This was a deeply unsettling and atmospheric dark fairytale that gets a lot right with world-building and characterization, and a lot wrong with the prose.

The Wolf and the Woodsman was one of my favorite reads of 2021, so when I saw Ava Reid had written another book set in the same world, I immediately requested a copy. Juniper & Thorn’s setting is fascinating: an industrial city clashing with fading, old-world magic. It’s definitely more modern than the haunted forest vibe of TWATW, but just as dark.

The main character, Marlinchen, struggles under the oppressive abuse of her wizard father. She has complicated relationships with every member of her family, and her kindness and compassion are constantly abused. The first time she ventures out of her gothic home, she forms a trauma-bond with a Yehuli dancer, and their relationship is one of the only respites in a consistently heavy story.

The story itself was never boring, and it will stick with you for days. But one thing I could not stand about this book was the writing itself. In particular, the overuse of similes.

Reid uses very…unique similes in almost every. single. paragraph. They’re used to the point of distraction and really took me out of the experience. I understand that it was probably a stylistic choice on Reid’s part, but the editors needed to rein it in, because some of similes were atrocious. For example:

“My pink shoes were peering like blind kittens through the crack in my wardrobe” (what does that even mean?)

“My lie was there, like bits of eggshell, or a stray hair, but he had eaten without noticing it” (gross but ok…)

“He read the fear on my face as calmly as a broker read the pride of wheat on the weekly stock report” (oddly specific and boring)

And my personal (un)favorite…

“All around us, Oblya gasped and panted like a woman in a too-small corset. Artisan schools and almshouses burst from its ivory boning…And then, at last, the ballet theater, with a breath that ripped the corset’s seam and exposed Oblya’s pale, heaving chest. Tourists walked from one of her bared nipples to the other, from the Yehuli temple to the onion dome of the oldest church.”

…I think you get the gist. Eventually I got used to all the similes, or maybe I got Stockholm syndrome, because it bothered me less as the book went on. But if you hate that style of writing, you’ve been warned.

Overall, did I enjoy this book? Yes! Would I recommend this book? Only if you like very (VERY) dark, character-driven reads. Please read the CW’s Reid posted on goodreads, because there are a ton. 3.5 stars, rounding up to 4.

This retelling of The Juniper Tree uses that story's themes of murder, cannibalism, and child abuse, updating it into a tale of reclamation and monstrosity.

JUNIPER &THORN is a story built on a complicated tangle of self harm and exploration as Marlinchen, now a young woman, finally starts to defy her controlling father’s dictates. Especially early on, she has a variety of maladaptive behaviors including but not limited to self harm, disordered eating, and intrusive thoughts (ranging from negative self-talk to hypersexual fantasies). These are symptoms of and reactions to the ongoing all-pervasive abusive atmosphere which consumed her childhood and is set to rob her of normal adulthood as well. She and her sisters live in fear of their father, but as he’s made himself the only allowable source of affection in their lives they are desperate to retain his favor. As he’s also a wizard he’s threatened their bodies and lives if they disobey him, and can back up his threats with intimations of what happened to their mother before them. He controls their sexuality through threats and intimidation, as well as by using magical means to check whether they’re still “pure”, something which doesn’t stop Marlinchen from masturbating but makes her worried about how she goes about it.

Marlinchen is gaslit and abused by her father, and has toxic (often abusive) relationships with her sisters. The way that she’s constantly made to question her own perceptions but is also the narrator sometimes makes it hard to tell what things were supposed to be bad, or what things are stressful while not abusive. This had this overall effect that for the first half of the book I felt increasingly unmoored, hoping to find some part of her life that was actually okay and increasingly coming to the conclusion that this is a horror story and there’s not much that’s meant to be going well.

Marlinchen's relationships with her sisters is contentious. They're all trying to maintain access to the extremely finite resource which is their father's goodwill, but they have different ways of measuring whether they've achieved it. Marlinchen's yardstick seems to be whether his abuse stays verbal instead of escalating, which is a depressingly low baseline. There’s a pivotal scene midway through where the tactics in their father’s abuse have taken a sudden turn, and Marlinchen has a confrontation with Undine where in her exasperation Undine says things that explain her own survival strategy, and the flaw she sees in Marlinchen’s. This prompts Marlinchen to realize that she has options she never considered, and that perhaps her sisters have been employing completely different strategies with very different aims from herself.

