Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - The Wolf and the Woodsman

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

98 reviews

r_a_bell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

4.5

The perfect example of what a stand-alone should be! You get all of the story of a trilogy in one book. The beginning journey did seem a little pointless in the end, and I kind of wish it had been a bit shorter if it wasn’t really going to go anywhere. However, it was still enjoyable to read and didn’t feel unnecessarily drawn out. I love how realistic it was its depiction of social structures and relationships, especially in regard to religion. I also really liked the end! It didn’t wrap everything up in a neat little bow just because that’s what the author thought readers would want. The ending was realistic and true to the story, yet satisfying, and it left that little kernel of hope that everything would end up as a “happily ever after.”

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bookishchef's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

There's some really good stuff in here, and some bad.
There's an obvious macguffin (the Turul barely has a function gtfo) but there's also enjoyable plot twists and turns.
The love story was predictable but enjoyable.
The sexual tension and build up is nice and slow but then gets resolved quite suddenly and unrealistically.

Also we didn't even get a real smut scene after all that buildup??? So needless to say I was a little disappointed with that resolution.

Mostly I really liked the worldbuilding. Even though I'm still not completely clear on all the countries and their motivations, the world building really shines when it comes to religions and ethnic groups. In this story alone there are 3 fleshed out religions. They're all original in their own way even if some of their inspirations are quite obvious (The Yehuli faith seems like a mix of Judaism and Islam to me, and the Patritian faith has elements of Catholicism).

However the character work is a bit so-so. It took me a while to warm up to Évike because she is a bit of a cliche when it comes to fantasy protagonists. Same goes for Gaspar. Almost all the other characters in this story are irrelevant. None of them get really outspoken personalities. Tuula and Szabin are interesting in theory, but only get about an alinea each dedicated to their personalities and general characteristics. Katalin doesn't get any personality traits beyond 'bitch' until the last 10% of the book. It's a bit of a shame.

There's also some plot contrivances that kind of annoyed me. For example:

About 50ish percent into the book Évike and Gaspar get attacked by some kind of sex demon which makes them very horny. The only function of this scene is to speed up their relationship by them admitting they're sexually attracted to each other. The demon is never relevant again, and it is quite obvious that the author just couldn't think of another way to make the stubborn Évike and the stoic Gaspar admit anything to each other.

The characters also seem to fast travel in the later chapters. In the early chapters of the book it is emphasized again and again that the environment is rough and locations are far away. This seems realistic and the traveling by itself takes weeks. Later in the book the characters seem to travel between those same locations in a matter of days or even hours because the pacing demands it. Like, I understand why the author wrote it this way, but it did pull me out of the story a bit.

Over all, it's a very flawed book but I did enjoy it.

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sydapel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful slow-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? No

4.0

A deeply vivid and striking book about religion, imperialism and mythology that doesn't shy away from the violence that accompanies shifts in power and in belief systems. I love when fantasy books center a person who isn't born with anything distinctly special about her, who has to struggle to overcome her own sense of place in her world, and the author does this so well with Évike. There are really interesting discussions within the story about hate and prejudice that resound today and the world building is done shockingly well for a debut. I don't know if this is a story that will continue, but it's one I would absolutely continue to follow.

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zghutcheson01's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This book had a problem with not explaining some details and I would’ve liked some more time with the Yuhuli but overall a good book.

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cpachet's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

My issue with this book is that I went into it with high expectations. It’s been compared favourably to two of my books/series - Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale. Unfortunately, The Wolf and the Woodsman fell way short. The plot was unclear or thin for the majority of the book and the slow pace made me literally fall asleep every time I picked it up. I felt like the two main characters’ attachment to each other came out of nowhere (no real development of their relationship). The last 100 pages was compelling and enjoyable but I thought about giving up so many times in the previous 300 pages. Not saying not to read it, but go in with the idea that the pay off takes a long time!

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beomundi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

A very well thought out and crafted story based on Eastern European folklore, history, and political struggles. (a very good and well-expected thing considering the author's background knees deep in the research of this very thing) It is a book entirely focused on examining all the threads that make up identity all through the lens of a girl repeatedly having her beliefs, stereotypes, and views stabbed through and questioned. While trying to figure out exactly where she fits in it all when she feels like she fits nowhere.

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