The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

This is an astounding debut from the author. The Wolf and the Woodsman is a standalone YA fantasy with substance. Ava crafts and weaves a magical and foreboding tale that is steeped in culture and Hungarian history. It is a colourful and beautifully descriptive standalone that will appeal to readers who enjoyed Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale.

The story follows Évike an outcast from a Pagan village, situated deep in the woods. She cannot access her pagan powers and is treated differently her whole life. When the Woodsmen come to take a woman sacrifice to the King, the Villagers hand Èvike over without question. However, the journey back to the city is filled with terror, monsters and witches are lurking in every shadow and no place is safe to wander. After witnessing many horrors Èvike and her captor Woodsman/Prince Gáspár find an uneasy truce. To stay alive and to stop his murderous half-brother from taking the throne, after uncovering his evil plans to eradicate all others from differing beliefs, essentially culturally cleansing the land. Their mission takes them from the woods to the freezing Northern Tundra to the smoggy city in the hopes of finding something that can stop the evil from unfurling.

This book will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The story draws many parallels to what is happening in world right now, and you’ll feel the injustice of it all right down to your core. Although, having said that, the book isn’t a bleak tale, it is a story about finding yourself and where you belong. Standing up to injustice. It has a beautiful love story, yes you read that right, the romance is heart-warming. A true enemy to lover’s plotline that will make you go weak at the knees. Just check out this quote:

“If there is anyone I would damn my soul for. It would be you” Swoon!

I recommend this to all of my YA fantasy loving friends, and to those of you who love tales rich in folklore.

Evike is the only woman in her pagan village who does not have power. A clear outsider, she is surrendered to the Holy Order of Woodsmen and claimed for the king’s blood sacrifice. But when the Woodsmen are attacked, Evike finds herself relying on their captain, the prince Gaspar Barany, for their mutual survival. As their journey continues, the pair find that they have more in common than they could have imagined, but years of loathing are difficult to overcome and trust can easily turn to betrayal.

I absolutely adored the world-building and folklore aspects of this book. The world history and different cultures are really well developed, and I loved coming across a story inspired by Jewish mythology (which is something I’m not at all familiar with). The vibe is very dark and atmospheric, but there are lighter elements of romance and humour that stop things from becoming too intense. Definitely not to be confused for a light, YA fairytale – The Wolf and the Woodsman contains adult themes and a fair bit of violence.

The characters are all very good: They’re varied and well developed, although I did find Evike a little bit irritating from time to time. However, she has a really strong narrative voice and her perspective is presented completely convincingly. The enemies to lovers romance, although a total cliché, was really believable and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Overall I have no complaints. This book has romance, mythology, magic and monsters, and is generally pretty well written. The comparison to The Bear and the Nightingale is spot-on (although this story maybe isn’t quite as brilliant as that).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Ava Reid’s debut is an extremely well-written novel that combines good character work with an interesting plot.

Évike (pronounced Ee-vi-kay) is the only girl in her Pagan village without magic. As such, she’s tormented by the other girls, making her sharp and prickly with people. When the king’s Woodsmen come seeking a sacrifice, Évike is sent away with them to protect another girl. But on the road, the Woodsmen are attacked, leaving only Évike and the Woodsmen’s captain, Gáspár, alive. He is not what he appears, though. He’s actually the king’s legitimate heir, but his half-brother seeks the throne for himself. Reluctantly, Évike and Gáspâr agree to work together to keep a tyrant from gaining the throne.

The story involves ethnic cleansing and the establishment of a new faith. The religions here stand in for Christianity and Judaism. Reid explores the tensions between different beliefs really well, particularly in having Évike occupy the middle ground between the Pagan beliefs of her mother and the Yehuli religion her father follows. Her desire to protect her home village and her father necessitates sacrifices and compromises that make the story, and her character, complex and interesting. The story is made even more complex and enthralling by Gáspár, representing the new faith, known as the Patrifaith. His devotion to his religion clashes with Évike, who scorns him and it. Their journey together is turbulent because of their differing beliefs, and Reid explores the nuances involved with skill.

This is quite a dark book. There is self mutilation, religious oppression, and gore. Please see Reid’s full list of content warnings on her Goodreads review for the book before going in. The story does get quite brutal at times, as is to be expected from a story about the violence of nation building.

