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emmague89's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Alcohol, Confinement, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, and Vomit
lindseyrenee's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Body shaming, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia
lizabethstucker's review against another edition
1.0
An ARC picked up at the Martin County Library System's Book Swap (they're B-A-C-K!). Publication date moved from May to June 2022.
Marlinchen and her two older sisters, all witches, are tightly controlled by their wizard father, a man cursed by his last rival to never be satisfied. Despite his best efforts, the young women have been slipping out of the house to attend the local theater in the Russian town of Oblya. This time they convince Marlinchen to accompany them, starting a flame of love and rebellion in her heart.
At the ballet, Marlinchen becomes fascinated with the ballet's lead dancer Sevastyan Rezkin. She also overhears talk about a monster killing people. While her sisters dismiss the gossip as nonsense, it appears to be more.
Writing a synopsis for this book was tough, to be honest. Before I get into my thoughts about what I did read, we need to discuss SOME of the content warnings. And there are many.
CONTENT WARNINGS: child abuse (physical, emotional, & sexual); self-harm and suicide fixation; eating disorders; racism; antisemitism; animal & creature abuse; eating disorders; gore.
I have to admit that I hesitated before picking this book up. The cover was intriguing, but the description of being "gothic horror" gave me pause. I have read (and enjoyed) gothic horror in the past, but it is a difficult type of story to do successfully. I should've trusted my gut.
Other readers may not agree with me, especially if you consider the number of five star ratings on Goodreads, but I found the characterization to be childish, shallow, and sexually focused in a bad way. Oh, and there's a serial killer?
It is incredibly slow moving. And this is from someone who read and adored "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky! I never read the author's previous book, so I went in with no expectations other than to possibly find an interesting retelling of a fairy tale that I was unacquainted with.
I have no regrets over DNF'ing this as I wasn't even tempted to flip to the end to see what happened. And that, my fellow readers, is telling!
Marlinchen and her two older sisters, all witches, are tightly controlled by their wizard father, a man cursed by his last rival to never be satisfied. Despite his best efforts, the young women have been slipping out of the house to attend the local theater in the Russian town of Oblya. This time they convince Marlinchen to accompany them, starting a flame of love and rebellion in her heart.
At the ballet, Marlinchen becomes fascinated with the ballet's lead dancer Sevastyan Rezkin. She also overhears talk about a monster killing people. While her sisters dismiss the gossip as nonsense, it appears to be more.
Writing a synopsis for this book was tough, to be honest. Before I get into my thoughts about what I did read, we need to discuss SOME of the content warnings. And there are many.
CONTENT WARNINGS: child abuse (physical, emotional, & sexual); self-harm and suicide fixation; eating disorders; racism; antisemitism; animal & creature abuse; eating disorders; gore.
I have to admit that I hesitated before picking this book up. The cover was intriguing, but the description of being "gothic horror" gave me pause. I have read (and enjoyed) gothic horror in the past, but it is a difficult type of story to do successfully. I should've trusted my gut.
Other readers may not agree with me, especially if you consider the number of five star ratings on Goodreads, but I found the characterization to be childish, shallow, and sexually focused in a bad way. Oh, and there's a serial killer?
It is incredibly slow moving. And this is from someone who read and adored "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky! I never read the author's previous book, so I went in with no expectations other than to possibly find an interesting retelling of a fairy tale that I was unacquainted with.
I have no regrets over DNF'ing this as I wasn't even tempted to flip to the end to see what happened. And that, my fellow readers, is telling!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault
theodenreads's review against another edition
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
3.5
Juniper & Thorn is a haunting and folkloric tale that grapples with themes of trauma and abuse while building up a darkly alluring romance.
Content Warnings: abuse, alcoholism, animal cruelty, antisemitism, blood, body horror, cannibalism, eating disorder, emotional abuse, gaslighting, gore, murder, racism, self-harm and self-harm ideation, sexual assault, sexual content, pedophilia, vomit, xenophobia
Feel free to let me know if anything else should be added to the content warnings, as it’s very likely I could have forgotten something!
