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salemander's review
5.0
an absolutely phenomenal and gut wrenching story of a young woman coming to terms with her trauma. this book made me cry so hard not only from sadness but the hopeful ending that really encapsulates how healing is not linear. trauma will always linger with these characters but that doesn’t mean they cannot lead happy and meaningful lives. the folk tales and mythology this book uses are so beautiful and the way ava reid writes is so gorgeously poetic and also kind of horrific. cannot wait to buy all her books for the rest of my life.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Misogyny, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, and Xenophobia
terrywho's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
“Beautifully written fucked up things” is probably my favorite genre of novels, and this is a great example of one. It’s never overindulging or voyeuristic of the pain the characters go though and the beautiful la gauge transports you in the world of the novel from the very first pages. A grown up fairy tales in the spirit of the original brothers Grim stories where Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off their toes to fit in the slippers, Rapunzel’s prince falls on thorn bushes that blind him? and sleeping beauty isn’t woken up by a kiss but my the pain of childbirth.
(Please note: if you have some string and/or common triggers you really need to check the trigger warnings before reading this novel)
(Please note: if you have some string and/or common triggers you really need to check the trigger warnings before reading this novel)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism
merc22's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
this book was simply weird af. some TW (sa, body horror, child abuse) some really intense themes through this book but written in such an interesting way. this was a cool story i could not have predicted and at times was shocked by - want to read more from this author for sure
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Rape, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
forever_undone_fables's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
I read A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid in November and really enjoyed it. Reid is a smart author who dabbles in darkness. I have the rest of her works in my TBR already.
.
Juniper & Thorn is a standalone gothic horror fantasy based off Slavic folklore. It was scary, it was gruesome. Not in a way where big bad things were always happening on page, but the tension. The way the FMCs father eats his dinner set me on edge.
.
Marlenchen is a witch, who lives with her two fairly wretched sisters and nightmare of father who keeps them under lock and key, isolating and harming them after turning their mother into a bird. The story itself had many metaphors for abuse. The way those causing harm can’t truly be satiated, their desperation for escalation, control, and the way survivors adapt, ultimately trying to overcome.
.
Marlens upbringing has made her naive and meek. The story unfolds as she tries to be brave and secretly rebel to experience what a normal 23 year old might, such as infatuation for a man on stage. Neither of which end up being much more than one or two town characters.
.
The actual monsters in this book remind me somewhat of Holly Blacks world building, which I love. The scaley, red eyed creature under the bed was less fearsome than the human men in this story. The ‘beast of man’ seems to be a theme in Reid’s writings.
.
Now up until this point, I would have said this book is around 3 stars for all of the above.. but allow me to continue..
.
My biggest suggestion is to MIND THE TRIGGERS! There is CSA, gore, death, cannibalism, and EDs to name a few. Overall, I could could handle all of that. Despite these ghastly things, what actually teetered this into a truly “weird” zone for me was the overly frequent mentionings and freakish descriptions of nipples..in graphic, violent, and odd ways…
.
Seriously, I would have rated this 1-2 stars MORE if it weren’t for all the weird boobie stuff. This book mentions breast and nipples an insufferable amount of times. It became a joke, I was so frustrated by it that I wanted to rip the book apart then and there, which never happens. I would have DNF usually I don’t hate read something but I had to see it through, and I had to take a week long break before I got past the last 15%.
.
I started counting at one point.. 6 “breasts” in a chapter. The next chapter? 11. . And that’s just breast, doesn’t include nipple, which were alternated between sometimes multiple times per page. For WHAT REASON!?
.
A vague excerpt from one PARAGRAPH:
“My nipples knotted with cold.. ….it circled my breast.. …and latched itself onto my nipple” then you turn the page and it’s literally just more breastnipplebreastnipple. In moments where it literally doesn’t have to be mentioned at all. I can’t stress this enough 😂
.
I think three times does she mention cutting nips.. “I imagine cutting my nipples with garden shears” and then goes on to say something like “and watch the skin unfold like the petals of a flower” or “bloom” or “the skin crawling back and blood covering like a glove” or some WEIRD SHIT LIKE THAT. It was SO MUCH, ALL THE TIME.
.
“Her breast swinging like a pendulum” “I wanted to hide him in my breast” (I feel like that was said twice) “my heavy breasts” please, stop.. I’m actually begging 😩😭
.
Following THAT would be the overusage of “plain faced, and maidenhead”.
.
All of these ridiculous redundancies completely took you out of the story, which would have been rather good otherwise!.. aside from the weird codependency instalove like mutual trauma attachment with the love interest, who is literally stupid (sweet, but dumb) for fucking around with her like I don’t see that appeal other than she ~sees~ him.. idk. That would have been my biggest complaint had it not been for the boob stuff.. oh my god.. so much boooooob stufffff!!! The actual sex scenes were really whatever, generally, I mean one was kind of weird, but I still could have just moved on from it.. however I can’t move on from the nipple-breast infatuation. Like if I punched myself in the face every time she brought up the titty-region for no reason I would be in a padded room, which honestly sounds peaceful after reading this.