The story is very enjoyable despite the darkness, though. The characters are well drawn, particularly Évike. The story is told entirely from her perspective. While it might have been interesting to have some of the story told from Gáspár’s point of view, I think, over all, Évike is the best choice to tell the story through. Gáspár’s position as a prince whose succession is under threat makes him an interesting character too. He’s not always heroic, but his journey through the story leads to a satisfying conclusion for his character.

The development of the romance between these two characters was also enjoyable. It’s generally quite angsty, given their different perspectives and the events of the story. It’s also a slow burn, which makes sense, again, given the story. I do think the romance limits Évike’s character a little, when her focus becomes quite a bit about Gáspár. Nevertheless, I think they build a strong bond and the way they work together in the end is satisfying.

There were some great secondary characters too, particularly Katalin, Évike’s chief tormentor, and the king and Nándor, Gáspár’s tormentors. Each of the characters feels well crafted, with a life of their own. I also really enjoyed all the folktales peppered throughout the story.

The writing here is great, very accomplished for a debut, which bodes well for future books from Reid. I do think the ending was wrapped up a little easily and quickly, so there’s a small pacing issue. Over all, though, I enjoyed the themes, the characters, and the story very much, and I look forward to more of Reid’s work.

This was an okay read. At times it felt a little predictable, and I felt the world building was lacking. I remember thinking that the writing felt stilted and wooden at times, and it was jarring enough to quit reading for the day and come back to it later.
Evike was a petulant and sullen teen, though she showed flashes of growth, and to be honest, I am getting tired of male romance tropes. This would have been more compelling as a same sex love story.
Although I finished it, I would not purchase it and would wait for a few books in to see if the authors writing has improved.

trigger warning
<spoiler> self harm, mutilation, domestic abuse, trauma, antisemitism, genocide, cruelty towards animals, gore, torture, bullying </spoiler>

The villager's seer knows the woodsmen will come and take one out of their midst. Évika, being without magic, feels safe, so it is a huge surprise that she is taken to be brought before the king. To find out what the king does with wolf-girls.

The women from that village don wolf-cloaks if they are with magic, and really, everyone but Évika is with magic. So hence the term wolf-girls. The woodsmen - that's the name of a holy order of travelling soldiers, who are supposed to fight the monsters that lurk in forests, armed with not much more than an axe.

Though the author says this is adult fantasy, I got more young adult with gore vibes.
The character feels and acts like a teenager, on impulse, never thinking about her actions or making plans for the future. I understand that she is afraid and in a new situation, but it would have been nice if her apathy would have been spoken about. Though we are in her head, we never get much of her thoughts beyond the immediate impression of her senses and her want and longing.

Some other parts felt lacking, too. They are travelling on horses, but the horses feel like magic in that they are there when needed and shut up at all other times. They don't get fed, they don't get groomed, or saddled, nothing. They make no noises, they have no smells. They are only there to transport the characters and act as status symbol, but not as living, breathing creatures.
The travelling as such felt weird, too. So the woodsmen get Évika, on horseback, so I am assuming they have some stuff with them. Food, maybe a first aid kit, blankets for the night, fire starters, whatever you need. At one time, we're told they haven't been drinking for a long time, so let's stop at this brook and get some water down. Didn't they have water bottles? It's hungarian inspired so I'd expect leather wine bags filled with water. They don't refill any kind of bottle, don't adress something has been lost recently, nothing. So either we have woodsmen than are irresponsible with their stuff, or an author who picks and chooses, ignoring that the story might feel patchy in the details.

Those tiny details that felt off happened so frequently I am putting them down as bad writing.

Where the world felt very real were the stories in the story, people narrating tales for various purposes. The boiling resentment the follower of the Patrifaith have for the Yehuli, the jewish people, felt troublingly real. Half of the trigger warnings are for that alone.

We have sapphic side characters who also live with a bear. Still wondering how they get them in their house, to be honest.

