Sometimes it's hard to review a book because you have a lot of things to say, sometimes good, sometimes not so. This time, I'm struggling because I'm lost for words. This book absolutely blew me away. The skill, the lyrical elegance, the sheer beauty of it... With a backdrop of myths and legends supporting a story that has something in it for everyone, there is nothing to not like about this book. Utter brilliance.

The narration combines with this and makes way for an audio book that you won't want to turn on because you don't want the story to end, and won't want to turn off because you don't want to miss a word. Perfection.

The comparisons with Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden are spot-on with this compelling and surprisingly gory fairytale.

Narrated skilfully by Saskia Maarleveld, the world in 'The Wolf and the Woodsman' is imaginative and unforgiving. I find I often struggle to stay interested in fiction audiobooks as opposed to non-fiction ones, which was less of an issue with this one. I even found myself sucking in a breath at several points. With an overabundance of similes aside, Reid's prose is beautiful to hear.

That said, I found the book a little too long, causing my attention to wane at some points; this also made the climax feel very rushed. I enjoyed the story more in certain moments than for the sum of its parts - but enjoy it I did.

(With thanks to PRH and NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review)

I really loved the world building of this book, especially the creepy monsters and all the gore! I was pleasantly surprised by how dark this was. Unfortunately I could not stand the main characters interactions and relationship. If it hadn't had been for that aspect I would be giving this more stars.
I get that this is meant to be enemies to lovers but all they did was bitch at each other! It wasn't banter, it was petty bitching that never seemed to end no matter how far they travelled or what they faced together. They always seemed to be having a go at each other for the same reasons too which made their already irritating behaviour repetitive.
Shame as the rest of the story was really interesting...

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king's blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.

I listened to the audiobook of The Wolf and the Woodsman and Saskia Maarleveld has narrated it wonderfully.

I have seen reviews of this book likening it to The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden and personally I don't see the resemblance, apart from the setting of the book the comparisons end there. The writing is beautiful but the plot wasn't really for me, however, I have no doubt this will be hugely popular and I'd be interested in reading more from the author in the future.

A beautiful and amazing world-building debut that had me intrigued from the very first page and listening to the story every time I had a spare minute. The culture mixed with the magic, a dash of romance and a female lead who is truly relatable with her 'not-wholly-perfect' and ‘still-discovering-herself’ ways, makes this a book a lovely read.

The experience of listening this book was one that I cannot quite explain in words. The audiobook was brilliant read and so just helped capture the world even more with the characters voices matching my vision of their personalities and characteristics. You do not need to much knowledge for the inspiration of the Jewish mythology and Hungarian history to shine through and see how it has moulded itself into the story. Listening you can easily see the references as part of the amazing world Reid has created. Unlike some authors who try and force real cultures into their stories, so it stands out like the sun in the sky; with this book, it was like part of the painting creating the entire artwork as one incredible piece.

Ava Reid's style of writing brings you into world of the woods she has grown, creating a fantastically atmospheric and easy flowing story. Meaning you can read or listen to page after page without wanting to put the book down or being cut out of the world, with this book you are fully emersed.

So, there are a few negative comments I have, and when I say a few, I mean only a few. There was this amazing world I was shown, but I felt like I was being shown such a small piece of it that it was like looking at the earth compared to the galaxy. Brilliant and beautiful in itself, but just lacking the full picture and depth I wanted to see. I also struggled with the romance between the main character and the love interest, as it felt a bit unreal, especially at the end where it was slightly rushed in my opinion. That may just be me though, as my love interest preferences are normally a bit...on the darker side, instead of a knight in shining armour. If a knight in shining armour is your type though... you are going to love this one!

Although the themes and storyline style can be compared to that of Naomi Novak; I would highly recommend this book for any lovers of 'The Beast and the Briars' and any of Katherine Arden's work. An engaging and well thought out story that ended too soon.

A massive thank you to the amazing Netgallery and Penguin Random House for sending me an early review audiobook of this wonderful book. I look forward to the rest of the book community discovering the Wolf and the Woodsman.

Perfect for fans of The Bear and the Nightingale and Naomi Novik! The Wolf and the Woodsman perfectly combines fantasy and romance to deliver a story that is sure to win many fans.

This is without a doubt one of the best books I've read all year and I cannot recommend it enough!

Everything about this book was done perfectly and so I can't fill this review with any critiques because I have none. I wouldn't change a thing. The writing was spectacular and there wasn't even one page that I didn't love. The characters were brilliant and their character development was done exceptionally well! The romance was everything I wanted and more. (If you're a fan of the Matthias and Nina's flashbacks in Six of Crows, you are going to love the enemies to lovers relationship in this book.) And bloody hell, the plot was terrific; I was constantly freaking out over it!

Everyone needs to stop what they're doing and add this book to their tbr list! It's out on the 8th of June and there is no excuse for not reading it!

