.

What was meh:
So yea, this story falls apart. And for me it fell apart right at the 25-30% mark. I’m not sure why exactly it was this transition, but for some reason after this point, things stopped getting explained in a way that made sense. Up to this point I had an open mind about how the human and witch worlds lie parallel to each other, how Eli travels between them to carry out her missions and was intrigued by her relationship with Kite (a young witch, best friend of Eli). Once Eli and her friends are in the witch world together, I feel like the storytelling shifts. It becomes more about the author explaining all the weird shit that they see, and growing friendships and romance between the characters, rather than grounding us in the world so that we can understand what is actually going on. I felt untethered to the story. That isn’t always bad, but at some point, the author needs to ground the reader again and for me that never happened. I just became more and more confused about how this world worked. The author kept adding new elements (that weren’t fully explained) to their world instead of texturizing and explaining the ones they had already introduced. Around the 70% mark, I hit my limit for new elements and skimmed the rest of the story. I literally couldn’t take in any more bizarre, twists, and believe me, there was a metric ton still left to go.

Overall, since this is a debut, had a great start (I felt the first 20-30% was four stars!), and had great diversity, I would rate this at least 2 stars. Unfortunately, it doesn’t gain any more stars after that point, because the rest of the story fell apart for me. I really hope the author continues to build on their skills and keeps writing because I think their voice is unique and really compelling. With a bit more editing and pruning of story elements, this author could produce something I would really love.

I enjoyed this story. It was a very out there concept but painted quite a picture. I like Eli and the changes that took place throughout the story. While I found some parts confusing, overall, it was a good story and I would definitely read a sequel.

This book has such a good premise the blurb sounded very exciting and the cover was so beautiful. Alas I couldn't like the book no matter how hard I tried.

The MC at the start is shown as this badass unfeeling assassin who is setup by someone in killing the wrong "species" than her usual targets which is ghosts. She is made or stone and glass and trees and all sorts of odds and ends.
The idea of another world/dimension existing just above ours was fascinating. I really loved the labyrinth and its description.
The character of Kite and her odd weird friendship with Elli also made me wanna read the book further. Tav who identified themselves as non binary initially felt like an enigmatic character, they have something more to them that meets the eye. But later I didn't find myself caring for them or Cam.

About 20% into the book I was enjoying myself and couldn't wait to find out how Elli would deal with the situations and the events unfolding. But the insta-love between Elli and Tav followed up with the quickness at which Elli joins the group to betray her people felt so rushed and I couldn't really understand the motivation there.
By 50% of the book I started having problems with the narration style. It was confusing and I didn't know if it was the present or a past memory or a dream for that matter.
By 70-80% I was throughly lost I didnt know why the events were happening. The story was filled with unnecessary events which could've been shortened or skipped to reach to the end.
I will not talk about the ending here. Because I stopped enjoying the book a long time ago and just was reading it to know about the ending.

I'd say overall a very promising plot and it could do with a lot of fine tuning.

Thank you @netgalley and the Publisher to allow me to read this book for my honest reviews.

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass

Summary

Eli is a made thing. She was made to be a ghost assassin. She has seven blades to help her accomplish her goal. Each of those blades are a part of her, like an additional appendage. Killing ghosts is easy for her. She gets in, does her job, and gets out. But what happens when her target isn’t a ghost? What happens when her target is human?

Eli isn’t really sure who she can trust, but she teams up with two humans, Tav and Cam and sets out on an adventure for answers, and ends up on an adventure to save the world.

Thoughts on Creativity and Writing

The author did a great job creating characters that were likable. Eli, Tav, and Cam all had character flaws that people can relate to (no one wants to read about perfect characters). The characters formed a family like bond where they had the same goal in mind while getting into small scuffles with each other.

The author also did a great job with the topic of witchcraft. The setting that was created to accompany the subject of witchcraft was haunting and beautiful. The transition from what we think of as the real world and the world of witchcraft was seamless.

Thoughts on the Ending

I have to admit that I was disappointed in the end. I looked around my dining room where I have cuddled up to read lately in confusion. I felt like I had missed something. It was so abrupt.

“ Eli wasn’t just a teenage girl with heavy bangs falling over round glasses, fighting with her mother and writing bad poetry in her journal (although she did some of that, too). Eli was an assassin.”

The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole caught my eye with that simple yet beautiful cover, and reeled me in with the promise of an intriguing Frankenstein’s monster-esqe teenage assassin main character, and the busting down the Coven’s tyrannical reign over the City of Ghosts and the City of Eyes plot line. I feel like this author has a very lyrical writing style mixed with a young vibe. The City of Eyes gave me a Labyrinth type visual in my kind. That scary beautiful sort of aesthetic. Our lead character Eli is sort of on this journey of self discovery. Finding her strength and the power she has even though she was “created” by the witches to be an assassin, she is more, and she can be more. I liked that base layer of her character, but I did find it a bit hard to connect with her and some of the additional characters, and I blame that on the fact that the transitions were a bit choppy and I did feel like I was playing catch up often in this read.

I even mentioned to a friend that I felt like I was reading an extremely detailed poem. It’s beautiful and entrancing. A poem extensive enough that it’s a story, but since it’s labeled a novel it feels like, for me, that it’s missing something. That being said I enjoyed this read overall. Sort of a coming into oneself type of read. I loved that there is LGBTQ+ representation that feels seamless. That the main character has inner doubts that sort of allude to mental illness in some ways. I liked the imagery of the world that was built. I just wish the transitions had all been smoother and I didn’t feel a step behind the entire story.

I definitely plan to check out what’s to come next from this author.