Some little linguistic touches place this in the same world as THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN. I'm sure if I go back to re-read the other book I'll notice more things, but I noticed enough to be sure even before looking it up to see that I was correct. Because Marlinchen is only able to visit a few locations, there's a lot of detail about the house but less about other places within the city. This means that most of the information about the city and their place in it is gradually told as it relates to how her father feels about it (generally, how he hates it and why). This makes for a (plot-appropriate) gloomy mood.

The plot is well-constructed and engaging. It created a slowly-building feeling of dread which fit the story and was very stressful. The ending made a bunch of early inconsistencies have an explanation beyond "fairy tale logic", and I'm very satisfied with how things ended.

CW for sexual content (explicit), ableism (brief), antisemitism (brief), racism (brief), xenophobia, sexism (graphic), misogyny (graphic), pregnancy, alcohol, alcoholism, drug use (smoking), gaslighting (graphic), child abuse (graphic), emotional abuse (graphic), physical abuse, panic attacks, child sexual abuse (graphic), sexual abuse (graphic), sexual assault (graphic), incest, self harm, suicidal ideation, eating disorder (bulimia, graphic), vomit (graphic), blood (graphic), gore (graphic), violence (graphic), gun violence, terminal illness, medical content (graphic), cannibalism, animal death (graphic), child death, death of parent, murder, death (graphic).

Witch lovers unite! JUNIPER & THORN is a spellbinding fairy tale filled with gifted witches, interesting magic, and endearing and horrifying monsters alike.

Written in first person, past tense, single POV, J&T is a character driven slow burn, but the whimsical and poetic prose will keep even the pickiest readers engaged, because every sentence is a joy to read!

If you’re looking for likable characters, this story doesn’t offer up many to choose from. The father and older sisters had no redeeming qualities that I could detect, and the narrator Marlinchen was incredibly naive and subservient to her abusive family. You can’t be angry at a character for cowering page after page, but you can be frustrated. There were a few occasions when I yelled, “fight back,” at my kindle to no avail…

Throughout the story though, I kept asking myself what makes a monster—the way a creature looks or the way a creature acts? Beauty often breeds cruelty and ugliness often nurtures kindness. J&T is definitely thought provoking.

If you like slow burn stories, witches, and monsters, and aren’t squeamish about cannibalism, then you will love this book!

I received a free e-ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 rounded up to 5

I will start off by saying this book is not for the faint of heart. Other than that, this book fucking rocked.

The amount of emotion that was poured into this book rocked me. Marlinchen, the perfect daughter, innocent, docile, etc, at 23 years old, my age, spoke to my soul. Why would you ever question authority? Why would your sisters? We're all going to be defiled by magic if we don't.

I've seen a lot of reviews with targeted hatred for this book, but I think that just shows how little you find this type of content set in a fantasy world. The autonomy of female bodies, the commodification of female bodies, grooming, ignorance, naivete out of safety, etc. This book is dangerous in the best way. The prose is absolutely gorgeous, and Marlinchen's descent into singularity is absolutely fantastic.

I feel like my skin was crawling for most of the book, which is the point. People don't like being pushed to their breaking points, especially in fantasy books. But this is a dangerous way of thinking. If we live our lives sheltered, much like Marlinchen, aren't we missing the point of the book? People seem to be fighting the very experience they're undergoing by reading this book.

Ava Reid, this was fucking fantastic. I never read your first book, but guess I now have to because I've fallen in love with your writing. It's been a very long time since I've been as entranced as a book like Juniper and Thorn.

After reading and loving her debut novel, The Wolf and the Woodsman, I just knew I had to read this one. And wow, this was even better than I could have imagined! Honestly, the description doesn’t nearly give this one justice.

Content Warnings: This book contains themes that may be triggering or unpleasant to some readers including: cannibalism, gore, abuse, self-harm, and sexual assault. If you are a sensitive reader or feel that any of these situations may make you uncomfortable, than this may not be the book for you.

It is my duty to make sure you are well-informed, but I also wouldn’t let this immediately put you off the book. I did not find these themes to be too explicit or done in a way that is distasteful. In fact, I think the author captures these things in a way that sheds light to the topics from the eyes of the one experiencing them, as we see the characters learn, grow, and become stronger individuals despite their traumas.