All in all, this was... and okay read. Predictable, and either boring or gory. Not both at the same time, but one of those always applied to me. I have no interest in the rest of the series, or in works by the same author.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

When the Holy Order of the Woodsman arrives to take a wolf-girl from Évike’s pagan village, they want a seer. Instead, the village elder dress Évike, the only village girl without magic, as a seer and sends her as a substitute. Évike becomes embroiled in a tussle for the throne between the cold captain of the Woodsmen, the disgraced Prince Gáspár, the heir to the throne, and his half-brother Nándor. She must put aside her differences with Gáspár to save her old village and usher in a new era of religious acceptance.
I have a confession to make; I don’t like stories where a large part of the narrative is consumed with travelling. That isn’t to say all journeys in stories are bad, but when there is travel action that doesn’t move the plot on, I get frustrated at the pace. The Wolf and the Woodsman has both, and that’s probably how I describe my feelings about this book. The first quarter is full of fairytale and myth, monsters springing from folklore into reality and showing humans how little they truly are. The journey through the dark wood from Évike’s village to the capital is fraught with danger and resentment. I soaked it up.
But then, when Gáspár reveals his true intention to find the magic that will help his father win a war at their border, they go off on a tangent. Now, I do understand the point of this. It reveals Gáspár’s nature and allows for Gáspár and Évike to develop trust and affection for one another. It just doesn’t do much for me.
Luckily, the journey is fruitless, and we get to see Gáspár in the capital, an outcast prince, heir to the throne by law, if not by popular choice. He understands the delicate dance of diplomacy and how to navigate politics to his advantage, unlike Évike, who is too trusting and with little guile.
The Wolf and the Woodsman is about respecting someone’s beliefs regardless of how they differ from your own. Peppered with myths inspired by Jewish stories and Hungarian history, Reid creates a vivid religious vehicle that drives the narrative forward. Évike never really bought into the stories in her village, only her mother was from the clan, and without magic, she was considered an outcast. That difference is held against her like a crime. When she meets her estranged father later in the book, she begins to understand her village tales in the light of the stories of her father’s people. She develops and grows through understanding where she has come from and witnessing the prejudice of her people now. Rather than her romance with Gáspár, it is Évike’s desire for people to be treated justly no matter what their belief system that motivates her.
A powerful feminist story about acceptance, The Wolf and the Woodsman is perfect for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden and John Gwynne’s The Shadow of the Gods.

A beautiful (and at times gory) mix of historical based folkloric fantasy, I'd say the comparisons made with 'The Bear and the Nightingale' and 'Spinning Silver' are justified on this occasion. I loved this as well, perhaps not quite as much, but pretty darn close.

(ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley)

this is a definite must read, a new fresh plot, takes you in the magical universe. the cover of the book fascinates me too. its a power packed all in 1 read. go pick it up. thank you netgalley for the e copy.

If you know me then you know that if a book mentions the words 'folklore' or 'mythology' that it's almost an instant add to my TBR, so as soon as I read the description for this I just knew I would love it. The Wolf and the Woodsman is steeped in Jewish folklore and history and with them Reid creates a fantasy world I never wanted to leave.

Évike is the only woman without powers in her pagan village, so when the Woodsmen come looking for a seer, something the village wont give up easily, they sacrifice Évike instead. She knows that the Woodsmen mean certain death, but when an attack leaves only Évike and the surly one-eyed Captain alive she has no choice to rely on the person sent to kill her, especially when she learns that the Captain is actually Gáspár Bárány, a Prince and first in line for the throne. He has no love for Évike's pagan magic but they come to an agreement, Évike will help him find the power to bring down his zealous brother &amp; he will let her live. Trust doesn't come easily to either Évike or Gáspár, but their travels through the bitter north may make them realise there is more that binds them than sets them apart, and before long the pair will have to choose where their loyalties lie.

Évike is a woman used to loss, and being alienated for being different. Her life in the pagan village has been spent watching the mother she loved being carted away by the Woodsmen to die, and having the knowledge that her lack of power make the village deem her as lesser and worthless to a people who depend on it for survival. Because of this she has built a thick skin, and created walls around her heart that few could bring down. When she is sacrificed for her village a part of her is angry, angry that she could be so easily cast aside, but another part realises that it was inevitable, her powers made her useless to the village, but her sacrifice was vital. She longs for somewhere she feels at home, whole, loved, despite her shortcomings.

Gáspár may be the first in line for the throne, and the only legitimate son but he still feels he is not enough. The fact that his mother was a foreigner does nothing to warm the people to him, and he feels his power slipping away day by day as that of his bastard brother grows. He has never truly known love, though he has tried for years to be the son his father wanted and only shown abuse and unkindness for it. He longs for a world where all people live in peace, no matter their skin colour or beliefs, but isn't sure whether he is strong enough to fight for it.