I loved Saskia's narration!
I will update the review with a link closer to publication date.
I'd like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me with the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I've finished listening to this today and i still am confused about the whereabouts of the titular wolf....

This is being likened to The Bear and the Nightingale and Naomi Novik - I wholeheartedly disagree.
The plot is mediocre, the writing style is ok and the setting has nothing to do with Hungary, apart from two Hungarian sounding names. I guess the book is catered to ignorant Americans who think Europe is a monolith country with one simplified culture, beliefs and mythology.

I really expected better....

I'm in pain. the way this book was so deeply Jewish hurt my heart. I feel like I've just read a love letter to Jewish culture and history. I absolutely fell in love with Évike and Gáspár, mean girl and soft boy of the month.

I can't exactly why I'm writing this and crying at the same time. this book simply meant a lot to me, and finishing it seriously feels like saying goodbye to a part of myself. watch me reread it whenever I need to feel seen and loved.

Audio ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Audio review first: Saskia Maarleveld was a great choice of narrator. Clear, engaging and giving nuance and depth to the text. Great audio book

Main review: The Wolf and the Woodsman is an adult fantasy with it's roots firmly buried in folklore. There's a hint of Grimm's fairytale, a smidgeon of Jewish myth and a fair amount of Slavic and Russian inspiration. Evike is a 'wolf girl', a pagan from a small village outpost on the edge of a dangerous forest, filled with strange and dangerous supernatural creatures. The women of her village all possess some form of magic - from the simplest which is lighting fires, to the most difficult types of 'forging'. Evike does not have magic and has always felt like an outcast because of it. Her fears are confirmed when a detachment of soldiers from the Holy Order of Woodsmen come out of the forest and inform the village that the king has demanded a wolf girl. Evike is handed over to the woodsmen and taken away from everything she's ever known - just as her mother was years before. What follows is a solidly plotted dark fantasy fairytale with magical creatures, dark bargains, a look at the lack of identity that can come from being mixed race and denied access to one side or other of your family. The book also targets conflicting belief systems and the oppression that goes with them.

At the heart of the story Evike undergoes the greatest transformation, gradually learning who she is (spoiler alert but no chosen one here) and gaining understanding that despite the customs and beliefs that divide us, more units us than divides us if we will just exercise a modicum of tolerance. There's a well executed enemies to lovers story here too but kept firmly as subplot. This is a book about learning to see the truth from all angles, realising you won't ever have all the answers and building relationships from the most unlikely of beginnings. Highly recommend.

Headlines:
Unique fantasy standalone
Dark and sinister moments
Get lost in the visual imagery

This felt like such a fresh story to me with three different belief systems intersecting through the characters. It was a story told in the forest, plains and sometimes cities and villages. I was happiest reading when the story was in the forest even though that where the monsters were.

Evike was a character to get behind, she was complex, morally grey on occasion and resillient. She was ever at the mercy of whatever people she was with. Her self discovery of her lineage, the faith of her father and the Yehuli people were fascinating and the chinks of light in this tale. Gaspar, woodsman and a man with many facets, was equally complex and how their grudging collaboration evolved was great reading. The friendship was a slow burn for sure.

There were monsters, witches, creatures with powers, kings with powers, megalomaniac princes and the kind of tales told to really give you the chills. This easily scared reader coped with it all and it conveyed a murky atmosphere of not knowing what was around the corner. There were some dark and gory moments but they truly added to the story.

I was fortunate to read the hard copy and audio for this and the narration was superb. The characterisation and dialogue fitted that dark atmosphere I described so well.

I thought this was a great debut, a standalone to recommend and I can't wait to read more by Ava Reid.

Thank you to DelRey UK for the early review copies.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for giving me the opportunity to review the audiobook early!

Being Hungarian, I was extremely impatient to read this book, and I couldn’t be happier to have read it before most others.

The story is compelling, the characters easy to relate to and they have depth to them. I enjoyed the world building of this book, and I hope we get to see many more books from Ava Reid in the coming years!

I loved the narrator of the audiobook, I think she did a fantastic job at making the book feel athmospheric and compelling - however I’m sorry to say, she grossly mispronounced all the Hungarian words 😂

I could mostly figure out the names she was trying to say (the Évike pronunciation was driving me up the wall though), but I had to refer to the book when it was a word that was supposed to mean something (boszorkány for example, she was saying something like bazarkannya - not a clue without reading what she meant!), because I just couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say. I think my favourite mispronunciation was ‘gulyás’.

4 stars, only because of the google translate/generic-word-generator-videos non effort with the pronunciations. There are websites where native speakers upload pronunciations (like Forvo), but we are not that hard to find either - any would’ve probably happily sent you voice notes on how to pronounce these!

Otherwise, the book was great and I hope everyone enjoys it when it comes out in June! ☺️