Generally, I tack content warnings onto the end of my reviews, however given how dark and graphic this story is, I thought it would be best to start with those! Don’t get me wrong, the author approached the topics explored with care, however it was dark enough that even I got squeamish (which is very rare for me). Please be careful going into this story as there are very graphic depictions of blood and gore, cannibalism, disordered eating, emotional abuse, and vomit, and many of the other CWs I listed are also very present throughout the book.
Now that that’s out of the way, onto the rest of my review!
Ava Reid masterfully depicts a slavic inspired fantasy in Juniper & Thorn (and it’s to my knowledge that it takes place within the same universe as The Wolf and the Woodsman, although I have yet to read that). The worldbuilding was lush and the atmosphere pulled me in from the very first chapter. The dark atmosphere of Reid’s writing alone is almost enough to make me pick up The Wolf and the Woodsman!
All of the protagonists introduced had a ton of trauma, and their trauma is a heavy theme throughout the story (see CWs). They all dealt with (or didn’t deal with) it in different ways, and their experiences were all so incredibly complex, but they were also handled with care. One of the main reasons I didn’t give this story a full 4 stars is that, although I felt for them and wanted them to come out on top, I ultimately didn’t find myself being incredibly enamored with any of the leads.
The other reason I didn’t give this a full 4 was because of the sexual content. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love love love exploring themes of sexuality in stories, whether it’s through fantasy or romance or erotica. That being said, the way it was explored in this story just… didn’t hit any of the right notes for me. From the very first chapter, the main character is lusting over the love interest, and normally I don’t have a problem with insta-love/insta-lust, but the way it was written felt very objectifying. People joke about how horribly men write women, but this almost read as the opposite end of the spectrum, and it was very off-putting for me. There were also a few points where something very dark or serious would be happening, only for it to cut to Marlinchen’s thoughts being about the love interest’s body and or sex–and there was also a random sex scene in the middle of an otherwise very tense moment, which just completely threw me out of the story for a moment. There was also quite a bit of sexual descriptions of Marlinchen’s sisters, which was uncomfortable to read, and there were a few points where it felt almost borderline incesty.
Overall, Ava Reid crafted a great horror story, filled with dark characters and an alluring romance (although I could have done without some of those descriptions). For fans of dark fantasy and slavic inspired worldbuilding, I would definitely recommend this. I loved the world building and the tense atmosphere, there were just a few spots that didn’t hit the right notes for me personally.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings: abuse, alcoholism, animal cruelty, antisemitism, blood, body horror, cannibalism, eating disorder, emotional abuse, gaslighting, gore, murder, racism, self-harm and self-harm ideation, sexual assault, sexual content, pedophilia, vomit, xenophobia
Feel free to let me know if anything else should be added to the content warnings, as it’s very likely I could have forgotten something!
Generally, I tack content warnings onto the end of my reviews, however given how dark and graphic this story is, I thought it would be best to start with those! Don’t get me wrong, the author approached the topics explored with care, however it was dark enough that even I got squeamish (which is very rare for me). Please be careful going into this story as there are very graphic depictions of blood and gore, cannibalism, disordered eating, emotional abuse, and vomit, and many of the other CWs I listed are also very present throughout the book.
Now that that’s out of the way, onto the rest of my review!
Ava Reid masterfully depicts a slavic inspired fantasy in Juniper & Thorn (and it’s to my knowledge that it takes place within the same universe as The Wolf and the Woodsman, although I have yet to read that). The worldbuilding was lush and the atmosphere pulled me in from the very first chapter. The dark atmosphere of Reid’s writing alone is almost enough to make me pick up The Wolf and the Woodsman!