As well as the two above, who have my whole heart, Reid brings to life and fantastic cast of side characters, through whom we learn more about Jewish beliefs and persecution. Some you will love and others you will hate with a passion but they all have a part to play in Évike & Gáspár's story &amp; they all bring something pivotal to the plot.

Reid does a brilliant job and bringing to light the plight of Jew's throughout history. Through the plot, as well as folktales scattered throughout she hits on segregation as well as ethnic cleansing, all hard hitting topics that can only begin to show how Jew's have suffered under religious persecution. You can tell the amount of research and thought that went into creating this book, and thanks to all this we get taken to a richly built fantasy world that I simply never wanted to leave. Reid's writing style is lush and atmospheric that really helped the plot move at a nice and easy pace, and really helped you to immerse yourself into her fantasy world as well as fall in love with her characters.

Fans of enemies to lovers romance listen up! You NEED to add this book to your TBR asap. Honestly the angst and yearning and kneeling in this book gave me palpitations. The romance is so beautiful crafted, at times heartbreaking and at others humorous, but Reid did a fantastic job at showing that even though they may have seemed worlds apart, that they believed in different Gods, were raised in different ways Évike & Gáspár had more similarities than differences, more things that drew them together than forced them apart. This isn't a happy book and it certainly isn't a happy romance arc but I loved it all the same.

I had high expectations going into this, expectations that The Wolf and the Woodsman met and then some. A dark tale that certainly isn't for the faint of heart, but if you like your characters broken, you worlds filled with folklore and history and your romance enemies to lovers then you should look no further. This may be Reid's first book but I will definitely be picking anything else she writes.

Évike is a wolf girl without any magic, bullied by the other girls for her mixed heritage and lack of power. She should have died when her mother was taken. The king, desperate to keep himself in power when there are those who seek to remove him, sends the Woodsmen to collect the pagan wolf girls, one by one. This time he wants a seer. Virág disguises Évike and hands her over to a one-eyed Woodsman, happy to have kept them at bay a little longer.

The Wolf and the Woodsman is set in a world frequented by religious persecution. The official religion of the country is the Patrifaith, sacrificing parts of themselves to Saint Istan to be gifted power in return. The Patritians wish to rid their land of both pagans and Yehuli, a religion that represents Judaism in this world. I liked that while they all had their different beliefs, that belief all gave them magic of a kind. Not one religion was “the right one”.

The one-eyed Woodsman turns out to be no ordinary Woodsman, and soon him and Évike are on a quest to find a mythical beast that might just be the answer to both their problems. Évike might have been bullied all her life but she still sees herself as a wolf girl, she still doesn’t want to see her home and her family destroyed, even if she doesn’t like them very much. This is not a story with clear cut morality.

The throne is at risk to being lost to a charismatic individual, one who indoctrinates hatred through his impassioned speeches, blaming the country’s problems on the Yehuli, calling the pagans witches out for trouble. He represents a leader who can whip up hatred and create the path towards genocide. The story is based on Hungarian and Jewish history and mythology, and I’m guessing that history is around World War II and the rise of fascism in the early 20th century.

I loved the mythology so much. The religions were all connected but separate, at times brutal when characters lop off bits of themselves in order to be favoured by a god. Évike talks about some of the stories and myths, during her travels, helping to create a well-rounded picture of this world. The creatures that populate it include both the wonderful and the creepy.

It’s also lovely to have a fully formed standalone fantasy like this. There is a proper ending!

the wolf and the woodsman was one of my most anticipated books but i found it underwhelming for most parts but not entirely a bad read.

what i liked: the atmosphere. i LOVE such settings and Reid's writing truly transports you to the place with the metaphors. the dark fairytale aesthetic was on point. it was beautifully combined with the magic system, folklore and the different religions to exist that gave deep insight into the worldbuilding. the story gripped me in the first half.

i didn't care about the romance at all. Évike and Gáspár were supposed to be the enemies to lovers ship but i got none of that and instead it felt like their relationship blossomed too quick. the antagonists weren't that captivating either, shallow to be honest and they were taken care of too easily. pacing turned slow later on and Évike's character didn't interest me as much.

i think its a hit or miss kind of book. but if like me, you love forest-y, atmospheric settings, go ahead and read this.

