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

I loved lots of things about this. It has a sentient forest, a prickly stubborn female main character, a magic system derived from multiple different religions, and an forced proximity enemies to lovers subplot. The influence of Eastern European and Jewish history and folklore lends the worldbuilding a rich fullness, but the plot wandered substantially and the pacing seemed weird, slow at times and blazing quick at others. I love the verbose, lyrical descriptions, as it really helps me feel immersed in the world, but I can imagine that it will make others feel bogged down.

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baroo92's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

This story was a really cool idea, and there's a lot of very excellent pieces included in it! I'm definitely here for diversifying slavic-inspired fantasy, and the depiction of multiple different ethnic sub-groups within the main country's setting was awesome to learn about. I will say though that it is pretty noticeable that this is a debut novel. There are some distinct pacing issues- in several moments, I found myself having to go back and re-read through a previous page to be sure I didn't miss a mention of a particular character moving or doing a particular action in the scene. There were spots where I was deeply invested in an intense scene, and then a character would say a dramatic line, and then BOOM- end of chapter, moving on to the next chapter with a completely unrelated scene and barely any dialogue explaining the aftermath of said dramatic line. I really wanted to be attached to the characters, but with the scenes jumping around so much the characters' motivations also jumped around, which made it hard for me to root for them in their Big Goals. There was just a lot of spots of Big Scary Thing Happens, I'm Ruined Forever and then another side character appears and Nevermind, My Problem Is Fixed With A Wave Of A Hand And We're Moving To The Next Problem Without Blinking Twice About Previous Issue.
I will probably still look out for Ava Reid's future work, because I think she definitely has a lot of potential in storytelling! I just wish she could flesh out her scenes in a little better to keep our eyes on the prize.

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ridesthesun's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

I really love the premise of this one! The variety of culture and mythology was really cool, and I loved seeing the Jewish stories woven in so lovingly.

I'm not sure why, perhaps it was just bad timing, but the book overall failed to really grab me. I *wanted* to enjoy it, but I found myself checking "how much longer is this audiobook" too many times. Idk if it was the pacing or what, but it felt a lot like nothing was happening while simultaneously lots of things were happening? Not sure how. Like it felt like it was dragging while simultaneously feeling under-developed.

Anyways, I would say definitely give this one a try; the concept was brilliant, the weaving of mythology was really cool, Evike and Gaspar were lovely. Also recommend the audiobook, getting the pronunciations for everything was a huge bonus.

*does deal a *lot* with anti-Semitism, and is strongly reminiscent of pogroms and pre-WWII eastern europe. The Jewish community is written beautifully and with great care, but if that's a sensitive topic for you I would avoid this one.

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queergoth_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a really great book. It is the kind of thing I absolutely love. I did struggle to get into it a bit but it was worth sticking with because I think that was more due to me than the story. I'll definitely be rereading at some point.

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30something_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

5.0

This book was... stunning. Just wow.

(I'll compile a more composed review when I can form words.)

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ellerose95's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

4.5

Wow, this book was soo good, I really enjoyed the read.

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msradiosilence's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Tldr; I was expecting a lot more, and I feel like the story would’ve benefitted from a slower pace and maybe another book for the second half. There was just a lot all the time, and it smothered what was good.

Read my full review here: https://www.rainyreader.com/single-post/the-wolf-and-the-woodsman.

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