Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Juniper & Thorn

eeededeathxsexI enjoyed this one better than the wolf and the woodsman. She seems to be better at keeping to a more contained setting where it can become its own character, rather than trying to do a sprawling adventure epic. That seems to be a common consensus. Some common comments I see I do not agree with is the hate against the depictions of abuse and graphic content. Just say you don't understand and move on. Was it perfect? No. But that was a pretty good depiction of toxic relationships, emotional manipulation & abuse, physical/sexual abuse, etc. It shows the impact it can have on victims.

Also, yes it had near constant sexual undertones and some heavy handed depictions of positive and negative sexual interactions, but take away the magic aspect and this is just a story about overcoming abuse. I don't like all the slander against the way she depicted everything, because overall it was a good story and for all the horrible things that happen through it all the ending made up for it.

The cannibalism was a little much for me but certainly fit into the narrative and the super dark tones that were rampant through the book. I liked the mystery and reveal about her father and herself being the monsters.

Content Warnings

cepbreed's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

"People want to ruin things that are clean and new. It's no fun stamping through old dirty snow."

“You would rather me eat your heart than look away in disgust?”
“Of course,” he breathed. “Every time.”

Ava Reid surprised me. Her detailed and atmospheric prose still hit the same sweet spots as in The Wolf and the Woodsman, but somehow Juniper & Thorn is vastly better. I'm trying desperately to pinpoint what exactly made her sophomore publication so much better and I'm not coming up with anything substantial. The characters were more compelling and I found myself falling for Sevas alongside Marlinchen. Parallelly, as she bloomed under his eye I found myself liking her more and more. Reid's worldbuilding was already impressive in The Wolf and the Woodsman, but she worked magic with an even smaller setting. Somehow constraining her descriptions to one estate (+occasional traipsing around the city) allowed her writing style to really shine. Everything flourished on the page and my immersion was heightened tenfold. Her attention to detail never fails to amaze. I'm not a dancer, but I know exactly what happens to professional dancers' feet, so her mentioning this feature of Sevas was wonderful to see. Oh my god, that exact scene was so UGH. Sevas embodies perfection, strength, and beauty. He exposed his shame to Marlinchen and she never once patronized him, only offering her unconditional acceptance no matter how stupid being insecure of your feet is when you're the principal dancer of a famous ballet.

I vanquish all reviews accusing this book of being "gross" or "overly sexualized." Those people just cannot understand how much Marlinchen means to the girls. To love someone/thing so much you need to consume it. To choose to put your head down and labor for the sake of others. To be pushed to your limits by that tolerance. If you've watched Yellowjackets you'll understand. She embodies girlhood. She is a woman forced to toil at the will of her father and thank him when he punishes her. She is looked down upon by those who are supposed to love her the most (her sisters) and still offers them only compliance. She got everything she deserved in the end and I completely stand behind her. Every woman has imagined that turning point, the one where they finally snap. Nothing was more satisfying to me than watching Marlinchen have that moment.

Ava Reid is the queen of Ethel Cain connoted books.

Songs:

Strangers - Ethel Cain
notre dame - Paris Paloma
illicit affairs - Taylor Swift

Content Warnings

0ivy0's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

Juniper and Thorn is a dark fairytale with romantic writing and heavy content matter. We follow one of three magical sisters who have been trapped in their decaying house by their tyrannical father. He makes his living selling his daughters' magical skills and tells them of the horrors of the world.

I would definitely suggest checking content warnings before reading as this is a very heavy book tackling SA (including CSA), EDs with purging behaviours and self harm which are all quite explicitly explored. I needed to take breaks whilst reading this to curl up into a ball and cry and had to skip over some scenes - I probably would not have read it if I'd checked in advance.

The book is written in first person following a main character who has been beaten down so much that she doesn't react, she fauns and then she hurts herself to regulate.
This was a really difficult read but I also felt better having gone through it - having made space to emotionally regulate throughout.

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jessmlamb's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was more grotesque and graphic than I was expecting—an adult retelling of a gruesome fairy tale. It was too much for me. Definitely check the content warnings.

Content Warnings

violetlily13's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense 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

Although this dark gothic fantasy is inspired by the works of Angela Carter and Catherynne Valente's Deathless, Juniper & Thorn veers from those authors' depictions of women overcoming violence and corruption by becoming violent and corrupt themselves. Instead, Reid weaves a story about two young people overcoming horrific abuse throughout their lives by supporting one another, standing up to their abusers, and, at least in the case of the narrator, revealing her abusers' monstrosity to the world. That's probably the most fairy-tale aspect of the story, to be honest. Nonetheless, the ending is cathartic and provides a hopeful future that I wasn't expecting, considering how awful things were for the main characters.

There's a lot working in favour of this novel: the unreliable narrator, the complex secondary characters (for the most part), the creepy atmosphere of the crumbling old house, and, most of all, the in-depth world-building. The setting was my favourite part, and I would love for Reid to explore it further or from another angle in future stories because she handled the infiltration of the modern world into an ancient magical past in a highly satisfactory way - she sketches out just enough without overdoing it while also creating something rich and vibrant.

I'm glad that I picked this one up. It does have flaws - such as the "instalove", the underdeveloped love interest, and the heavy heteronormativity - and I think I would have liked it better ten years ago during my Deathless stage, but it's a far better Slavic-inspired fantasy than The Bear and the Nightingale and I'll keep an eye out for what Reid writes next.

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loumurrey's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

sydapel's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I really love Ava Reid's writing voice, it feels so lyrical and darkly alluring that you can't help but be sucked in, no matter how disturbing and dark the story gets. So while I did read this very fast, I don't think the overall plot structure or character development is done all that well. Marlinchen has these frustrating fits and starts of character development throughout the book that fail to carry weight after a while. The love story feels underdeveloped and childish, while other more interesting elements (the sister dynamic of the characters) needed far more time spent with it. Like I said, Ava Reid is one of the most interesting new authors I've read and I'm excited for the rest of her work, but I don't think this one was quite ready.

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hprimo12's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

This book was supposed to be a gritty retelling of a fairytale, but the topics that made it "gritty" were not handled well and left me hating the main character. I did not find any part of the story compelling, and it pained me to finish it. I stongly do not recommend.

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