This was such a gorgeously written, rich and dark adult fantasy, expertly weaving elements of Jewish mythology and Hungarian history.

Évike was an excellent protagonist, flawed and fractured by her position in society and her struggle with her identity. I loved how complex she was, with her past informing her actions. She’s neither completely good nor completely evil and that greyness of her morality really intrigued me. Reid shows that the world doesn’t often work in the black and white categorisation, there’s far more shades in between. Similarly, Gáspár is a deeply flawed and complicated character. His motivations are slowly revealed, as are the added elements to his character. I liked how both main characters had good character development over the course of the book. The dynamic between them was ever-changing and shifting, as they both battled to survive in a world that rejects them.

Reid’s strong invocation of grey morality infused the story with a philosophical mediation on the nature of evil and a nature-nurture debate. There’s a sense of the rippling effects of the past and the traumas it may hold on both main characters. However, the villains of the book are down right despicable and I appreciated how Reid wove in elements of real life historical oppression and destruction of marginalised communities through dehumanisation and abhorrent acts.

The world around her was so well crafted and I really enjoyed how Reid delved into complex court politics and meditations on power and religion. It offered up so many thought-provoking questions and discussion points around wider issues. The writing has this intangible gorgeous quality that added a rich layer to the story. It never held back, but also made you feel completely immersed in this creatively imagined world. This felt like such a strong debut and I’d be beyond excited to read Reid’s next offering.

The Wolf and the Woodsman was a thought-provoking, challenging story full of morally gray characters and a rich, original and fantastical world.

What a great book, when it started I did wonder where this book would take me but stick with it, I’m so glad I did.
So much to talk about with so many in depth characters. There was mythology, different cultures, magical elements and let’s not forget it’s a little gory too.
The main character Evike is offered to the woodsmen and instantly you are with her. I love a book with a strong female protagonist. It has a feel of a YA book but for an adult audience. Loved it.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for approving me for an ARC of this book.

To begin with I found there was a lot of information to take it. There were a lot of names and different factions to get my head around however this did not spoil the listen or the story. We were thrown straight into the action where Évike has been betrayed by her pagan village and offered to the Woodsman as a seer.

From the start it was clear that Évike would not be a pushover. She had a fire in her belly that made her more terrifying then the others in her village. She also had nothing to lose so she was prepared to take risks and stand up for herself. I had complete admiration for her choices and wanted to see her survive and succeed. There were moments when we saw her softer side, with her father and the heartache she had endured from losing her mother. All of imperfections and insecurities made her a brilliant protagonist.

Gaspar was an entirely different character. Not worthy of the crown he had been forced to do the King’s bidding and it made him stubborn, moody and full of honour. Gaspar has been hurt too, the resentment and torture etched on his face but that is what bonds him an Évike together. Two people not wanted by their own kind find themselves drawn to each other and their slow burning romance was my favourite part of the story. You could feel the tension after the attack, at the start, and as they were together it only grew stronger. The early banter between the two made me smile because you could see where this was heading. It might of helped that I could visualise Chris Hemsworth as Gaspar which made the read even more enjoyable 😉

Aside from the romance we have factions at war, power hungry brothers, a quest and a brilliant final battle. This story is beautiful and brutal at the same time, filled with tender moments and gore that are not for the faint hearted. Top it off with a magic that brings to life the mythological stories and you have a read like no other. The ending was done in such a way that I hope there is a sequel, not because we are left with a cliff hanger but I need to have more!!!

A tale of love and self discovery, a truly magical tale. Set in wonderful world beautifully built. A wonderful story.

It's taken me a while to get my thoughts in line for this book. It's part folk-tale, part fairy-tale and part historical warning about segregation and encroaching religion and it is amazing.
Evike is a magicless pagan girl who is offered to the Woodsmen when they come calling for a sacrifice.
Knowing that as soon as they find out about her magicless status that she is as good as dead, Evike tries to escape her captors only for two of them to be killed by creatures in the first. Left alone with only the Captain of the Guard they are forced to band together to survive.
With Hungarian folktales and a Jewish mythology interwoven throughout, there must have been so much research and in-depth studying to get this to be accurate whilst simultaneously enriching the wonderful world-building. I was hooked and fell in love with the story straight away.
Just a small warning that this is definitely adult and now YA due to the images of religious self-mutilation and other gore issues.