This story is gritty and real. It’s delightfully dark and grippingly gruesome. A marvelous structure of chilling fairytale in true Grimm fashion. The unique voice and style is immersive. The pacing of events is expertly crafted and I couldn’t put it down. I read it in two days. The tension and conflict in the story flows like a building tidal wave that sweeps you away and crashes into shore.

I love Marlinchen, the main character; there’s something quirky and emotional about her. We get to see the world through her naïve perspective, as she has been sheltered under her father’s tyrannical oppression. And the author achieves this point of view spectacularly. The family dynamics between Marlinchen, her sisters, and their father are complex and evocative. We get to see the strain of resistance and adaptation that the industrialization of the Old World is having on this last remaining magical family. The connection between Sevastyan and Marlinchen is innocently endearing, as they are brought together by their shared suffering.

The writing in this story is absolutely mesmerizing. It plays to all the senses and I truly felt like I was inside this world, experiencing the story. The descriptive language is otherworldly good, making unexpected connections that show the characters and the world in exceptional detail.

I can’t say enough good things about this book. It is an absolute must-read! This one has truly affected me in the best way possible. And I will be most impatiently waiting for what this author will grace us with next.

Recommended for readers who like:
- disturbing fairytales
- coming-of-age
- perseverance through trials
- flowy, intricate language

“No one had ever told me that I was allowed to scream.”

So What’s It About?

A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.

Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya’s last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city’s amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

As Marlinchen’s late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father’s rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

What I Thought

I missed Reid’s debut The Wolf and the Woodsmanlast year, but Juniper & Thorn sounded like such a good fit for me that I was delighted to get an ARC. Thanks to NetGalley for that. The first thing that I can say about this book is that I wanted to keep reading it very badly and ended up finishing it in a day. There was definitely something about it that drew me in all the way until the end. I think a lot of this has to do with the writing style, which I generally found to be very elegant, immersive and effective in creating a sense of a dreadful fairy tale with lots of interesting/charming little details, especially about the stories that Marlinchen loves. I did notice a few tics and there were some places where the similes didn’t work for me, but I can see the language being a big draw for lots of readers.

As a fairy tale retelling, I think this book does a good job of taking the roots of The Juniper Tree and transforming it into something interesting and new that still stays true to the bloody heart of the original (extremely grim and grisly) tale. All of the magical elements worked for me quite well.

I think Juniper & Thorn ended up being a weaker read for me when it came to the way that it remained true to fairy tale tropes with regard to Marlinchen’s love interest and sisters - specifically, the love story progresses very rapidly and the sisters are frustratingly one-dimensional. Sevas, the ballet dancer who is Marlinchen’s love interest, only interacts with her a few times - they meet briefly in an alley, talk again briefly in her sister’s storeroom, have a date where they go to a tavern and the beach, and then they briefly see each other again while Marlinchen is trying to heal a customer - but they end up being more or less ride or die for the rest of the book after these interactions. While I did think each scene built upon the last and I thought their relationship was fine overall, I do think the romance could have been a stronger element of the story with more development.

I also think that their shared experience of being survivors of abuse is a really powerful idea, but I would have really liked to see this idea of survivor solidarity explored with more depth in their interactions so that it felt a little less like the trope of a woman developing the courage to fight against her subjection just because she develops a romantic relationship with a man. I don’t mean to say that this is entirely true of Juniper & Thorn because there are certainly instances of both of them supporting the other against the people who are dangerous to them, but I personally would have liked to see even more of this.

As for Marlinchen’s sisters, their role in the story is essentially that of the nasty fairy tale sisters: to insult and patronize her, “let” their father scapegoat her more than them, and keep her excluded from their secret rebellions against their father because they think she is stupid. There are a few other fantasy books I’ve read recently that explore siblings surviving in and after abusive situations, specifically The Once and Future Witches, Spinning Silver, and The Onion Girl. I think these three books did a good job of showing how a family member’s abuse can destroy the relationships between siblings and turn them against each other as they hurt each other to protect themselves, and Juniper & Thorn
does this too. But in the other books I mentioned, there was also room for growth and reconciliation and the slow repair of terrible relationships between the siblings once their abuse ended - they acknowledged the things they had done to hurt each other and betray each other while they tried imperfectly to survive in situations that no children are equipped to survive in; they grappled with what it meant to have turned against each other, blamed each other and tried/not tried to protect each other from the abuse. To simply say “Well, Marlinchen’s sisters just suck and there’s no room to examine this possible aspect of their mutual experiences of abuse” feels disappointing to me.