All of the protagonists introduced had a ton of trauma, and their trauma is a heavy theme throughout the story (see CWs). They all dealt with (or didn’t deal with) it in different ways, and their experiences were all so incredibly complex, but they were also handled with care. One of the main reasons I didn’t give this story a full 4 stars is that, although I felt for them and wanted them to come out on top, I ultimately didn’t find myself being incredibly enamored with any of the leads.
The other reason I didn’t give this a full 4 was because of the sexual content. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love love love exploring themes of sexuality in stories, whether it’s through fantasy or romance or erotica. That being said, the way it was explored in this story just… didn’t hit any of the right notes for me. From the very first chapter, the main character is lusting over the love interest, and normally I don’t have a problem with insta-love/insta-lust, but the way it was written felt very objectifying. People joke about how horribly men write women, but this almost read as the opposite end of the spectrum, and it was very off-putting for me. There were also a few points where something very dark or serious would be happening, only for it to cut to Marlinchen’s thoughts being about the love interest’s body and or sex–and there was also a random sex scene in the middle of an otherwise very tense moment, which just completely threw me out of the story for a moment. There was also quite a bit of sexual descriptions of Marlinchen’s sisters, which was uncomfortable to read, and there were a few points where it felt almost borderline incesty.
Overall, Ava Reid crafted a great horror story, filled with dark characters and an alluring romance (although I could have done without some of those descriptions). For fans of dark fantasy and slavic inspired worldbuilding, I would definitely recommend this. I loved the world building and the tense atmosphere, there were just a few spots that didn’t hit the right notes for me personally.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Vomit, Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Blood, Xenophobia, Gore, Sexual assault, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, Racism, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, and Suicidal thoughts
gabstersreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was…..heavy to say the least. Please read the trigger warnings before reading.
[TW: Animal death (for food) , Vomit (bulimia) , Xenophobia, Violence (graphic) , Sexual assault (graphic) , Sexual content, Sexism, Racism, Pedophilia, Murder, Gore, Cannibalism (implied), Classism, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism (moderate), and Death of parent (heavily mentioned)]
That being said, I did really enjoy this book. The writing is beautiful and it was easy to get lost in the pages. I was hooked from the beginning which doesn’t happen every often.
I’ve seen complaints on Marlinchen being too passive. Marlinchen is treated very badly by the people around her, namely her father and her sister. However, Marlinchen "allowing” herself to get pushed around is a result of growing up in a verbally and emotionally abusive environment. Marlinchen learned to do what she could to survive. Her way of surviving was (trying) to keep her father happy. This works until she meets Sevas, a ballet dancer that Marlinchen falls helplessly in love with. Her relationship with Sevas sparks Marlinchen to question her father and uncover his lies.
That’s all I can say for fear of spoiling it. Juniper & Thorn is by no means an easy book to read. The things that Marlinchen has been subjected to will make you angry, sad, disgusted, etc. However, this makes it all the more satisfying to see Marlinchen break away from her abusive father and make her own path in the world.
I would highly recommend IF you’ve read all the trigger warnings and are in a good headspace to read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Animal death, Cannibalism, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Self harm
cakt1991's review against another edition
dark
emotional
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
5.0
I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Having loved Ava Reid’s debut last year, I was fully ready to commit to anything she would write next. And the fact that Juniper & Thorn was marketed as Gothic horror didn’t scare me off one bit. And the promise of a retelling of The Juniper Tree, one of the lesser-known, super-fucked up Grimm Brothers stories that debunks the whole “fairy tales are for children” thing all on its own? Yes, please! And upon reading, I also found some allusions to Donkeyskin, another super-fucked up tale, the most popular version being by Perrault. That said, this book isn’t playing around. I strongly suggest readers take care of their own mental health and consult the content warnings…while also repeating Ava Reid’s statement in her promotional GR post that they should not use these warnings to cast judgment and stigmatize those who’ve dealt with these traumas and how they reckon with them, Reid included.