If I had to describe this story in one word it would be underwhelming.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year (if not THE most anticipated), and I squealed with joy when I got an e-arc. I mean, TWATW was being compared to two of my favourite books in the world – ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ and ‘Spinning Silver’. In addition, Reid’s book is a Dark Adult Fantasy, which gives the writer freedom to explore the romance and the brutal themes of ethnic cleansing in detail. No one was more disappointed than me to learn that TWATW is just a mediocre story in a pretty cover.

Let’s start with our protagonist Évike. She’s an outcast in her small pagan village – magicless and friendless, having lost her mother to the same Woodsmen that come to take her. I really liked her. I admired her ferocity and deep-seated hatred for her oppressors and sympathized with her being a child of two heritages, not fully fitting anywhere. For about 50 pages. Then she started to seriously irk me – Évike had no brain-to-mouth filter and constantly talked back to her captors, which was just plain stupid. She also switched opinions all the time, at least three times a page. One moment she is loathing her captors and imagining their demise, and the other she is flushing because she might have said something insensitive, and God forbid their feelings get hurt. There was no smooth transition between hate and understanding, Évike was jumping back and forth until the very end. I won’t say anything about Gáspár because, on his own, he is a blank piece of paper.

The other thing, besides the comparisons, that drew me to TWATW was the enemies-to-lovers romance. And boy, did it let me down, too. You might think an Adult Fantasy would mean something akin to communication would happen between these 25-year-olds? Ha, no. They do not have one friendly conversation before they’re lusting for each other (these lustful thoughts are never described…), and the moment they huddle for warmth feels unearned and tension-less. But don’t worry, Évike will remind you about it a dozen times. Because of this lacklustre start to the love story (and Gáspár having no personality), any time a romantic/sexy moment came by, I wanted to shoot myself in the leg to keep from falling asleep. In conclusion, the romance potential was wasted.

Everything else in the story managed to be captivating and well-written. The feeling of oppression, of helplessness and frustration, was steeped deep within the pages. Ava Reid handled painful and unfair moments with a masterful writer’s hand. Évike was our view of this world, not unlike our own in the past and present, and she showed us that people, histories and cultures are erased little, by little. That entire beliefs and stories are stifled by time, and bigotry and prejudices, and if not destroyed, then stolen and bastardized. Underneath the Fantasy elements, romance and mythology, this was the heart of the book.

I also loved every time a creature appeared on-page, or a story was told by the characters from their cultures. The times were few and sprinkled throughout the book, but they were worth it. Évike’s relationship with her father was handled gently and lovingly, and it brought life to this gloomy story.

Overall, I do think that the book is worth reading (I see many people loving it) because the important parts are the ones that stuck out and gripped me. TWATW could’ve done even better without romance (or at least a different prince for a love interest), but it wasn’t abysmal either.

Reid’s debut novel The Wolf and the Woodsman is a darkly written Hungarian history and Jewish mythology inspired fantasy that will keep you on tenterhooks. But be warned, it is dark in every sense of the word; not just because of the spooky woods that permeate a lot of the narrative’s setting. It deals with themes of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and oppression, something to consider if you don’t like exploring those themes in your fantasy books.

The core of the story is about our two protagonists, Évike and Gáspár, and their unlikely alliance. Évike is a wolf-girl stolen away from her village to use her magic to serve a King she hates, and Gáspár is a Woodsman come to collect her, a man who turns out to be the royal Prince. After a horrific attack leaves the two bereft and fighting for survival, the two must rely on each other to stay alive and save a kingdom from the hands of Gáspár’s puritanical brother – a man who seeks to overthrow the King and to cleanse the kingdom of pagans and Yehuli for good.

The exploration of faith and magic, wrapped up in the medium of storytelling and tradition make for a gripping and a really intriguing take on how magic in this fantasy setting would work. I loved the images and discussion of sacrifice in the book (spoilers, it’s gory), the “new” faith versus the old gods, and the suggestion that magic has a very real connection to belief and gods in this world.