RATING - 3/5

THE GIRL OF HAWTHORN AND GLASS follows a ghost-assassin Eli, a flawless killing machine armed with her seven magical blades. She's not human - she is made-thing for the Coven to wield. A fine weapon, incapable of failing. Till she does. Failing means dying, dying for Eli means getting unmade, all her parts used to make other assassins. In her fear, she becomes unwilling allies with a group of humans and witch renegades and is given a task - to capture the Heart of the Coven. This mission is not just a suicide mission, it is also a discovery mission. This is where Eli learns to question her life, her witch-mother, the Coven, and her purpose. With the help of two humans and her closest but untrustworthy witch friend, Eli is out to get answers and with them, her freedom.

There are so many things I love about this book. The world building is so good! It's nowhere near perfect, but for a debut novel, I am willing to give some slack. It's a moving, breathing world Jerreat-Poole has created and I applaud them for it. There were so many questions in my mind: what, how, who, when, where. They were somewhat answered, not my unceremonious info dumps but through actually showing how things work, instead of telling me. A perfect example of 'SHOW, NOT TELL.'

I really like the characters as well. Eli was someone I could get invested in and yet view objectively - I empathized with her need to find her purpose, her feeling of pain when she realizes everything she was told was a lie. And I could also understand her feeling comfort in killing - something she was made to do. Something she needs to do. Understandable, since like I said, she was literally MADE to kill.

I loved the representation as well. One gay character (poc, if I'm not mistaken), one non-binary character which was refreshing because I can't remember ever reading a nb character. Main queer character. Love, love, love!!

Now to the meh parts.

I really didn't care for Tav or Cam. I tried, but they didn't seem very corporeal to me. They were not necessarily side characters, but they way this book is written makes them out to be characters who are written specifically to help the MC meet her goal. Which brings me to...

The writing! The writing style is amazing and unique. Jerreat-Poole writes about monstrous things and makes them seem beautiful. Things like an assassin who is basically Frankenstein's monster except in a much scarier way. But there is a flow to this book that is not friendly with a fantasy novel. There is no direction to the story. It goes here one time, and there the next. It took me reading a paragraph to figure out if Eli was thinking about what was going on or if she was reliving a memory for the reader's sake. One could say that the story line is in itself Frankenstein's monster.

TL;DR: Unique writing style, good world building, missed opportunities to make this a much better novel.

This book was made to sound more interesting in its synopsis. I felt like I was promised a book version of filet mignon only to be served ground turkey.

I will say that the concept is interesting. If a little more working could be put in to amp up character and story development this could be great. Ath this point though, the best I can say is the author has talent. It easily spotted, but something is holding them back.

Thank you NetGalley for the review opportunity of this eARC. But I will not reccomend this book at this time.

I'm sorry. I wanted to like this book but while this book has a great cover and a lot of LGBTQ+ representation, sadly, it failed to deliver a good fantasy plot (in my opinion). The world-building was lacking if non-existent. The idea of having a world of witches above our own with a vortex to go from one to the other was interesting but it wasn't enough for me. I needed to know more and things happened but it felt weird and not a lot were explained.

About the characters : Eli is a girl being created by witch magic to perform assassinations. When she ends up killing a human instead of what she thought was a ghost, we're left wondering why she would be sent to kill him. Tav is non-binary and I liked them. Cam as well but I didn't care for them enough to enjoy reading this book.

Overall, while I appreciate the efforts put into writing this story, not a lot made sense to me and unfortunately around 30-40% I was ready for it to end. I wanted to like it but it was all over the place.

Thank you net galley for an arc of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I wanted to love this I really did. If this was a book I didn't review I would have DNF it.

The idea was stellar. I read the synopsis and couldn't wait to dive in. I loved the fact that LGBTQ representation was so wonderful as I believe that few books can pull it off like this did. I loved Eli so, so, so much! That is where it all stopped for me.

The writing was disjointed and I felt like a was reading a ton of information but getting nowhere. O would have loved better and more clear in depth explanations of the magic system and how everything worked on that end. I saw this was a series and I was waiting for this great build up to lead into book 2 and it just never came. I feel like because this was intended as a series book 1 could have really explained so much more about the magic and the coven and the city if eyes. Really got readers connecting to that part as well as the characters and once we were hooked built to a huge cliffhanger only to turn the page and learn we have to wait until book 2.

Nope. Sorry. The fantasy book I was hoping to read cannot be found at this moment. Please try again later. Bippp!

I pushed myself too hard to like this book but it was exhausting and tormenting experience. I was so hopeful after seeing the fantastic artsy, beautiful cover and promising plot about teenage assassin chasing the ghosts in the human world. But… yes… I try to be soft grader when it comes to debut novels. I tried to be patient that at some part, the story will turn into something meaningful and riveting journey. But I’m so sorry even though writing style is different and interesting, there is no moving storyline. I couldn’t resonate with any of the characters but the development, their motives and their background stories were missing. You cannot root any of them because you don’t believe in their mission, conflicts or struggles.

Eli is being set up during her mission and now she cannot handle her failure so well and she finds herself aligned with a group, after without questioning further she joins them. I didn’t actually care Eli’s confused mind about real world and the Coven or her reasoning to join renegades and the other characters we’re introduced didn’t get my interest.

And the world building is also weak. So I couldn’t find anything concrete to enjoy. I got lost about the witches’ hierarchy dynamics and political orders.

So overall: I tried. I really did. I even thought to give 2.5 stars. But instead of cover and original story telling, there is nothing intriguing about this book so unfortunately I stick with 2 solid stars.