With that out of the way…this book really lived up to my expectations. It’s set in the same world as The Wolf & The Woodsman, so while they’re atmospherically and tonally different, there’s a common thread in the Russian-inspired culture depicted. The two can stand on their own, but it‘s cool to have read both and get the little cultural references.
As for that atmosphere and tone…wow, it’s amazing. While it really hits you hard, it’s simultaneously impossible to put down. Reid has an addictive quality to her writing, and even when describing the most gruesome, heinous things, I found it hard to look away.
Marlinchen is a deeply compelling heroine, and it’s hard not to root for her as she navigates her situation with her horribly abusive father. Her trauma is poignantly drawn, as is her lingering sense of defiance as she endures and works to undermine him.
The romance she forms with Sevas provides a wonderful sweetness to contrast the intense depravity, one I welcomed dearly. He’s such a kind and compassionate love interest, allowing Marlinchen not just an escape, but a path to healing.
This book is absolutely stunning, and while I acknowledge it may not be for everyone, for reasons previously stated, I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a dark fantasy or Gothic horror novel with fairy tale aesthetics.
Having loved Ava Reid’s debut last year, I was fully ready to commit to anything she would write next. And the fact that Juniper & Thorn was marketed as Gothic horror didn’t scare me off one bit. And the promise of a retelling of The Juniper Tree, one of the lesser-known, super-fucked up Grimm Brothers stories that debunks the whole “fairy tales are for children” thing all on its own? Yes, please! And upon reading, I also found some allusions to Donkeyskin, another super-fucked up tale, the most popular version being by Perrault. That said, this book isn’t playing around. I strongly suggest readers take care of their own mental health and consult the content warnings…while also repeating Ava Reid’s statement in her promotional GR post that they should not use these warnings to cast judgment and stigmatize those who’ve dealt with these traumas and how they reckon with them, Reid included.
With that out of the way…this book really lived up to my expectations. It’s set in the same world as The Wolf & The Woodsman, so while they’re atmospherically and tonally different, there’s a common thread in the Russian-inspired culture depicted. The two can stand on their own, but it‘s cool to have read both and get the little cultural references.
As for that atmosphere and tone…wow, it’s amazing. While it really hits you hard, it’s simultaneously impossible to put down. Reid has an addictive quality to her writing, and even when describing the most gruesome, heinous things, I found it hard to look away.
Marlinchen is a deeply compelling heroine, and it’s hard not to root for her as she navigates her situation with her horribly abusive father. Her trauma is poignantly drawn, as is her lingering sense of defiance as she endures and works to undermine him.
The romance she forms with Sevas provides a wonderful sweetness to contrast the intense depravity, one I welcomed dearly. He’s such a kind and compassionate love interest, allowing Marlinchen not just an escape, but a path to healing.
This book is absolutely stunning, and while I acknowledge it may not be for everyone, for reasons previously stated, I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a dark fantasy or Gothic horror novel with fairy tale aesthetics.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Gore, Body horror, Cannibalism, Antisemitism, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, Gaslighting, and Eating disorder
poetry_shaman's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Racism, Antisemitism, and Self harm
booksthatburn's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
JUNIPER Þ is a story built on a complicated tangle of self harm and exploration as Marlinchen, now a young woman, finally starts to defy her controlling father’s dictates. Especially early on, she has a variety of maladaptive behaviors including but not limited to self harm, disordered eating, and intrusive thoughts (ranging from negative self-talk to hypersexual fantasies). These are symptoms of and reactions to the ongoing all-pervasive abusive atmosphere which consumed her childhood and is set to rob her of normal adulthood as well. She and her sisters live in fear of their father, but as he’s made himself the only allowable source of affection in their lives they are desperate to retain his favor. As he’s also a wizard he’s threatened their bodies and lives if they disobey him, and can back up his threats with intimations of what happened to their mother before them. He controls their sexuality through threats and intimidation, as well as by using magical means to check whether they’re still “pure”, something which doesn’t stop Marlinchen from masturbating but makes her worried about how she goes about it.