The strongest parts of the book to me might be the way that Reid writes Marlinchen’s self-loathing and the nature of her father's abuse itself. Her father and his treatment of his daughters are written with a lot of truth, power and insight into parental abuse. Marlinchen's inner chaos and self-loathing feel genuine and raw, and I really value books that are willing to give an unflinching look at the ugly, messy effects of abuse. We see her fantasies of grotesque self-harm, her hatred of her body, her eating disorder, and the self-effacement and doubt that she slowly fights off as she starts to take action for herself. There is absolutely power in the way Reid wrote all of this.

I was super excited to get an ARC of this book, I gave her previous novel 4 stars. This one is somewhat interlinked with that one, and touches on similar subjects. This one is dark fantasy and horror combined. I had hoped that I was going to absolutely love this book, however, it fell short for me in many ways, which is a bit unfortunate. There were some good aspects to the book as well, and I will discuss those aspects first.

Reid is a talented writer. I love her prose. It is able to evoke feelings, emotions, moods and atmosphere. It is essentially, a lush book that could be easy to get lost in. The writing is one of the best parts of the entire book to be quite honest.

I love her world-building. It definitely captures the imagination, and you can even imagine it was real. This I think it partly because it is grounded in truth. It makes it easier to believe.

The incorporation of the fairy tales was excellent and remains one of my favorite parts of the book. I love how they just meld into the story seamlessly.

Even the premise of the book was good, so what was wrong with the book overall?

I struggled a bit with the characters. I feel that I didn’t ever really become convinced by them or their relationships. I wish I had because I think it would have been more successful for me.

Secondly, I was bored. This is definitely a me problem. I kept getting distracted and wanting to skim read through this book. I felt that there was no advancement in plot or character development, and that some of it was repetitive. I kept hoping that the end of the book would make it better. It sadly didn’t. It did get more intense towards the end of the book, but didn’t make up for the pacing.

I am however looking forward to seeing what the author produces next!

Juniper and Thorn, Ava Reid’s gothic retelling of the chilling Juniper Tree fairytale, deserves all the hype and promotion it is getting. I enjoyed Reid’s first novel, The Wolf and the Woodsman, but this is their magnus opus. Set in Victorian era Odessa, Ukraine, The Juniper Tree features witches, monsters, forbidden love and an absolutely gruesome curse. It also explores the idea of female agency in fairytales and folklore. I honestly loved everything about this book and can’t wait for it to hit store shelves. However, please know that this book is extremely dark. You should proceed with caution if you’re someone who is easily triggered by body horror.

This was a work of art.

I went into the reading knowing nothing aside from the fact that it was a new book by Ava Reid, the author of one of my favorite reads in 2021, if not my very favorite, "The Wolf and The Woodsman". Set in the same fantastic world, "Juniper and Thorn" was gripping, haunting, suffocating and liberating at the same time. Whenever I was not reading I was thinking about it - that is, in the four days that took me to swallow this book. I'm sure I'll be thinking about this book for a while.

Marlinchen, our protagonist, lives with a cursed wizard-father and two beautiful witch-sisters, playing the role of devoted daughter, being considered plain-faced and simple-minded. Made brake the law by her sisters, she sees the world unfurl before her eyes in the form of a ballet dancer, Sevastyan, amidst a ballet play retelling an old story her mother used to whisper to her.

As far as fairytales go, this book seemed to be veering to one sure direction, but it hit the brakes very hard around 65-70% and did a sharp turn on the next corner into a very unexpected direction. Up until then, Marlinchen's story was one of trying to escape labels and believing in herself despite the dark words of her family. It was harrowing reading how she had been abused, in particular in the sexual abuse scenes. In those, Reid's writing made my toes curls and my stomach roil with disgust, as if I was not reading it, but actually living it.

