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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.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Grief, War, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Violence, Body horror, and Murder
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Sexual content, Hate crime, Misogyny, Torture, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Antisemitism
bookishchef's review against another edition
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.
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.
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:
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Genocide, Murder, Sexual content, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, War, and Child abuse
ridesthesun's review against another edition
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Antisemitism, Violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Murder, Gore, Blood, and Bullying
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Genocide, Antisemitism, Blood, Colonisation, Murder, Body horror, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent
internationalreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and War
forthesanityof1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-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? Yes
2.5
I don't know what it is about this book, but I was not able to get into it at all. I was so excited to read it and hears a lot of praising words about it (nothing in detail) for a debut so I picked it up ASAP and started it.
I honestly think it might be me with this one, but I could not bond with the characters at all. That's not usually an issue, but I was so apathetic and downright irritated at some points that it took me well over a month to finish this. The MC was...complicated, the pacing was strange to me, the love interest was not interesting outside of the religious/moral division (which was one part of the book extremely well-done), the plot was not what I expected and at times did not make any sense, and the antagonist needed some developing to really fulfill how terrifying he could have been. There were some plot points that went over my head and sometimes the MC brought up issues at very odd times, especially with Katalin (spelling??). I would like to think this was all intentional, but some of it I think was more a by-product of poor writing and editing. I'll be checking out her other works, but I would not recommend this unless religious divide being central to the story is your thing.
One major positive: the author has a beautiful way with prose! A little too much sometimes (trying to draw a scene into a specific emotion when the actual content doesn't reflect it) but nice nonetheless!
I honestly think it might be me with this one, but I could not bond with the characters at all. That's not usually an issue, but I was so apathetic and downright irritated at some points that it took me well over a month to finish this. The MC was...complicated, the pacing was strange to me, the love interest was not interesting outside of the religious/moral division (which was one part of the book extremely well-done), the plot was not what I expected and at times did not make any sense, and the antagonist needed some developing to really fulfill how terrifying he could have been. There were some plot points that went over my head and sometimes the MC brought up issues at very odd times, especially with Katalin (spelling??). I would like to think this was all intentional, but some of it I think was more a by-product of poor writing and editing. I'll be checking out her other works, but I would not recommend this unless religious divide being central to the story is your thing.
One major positive: the author has a beautiful way with prose! A little too much sometimes (trying to draw a scene into a specific emotion when the actual content doesn't reflect it) but nice nonetheless!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence
oliverreeds's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-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
this book was fine. i don't understand what all of the hype is about around its release because, while the characters and their relationships are well-written, the magic and world-building seemed a little scant. i have no doubt the author spent a ridiculous amount of time building lore and that is evident, but i didn't understand a lot of the lore. it felt like when a super smart professor is explaining a very detailed and advanced concept and just kind of expects you to know it. the history of the the world just didn't make much sense and wasn't explained as well as i wanted it to be. most of the book is spent looking for this creature called the tulur? and maybe i just didn't read super carefully, but i had no idea what the tulur actually meant to the world until it died. and even then nothing seemed to have changed. there was still magic. the trees seemed to still be alive. so why was there such a thing about killing this bird. i didn't understand it . i also didn't understand the way magic works in this story. the wolf-girls are (mostly) all born with magic- all except evike. great. that makes sense. but then evike wants magic so she cuts of her finger as a sacrifice to one of the gods and he just... gives her magic? i didn't understand this. it didn't make any sense. and then without practicing using her magic, evike fully shatters an axe in the royal court without really knowing what the perameters of her magic or the cost of her magic. the rules seemed flimsy. especially when she saves Gaspar after they're attacked by the witch. how did she save him?? she can't heal people?? . i also thought it was interesting that there are so many religions (only three) but they all have their own magic given from their own god which seems to imply that all of the gods actually exist in this universe. this then begs the question: why is there so much hate? the hate the woodsmen feel towards the pagans never is fully explained. i kind of understand the metaphor the author was working with, but in general, it felt forced sometimes. like... why? the pacing of this book was also pretty slow. in the climax moments, i didn't feel like there was much of a climax. like when evike has just been stabbed. i was like oh sh*t! but then she just like gets up? and walks to gaspars room and then she rests for like ten minutes and then she's just like fine. like she's having a full conversation when she was just on the brink of death. this also happens in the pagan battle at the very end. nandor has just pulled out evike's molars (by all means a traumatic and painful experience) and then after the whole gaspar nandor fight, she's just fine? she kisses gaspar but like she just had like buckets of blood in her mouth??? the severity of wounds was definitely something that didn't make much sense to me because a character would be seriously wounded (often to the brink of death) and then like have full on coherent conversations and then get up and walk around. the first part of this book also read a lot like fanficiton (which i honestly didn't have a problem with. it was my favorite part of the book no cap) because it's all about the slow romance between evike and gaspar so evike will like almost freeze to death or pass out or something and then gaspar (shocker) will save her or help her. like the amount of times evike ~almost~ died on the way up to find the tulur the first time was honestly wild. but overall, the characters were interesting and i liked the in depth analysis of how religious bigotry effects people, romance, and governing states. i thought it was a good first book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and Violence
delz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.0
The Wolf and the Woodman is a fairytale revolving around Pagans, Patricians and Yehuli. Evike is a Wolf Girl with no powers, so she is chosen as her villiage’s sacrifice when the Woodsman comes. The Woodsmen are tasked with taking one of these girls to the king. The village doesn’t know what happens to the girls, only that the king needs their powers and that they never return. When Evike was a little girl her mother was taken and now it’s her turn. One of the Woodsmen, a one eyed Woodsmen, Gáspár is the prince and the weak link for Evike to manipulate. They travel through different lands meet many different people, until they return to the king. Where Gáspár’s illegitimate brother schemes to take the throne. There’s adventure and action and even a little romance.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Torture, and Violence
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