.
Reid does have a lyrical way of going about such themes- but it is still a grim tale. But no amount of deep prose or atmosphere could cure me from the irreparable ick of all the above though! It started to read very much like a pretentious college student trying to be dark and poetic over and over without even realizing they were using the same strange metaphor they clung to and made the whole personality of the piece, to be different and tortured/edgy. I respect artsy, but this was so overdone, and rancid to the point of being straight up fetishization of those darker things. Her bulimia was just there, and borderline romanticized. She touched upon xenophobia and cultural shifts/classism.. and as a reader I’m like “thats and interesting thing ti fold into the foundation of the bad guy- these things are bad” but in the story they just float around.
.
And I literally hate to say any of this because I thought A Study in Drowning was beautiful, and as I mentioned, I have her other works in the queue. I do think she’s clever.. I seeeee what she’s trying to do in general with what I have read. I was excited for this read and gearing up for her to be a favorite author. I will still go into them with hopes I don’t run into anything like this again and that this was just… something she was trying out, *maybe* she didn’t have an editor when Juniper and Thorn came out.. because I just don’t see how no one else would be like.. hey, can we talk about this? Like, are you okay? What’s going on here.. let’s reeeeeeel it in a pinch, it’s taking away from your work and the seriousness of this story.
.
At the end of the day, I signed up to read a gothic, fairytellesque, adult horror fantasy.. that’s what I wanted, and there were some aspects of that in there! But I feel like I read some studiously written kink-fic. I feel like other reviews were vague like “it was overly sexual, graphic” no, no no.. it was freakish. I’m here telling you it’s not JUST sexual, one person said the fmc and mmc were “scurrying away to bang all the time” which isn’t true… there’s not that much intercourse.. it’s just a CONCERNING amount of TIT-shit, amongst other extremely dark and odd things that kind of get sexualized/romanticized for nothing.
.
I’m so glad I read ASID first otherwise I would be so reluctant to try her other work but I KNOW she’s good and hope that it just shows how she has evolved since.
.
Juniper & Thorn is a standalone gothic horror fantasy based off Slavic folklore. It was scary, it was gruesome. Not in a way where big bad things were always happening on page, but the tension. The way the FMCs father eats his dinner set me on edge.
.
Marlenchen is a witch, who lives with her two fairly wretched sisters and nightmare of father who keeps them under lock and key, isolating and harming them after turning their mother into a bird. The story itself had many metaphors for abuse. The way those causing harm can’t truly be satiated, their desperation for escalation, control, and the way survivors adapt, ultimately trying to overcome.
.
Marlens upbringing has made her naive and meek. The story unfolds as she tries to be brave and secretly rebel to experience what a normal 23 year old might, such as infatuation for a man on stage. Neither of which end up being much more than one or two town characters.
.
The actual monsters in this book remind me somewhat of Holly Blacks world building, which I love. The scaley, red eyed creature under the bed was less fearsome than the human men in this story. The ‘beast of man’ seems to be a theme in Reid’s writings.
.
Now up until this point, I would have said this book is around 3 stars for all of the above.. but allow me to continue..
.
My biggest suggestion is to MIND THE TRIGGERS! There is CSA, gore, death, cannibalism, and EDs to name a few. Overall, I could could handle all of that. Despite these ghastly things, what actually teetered this into a truly “weird” zone for me was the overly frequent mentionings and freakish descriptions of nipples..in graphic, violent, and odd ways…
.
Seriously, I would have rated this 1-2 stars MORE if it weren’t for all the weird boobie stuff. This book mentions breast and nipples an insufferable amount of times. It became a joke, I was so frustrated by it that I wanted to rip the book apart then and there, which never happens. I would have DNF usually I don’t hate read something but I had to see it through, and I had to take a week long break before I got past the last 15%.
.
I started counting at one point.. 6 “breasts” in a chapter. The next chapter? 11. . And that’s just breast, doesn’t include nipple, which were alternated between sometimes multiple times per page. For WHAT REASON!?
.
A vague excerpt from one PARAGRAPH:
“My nipples knotted with cold.. ….it circled my breast.. …and latched itself onto my nipple” then you turn the page and it’s literally just more breastnipplebreastnipple. In moments where it literally doesn’t have to be mentioned at all. I can’t stress this enough 😂
.
I think three times does she mention cutting nips.. “I imagine cutting my nipples with garden shears” and then goes on to say something like “and watch the skin unfold like the petals of a flower” or “bloom” or “the skin crawling back and blood covering like a glove” or some WEIRD SHIT LIKE THAT. It was SO MUCH, ALL THE TIME.
.
“Her breast swinging like a pendulum” “I wanted to hide him in my breast” (I feel like that was said twice) “my heavy breasts” please, stop.. I’m actually begging 😩😭
.
Following THAT would be the overusage of “plain faced, and maidenhead”.
.