Marlinchen's relationship with her father and sisters was so beautifully portrayed. The love and devotion mixed with the loathing and aversion built a perfect scenario for her liberation. The book has beautiful passages, amazing quotes I'd love to tattoo on my skin. Once again, Reid wrote a character in a fantasy book that can truly express what it means to be a woman, with desires, destructive thoughts, self-doubt, but most of all an amazing ability to resurface from the depths of the well of life.

I'm so happy I read this book, so happy even with the gruesomest parts of Marlinchen's story, because at the end it gave her strength to be her own person. This book was a work of art - can't wait to have it in my hands and read it again.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Avon Harper/Harper Voyager for the E-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

Written in a style very reminiscent of fairytales Ava Reid pulls you into a dark world of rapid industrialization. Marlinchen is a character I’ve never read before and I really appreciated that she wasn’t the typical badass heroine.
I think my only critique is that there’s so much good build up that I felt a little let down by the payoff, but that’s how I feel about most gothic horror so that might be a me thing.
Also I adore the goblin.

A vivid dark fantasy spin on a lesser-known fairytale, Juniper and Thorn is a story about what it takes to break free from all you've known and what it means to be a monster. The characters are memorable and the plot remains focused on - at least from my perspective - being about Marlinchen's personal understanding of how she is allowed to resent and retaliate against her abusers. The fairytale inspiration is clear without feeling derivative, and this book is not a 1-for-1 rehash of its source material. It feels the product of someone who, much like its protagonist, grew up on fairytales but now posseses the vocabulary to question them.

Juniper & Thorn is set in the world of Wolf and the Woodsman—albeit a different time and place—and is written with much of the same magic. However, I also found this book to be much more intimate and gritty than its predecessor. The story follows Marlinchen, the youngest of three young witches, and wards of their cruel father, the last wizard in Oblya. When Marlinchen meets and becomes infatuated with a young ballet star, her tenuous lifestyle starts to come apart at the seams,

The reason I say this story is much more intimate than WATW is because Marlinchen is a very confessional narrator, and the reader has a front row seat to all of her darkest thoughts. In some ways I loved this perspective, but it also made every moment of the book feel almost too intense.

The narration is also very visceral, with much of Marlinchen’s experience being described through the body or imagery that invokes the body. Sometimes it felt a bit heavy handed, but was overall effective.

Marlinchen has a lot of problematic views that she’s been programmed to have through her upbringing. Most of these are challenged at some point in the book, but there were a few things that weren’t ever really corrected in relation to sex that I think would have been VERY powerful had it been explored and righted.

CW/TW (may be spoiler-y)
I think it’s also worth noting that this book covers abuse in pretty much every way imaginable (physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, animal, etc). In my opinion it’s on almost every page of the book. It takes a lot for me to feel triggered but this book came pretty close and a few things were very difficult to read. I still really enjoyed the book, but this was a much different experience than WATW. That book can also be intense, but J&T covered things more directly.

This book was so intricately written. Ava Reid has a writing style that is so masterful and full of imagery that you feel thrust into the novel from the very first page. And I loved it, however it did feel like a lot to get through because there was a lot of description and not as much dialogue or action.

The characters were showed a lot of development and watching as Marlinchen came into herself and learned to stand up for herself was an amazing experience. I wish there had been more development for Sevas and Marlinchen because they felt very rushed and their relationship felt rooted in the fact that they had sex which made it feel very surface level.

It’s marketed as a gothic horror fantasy and it delivers that and more. I enjoyed this book immensely. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it at a different time.

Juniper & Thorn is a gothic, gruesome reimagining of the classic folk tale, The Juniper Tree.

There is so much to love about this novel. The gothic setting, the darkness it imbues on each page, the gorgeous prose create a great environment and a scintillating read. The background story is dreadful, but Ava Reid transforms the story into something even more wicked and ghastly.

With that said, I struggled to get into the story. The first thing that troubled me was the blatant over-sexualization of the story. Within the first chapter, our protagonist, Marlinchen, sneaks out to the ballet and immediately swoons over the lead danseur, Sevastyan, gushing over his sweaty physique and his swoon-worthy chest hair.

