A review by baroo92
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

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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