I loved how Reid inserted fairytales and myth into the narrative, twisting into the plot like the ever reaching, hungry roots of the trees she describes. This gorgeous, lyrical prose is both bone-chilling and captivating, and helped to solidify the rich and enthralling world, whether that was through the image of a legendary sword made from a god’s fingernail, or a dragon with seven heads. This is decidedly not the place for delightfully twee fairytales – and is instead reminiscent of the tales you might find within the pages of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber.

As for Évike and Gáspár’s relationship, this classic ‘enemies to lovers’ trope is one that Reid captures so well. I love romance tropes like this. The pining and burgeoning sexual tension between the two is palpable from the first third of the book, but it also becomes delightfully layered and complex the closer they get to their goal of protecting the King. The dialogue between the two is heart wrenchingly written, and you really get a sense of how their connection is built up throughout the book.

However, at times, I felt like the plot raced along far too quickly for me to keep track of everything, especially as it ramped up towards the end. This is a story that attempts to explore large topics like faith, systemic cultural oppression, history, and tradition. Whilst this is deftly done, I definitely had to re-read certain chapters to make sure I’d properly taken in all of the information being thrown at me. Take your time with this!

Final verdict:

A dark folklore fantasy, teeming with rich world building and compelling characters, The Wolf and the Woodsman is a gorgeously written debut by Ava Reid. There is a lot to unpack in the 450 pages, but it is worth every word. I hope there is some sort of follow up or further book, as this world – however dark and horrific – is one I’d like to visit again.

*Thank you NetGalley & Del Rey books for gifting me this book in exchange for an honest review.

There was a lot that I liked about this book. I was pleased to discover that the main character of this book is 25! How long has it been since I read a story of this ilk where the main character wasn't on the cusp of 18? I think this was one of the biggest selling points of this book for sure.
I also enjoyed the blending of real world and fantasy elements, the way that Ava Reid brings in Hungarian history and folklore within the story, and the various different magic systems that feature, alongside their connection into 'reality'.
I thought that a lot of the descriptions of forest and the setting in general were very well done. I have to say I'm a sucker for a woodland setting (I blame too many fairytales at a young age). I certainly felt the threat of the forest and was reminded a little of the Deepwoods from The Edge Chronicles and the importance of staying on the path.
I think the reason I didn't connect with this book in the way that I wanted to was that I didn't quite buy the romance, which does feature quite heavily particularly in the middle of the book. For me, it felt a little sudden both in it's inception and intensity and in the context of the initial relationship between those two characters it didn't feel believable to me.
That being said, I do have friends who have really enjoyed this book so it is entirely possible this was more of a 'didn't work for me' rather than a 'won't work for anyone'.
I would recommend this as an interesting, fairly fast paced book that would suit a number of people. What I will mention is that it is rather more bloody and violent than I might have expected from the cover and blurb - so you may want to bear that in mind if you're expecting just a fun romance adventure.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

I downloaded this book after reading the blurb as the cover was not available at the time. I love stories based on folk tales and fairy tales (particularly ones I am not familiar with) and this sounded right up my street.

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a re-imagining of an event in medieval Hungarian history, woven with strands of Hungarian and Jewish folk stories. Evike lives in a pagan village, hidden in a forest, the only one of its inhabitants without some kind of magical power. This is blamed on her father being an outsider: a 'Yehuli'. When soldiers from the Holy Order of Woodsmen arrive to claim a seer for the King, the villagers are only too happy to offer Evike up rather than lose one of their own girls. But on the march back to the capital, the woodsmen are attacked by various supernatural forces and soon the Evike and the Captain are the only ones left. To survive, they will have to learn to not only trust each other, but work together.

Although I loved all the folk story and historical stuff, The Wolf and the Woodsman was a bit too gory for me! In order for a character's magic to work they had to use blood sacrifices, which usually involves blood-letting or the loss of a body part. I was uncomfortable with the parallels with self-harm and couldn't help wondering that if you had to sacrifice a finger every time you wanted to do a spell, what happened when you ran out of fingers? While the gore meant this read like an novel aimed at adults, by contrast the romance was a bit teenage-y and I'd have preferred more ambiguity about Gasper's character, rather than the too-early flagging that he's A Nice Guy Really.

Recommended to fans of grittier YA fantasy and books such as The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden).



Thank you to Ava Reid and Del Rey/Cornerstone for my copy of this book, which I requested from NetGalley and reviewed voluntarily.