On top of that, there is a distinct disregard for plot and characterization. Marlinchen and Sevastyan can do nothing but act like traumatized sex-fiends when near each other, and the descriptions of any semblance of sensuality are nonexistent. Even if one sets aside the problems represented in the sexual situations (including pedophilia and incest), there is an abundance of gore, vomiting, and body horror that culminates into a story more laced with visuals to shock than to communicate a story.

Juniper & Thorn misses the mark as a folk tale retelling and instead focuses on creating something shocking for shock's sake. It's a shame the vivid, lyrical writing goes to waste.

This gothic retelling of the Juniper Tree may have strayed quite away from the original plot of the source material but leaned in beautifully to the dark, and sometimes horrifying, spirit of the Brothers Grimm. Through narrative world and story building, Reid turns a simple story into an epic journey of a young witch finding her own identity and desire independent of familial control and influence.

In this tale, we see darkness, hope, and a not-so fairytale happy ending. I saw themes of breaking out of generational curses, self-control as a means to battle anxiety, the "white lie" we tell ourselves and others. to avoid an uglier truth, and the acceptance of each others flawed histories.

TRIGGER WARNINGS - self harm ideation, bulemia/eating disorders, gore, mentions of rape/sexual assault

Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager, and Ava Reid for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I really enjoyed this book and I can tell that it’s one that will stay on my mind for a long time. It’s dark and gruesome, but also hopeful.

Juniper and Thorn is a loose retelling of “The Juniper Tree” and follows Marlinchen and her two sisters, along with their father. I really enjoyed the writing style of this one and thought that it fit the story really well. Reid’s lyrical prose helps the book establish its place as a gothic fantasy novel and kept me intrigued the entire time I was reading.

I loved seeing the growth that all of the characters undergo throughout the novel. Marlinchen starts to believe more in herself and learns some of the secrets that have been kept from her. There are some lighter moments between her and those she loves, but overall this is a very gruesome novel, and I recommend checking trigger warnings before reading. I was shocked at how descriptive some of the scenes were, because I wasn’t aware that this was an adult book before reading, but I was really impressed with it.

Ava Reid did a wonderful job with the setting and character growth in this book and I’m eager to read more from them. I highly recommend this book for people wanting a darker fantasy novel.

I am torn about this one. On the one hand, it is beautifully written and I tore through it. On the other hand, while I was expecting a dark fairytale, is was exceptionally grim and gruesome, to the point of being disturbing at times.

Ever since I finished Juniper & Thorn several days ago, it has been on my mind non-stop; I am OBSESSED, to say the least. It was dark, grisly, and beautifully written. I love Reid's writing and her complex characters. For fans of horror, you'll love this!

Trigger Warning: Abuse, Gore

Juniper and Thorn is the story of Marlinchen, a young woman who lives in what can only be described as a horror show. A temporary escape to the ballet leads to a chance encounter with lead dancer, Sevastyan, who has his own demons to deal with. Marlinchen is drawn to Sevas like a moth to a flame. Will the two burn together or find a way to escape their respective cages?

Juniper and Thorn is not a story for the faint hearted. Ava Reid has created a truly dark fairytale with this one, while simultaneously tackling the horrors and traumas of abuse and abusive relationships.

I think it is a testament to the author's talent that she is able to weave Marlinchen and Sevas’ romance into such a dark story without it seeming out of place. I appreciated how the feelings those two have for one another served as a catalyst for the two slowly starting to break away from their abusers. Those two are able to see each other for who they truly are without flinching. To me there is no truer love than that.

Finally, being originally from Eastern Europe, I really appreciate how Ava Reid uses Eastern European fairytales and history in her works. I feel like the rich culture of that part of the world had been under represented in fantasy (at least in the English speaking world) and it’s nice to see it being utilized so well.

I'm not a huge fan of horror but I heard such good things about Ava Reid's previous book "The Wolf and the Woodsman" that I wanted to request this book as well, especially because I am a sucker for Grimms' retellings. Certainly worth it! There are really dark themes explored in this book. I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend looking these up to determine whether or not this book is for you. It's a bit of an ugly duckling kind of fairytale - Marlinchen has beautiful older sisters and a cursed wizard father, longing for release. I really enjoyed reading about Marlinchen and if Reid's other protagonists are this interesting and three-dimensional, I am excited to read more (meaning I will go back and read "The Wolf and the Woodsman" now). I am so grateful to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for this advanced copy!