Marlinchen is gaslit and abused by her father, and has toxic (often abusive) relationships with her sisters. The way that she’s constantly made to question her own perceptions but is also the narrator sometimes makes it hard to tell what things were supposed to be bad, or what things are stressful while not abusive. This had this overall effect that for the first half of the book I felt increasingly unmoored, hoping to find some part of her life that was actually okay and increasingly coming to the conclusion that this is a horror story and there’s not much that’s meant to be going well.
Marlinchen's relationships with her sisters is contentious. They're all trying to maintain access to the extremely finite resource which is their father's goodwill, but they have different ways of measuring whether they've achieved it. Marlinchen's yardstick seems to be whether his abuse stays verbal instead of escalating, which is a depressingly low baseline. There’s a pivotal scene midway through where the tactics in their father’s abuse have taken a sudden turn, and Marlinchen has a confrontation with Undine where in her exasperation Undine says things that explain her own survival strategy, and the flaw she sees in Marlinchen’s. This prompts Marlinchen to realize that she has options she never considered, and that perhaps her sisters have been employing completely different strategies with very different aims from herself.
Some little linguistic touches place this in the same world as THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN. I'm sure if I go back to re-read the other book I'll notice more things, but I noticed enough to be sure even before looking it up to see that I was correct. Because Marlinchen is only able to visit a few locations, there's a lot of detail about the house but less about other places within the city. This means that most of the information about the city and their place in it is gradually told as it relates to how her father feels about it (generally, how he hates it and why). This makes for a (plot-appropriate) gloomy mood.
The plot is well-constructed and engaging. It created a slowly-building feeling of dread which fit the story and was very stressful. The ending made a bunch of early inconsistencies have an explanation beyond "fairy tale logic", and I'm very satisfied with how things ended.
Marlinchen is gaslit and abused by her father, and has toxic (often abusive) relationships with her sisters. The way that she’s constantly made to question her own perceptions but is also the narrator sometimes makes it hard to tell what things were supposed to be bad, or what things are stressful while not abusive. This had this overall effect that for the first half of the book I felt increasingly unmoored, hoping to find some part of her life that was actually okay and increasingly coming to the conclusion that this is a horror story and there’s not much that’s meant to be going well.
Marlinchen's relationships with her sisters is contentious. They're all trying to maintain access to the extremely finite resource which is their father's goodwill, but they have different ways of measuring whether they've achieved it. Marlinchen's yardstick seems to be whether his abuse stays verbal instead of escalating, which is a depressingly low baseline. There’s a pivotal scene midway through where the tactics in their father’s abuse have taken a sudden turn, and Marlinchen has a confrontation with Undine where in her exasperation Undine says things that explain her own survival strategy, and the flaw she sees in Marlinchen’s. This prompts Marlinchen to realize that she has options she never considered, and that perhaps her sisters have been employing completely different strategies with very different aims from herself.
Some little linguistic touches place this in the same world as THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN. I'm sure if I go back to re-read the other book I'll notice more things, but I noticed enough to be sure even before looking it up to see that I was correct. Because Marlinchen is only able to visit a few locations, there's a lot of detail about the house but less about other places within the city. This means that most of the information about the city and their place in it is gradually told as it relates to how her father feels about it (generally, how he hates it and why). This makes for a (plot-appropriate) gloomy mood.
The plot is well-constructed and engaging. It created a slowly-building feeling of dread which fit the story and was very stressful. The ending made a bunch of early inconsistencies have an explanation beyond "fairy tale logic", and I'm very satisfied with how things ended.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Medical content, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Animal death, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Incest, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cannibalism, Child death, Death of parent, and Gun violence
Minor: Ableism, Racism, Antisemitism, and Drug use
theladyofink's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Antisemitism, Eating disorder, Racism, Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, Body horror, Vomit, and Animal death
saltwife's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Racism, and Gore
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