All of these ridiculous redundancies completely took you out of the story, which would have been rather good otherwise!.. aside from the weird codependency instalove like mutual trauma attachment with the love interest, who is literally stupid (sweet, but dumb) for fucking around with her like I don’t see that appeal other than she ~sees~ him.. idk. That would have been my biggest complaint had it not been for the boob stuff.. oh my god.. so much boooooob stufffff!!! The actual sex scenes were really whatever, generally, I mean one was kind of weird, but I still could have just moved on from it.. however I can’t move on from the nipple-breast infatuation. Like if I punched myself in the face every time she brought up the titty-region for no reason I would be in a padded room, which honestly sounds peaceful after reading this.
.
Reid does have a lyrical way of going about such themes- but it is still a grim tale. But no amount of deep prose or atmosphere could cure me from the irreparable ick of all the above though! It started to read very much like a pretentious college student trying to be dark and poetic over and over without even realizing they were using the same strange metaphor they clung to and made the whole personality of the piece, to be different and tortured/edgy. I respect artsy, but this was so overdone, and rancid to the point of being straight up fetishization of those darker things. Her bulimia was just there, and borderline romanticized. She touched upon xenophobia and cultural shifts/classism.. and as a reader I’m like “thats and interesting thing ti fold into the foundation of the bad guy- these things are bad” but in the story they just float around.
.
And I literally hate to say any of this because I thought A Study in Drowning was beautiful, and as I mentioned, I have her other works in the queue. I do think she’s clever.. I seeeee what she’s trying to do in general with what I have read. I was excited for this read and gearing up for her to be a favorite author. I will still go into them with hopes I don’t run into anything like this again and that this was just… something she was trying out, *maybe* she didn’t have an editor when Juniper and Thorn came out.. because I just don’t see how no one else would be like.. hey, can we talk about this? Like, are you okay? What’s going on here.. let’s reeeeeeel it in a pinch, it’s taking away from your work and the seriousness of this story.
.
At the end of the day, I signed up to read a gothic, fairytellesque, adult horror fantasy.. that’s what I wanted, and there were some aspects of that in there! But I feel like I read some studiously written kink-fic. I feel like other reviews were vague like “it was overly sexual, graphic” no, no no.. it was freakish. I’m here telling you it’s not JUST sexual, one person said the fmc and mmc were “scurrying away to bang all the time” which isn’t true… there’s not that much intercourse.. it’s just a CONCERNING amount of TIT-shit, amongst other extremely dark and odd things that kind of get sexualized/romanticized for nothing.
.
I’m so glad I read ASID first otherwise I would be so reluctant to try her other work but I KNOW she’s good and hope that it just shows how she has evolved since.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Blood, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Incest, Physical abuse, and Animal cruelty
hwaters95's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
jaykayreads's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
This story is f**ked up. Trigger warning for sexual assault, rape, child abuse, domestic abuse. The ending was good but it was hard to get through the pain and suffering of the main character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Physical abuse
roanjackal's review
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is phenomenal, and does an amazing job of talking about abuse in the harsh ugly way it deserves. This book was emotional and enchanting. I cant wait to read more of Ava's work.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Body horror, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Racism, Misogyny, Bullying, Body shaming, and Death of parent
daysanchez's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Vomit, Sexual assault, Self harm, Murder, and Physical abuse
bcope84's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Torture, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Blood, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Vomit
my_cracked_spines's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The best way I can describe Juniper & Thorn is that it reads sort of like a Studio Ghibli movie, but not in a good way.
After briefly DNF-ing this book, I decided to give it another go. Trying to come up with a rating has been a little difficult.
I acknowledge that sadly this book does not align with my personal preferences and I find myself in a peculiar position, as I have a profound appreciation for this book due to its thematic depth and literary merits. The intense heavy content and violence within the narrative pose a challenge for me.
This enthralling narrative portrayed unsettling events with a poetic elegance that rendered them strangely beautiful. It was the allure of these unconventional metaphors that kept me captivated and intrigued, prompting my imagination to embark on a wild journey while reading.
I urge everyone to take note of the trigger warnings prior to diving into this book. Based on the positive reviews I’ve seen, it hadn’t occurred to me to check them. Child SA, body horror, disorder eating, trauma, self harm, pedo….to name a few.
After briefly DNF-ing this book, I decided to give it another go. Trying to come up with a rating has been a little difficult.
I acknowledge that sadly this book does not align with my personal preferences and I find myself in a peculiar position, as I have a profound appreciation for this book due to its thematic depth and literary merits. The intense heavy content and violence within the narrative pose a challenge for me.
This enthralling narrative portrayed unsettling events with a poetic elegance that rendered them strangely beautiful. It was the allure of these unconventional metaphors that kept me captivated and intrigued, prompting my imagination to embark on a wild journey while reading.
I urge everyone to take note of the trigger warnings prior to diving into this book. Based on the positive reviews I’ve seen, it hadn’t occurred to me to check them. Child SA, body horror, disorder eating, trauma, self harm, pedo….to name a few.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse