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A review by joseybg
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
4.0
3.5, upgraded to four.
This book was effed up, man. Like… it was just a lot. And yet I really loved the way it was written. Very disturbing and unsettling. Trigger warning for torture, rape, sexual assault, and p*dophilia, cannibalism, eating disorder, as well as graphic sexual content for anyone who wants to read this. Sometimes it got very hard to read. however, the authors writing style is so fluid, and also beautiful in so many other scenes. I was stunned. Her metaphor and imagery play was so so so good. I thought that the way that she portrayed the sometimes real and sometimes perceived helplessness of a victim was spot on, as well as the hypersexualization that can sometimes come after an assault. The relationship between sevas and marlinchin was a little bit too smooth for me. Two people so traumatized would not have such an easy relationship. I feel like she was trying to mirror classic fairy tale romance tropes bc this a retelling, but im not sure it was a choice that worked for me. While the horror aspect of it sometimes makes it hard and the relationship plot point being not my favorite bring it to a 3, the authors writing style and portrayal of other things is soooo good it kicks it up back up to a four. A little give and take with my rating of this one.
Also, I know a lot of people are mad about how graphic it is, but it’s a retelling if the juniper tree. That is one of the Grimm brothers most graphic fairy tales. It is NOT a walk in the park. The retelling is true to its roots in that way. The author didn’t try to trick anybody, you just aren’t familiar with the original tale. Which is fine. But that’s not the authors fault. If it’s too much, please just stop reading. No need to force yourself through a triggering book, bc this book is a lot.
This book was effed up, man. Like… it was just a lot. And yet I really loved the way it was written. Very disturbing and unsettling. Trigger warning for torture, rape, sexual assault, and p*dophilia, cannibalism, eating disorder, as well as graphic sexual content for anyone who wants to read this. Sometimes it got very hard to read. however, the authors writing style is so fluid, and also beautiful in so many other scenes. I was stunned. Her metaphor and imagery play was so so so good. I thought that the way that she portrayed the sometimes real and sometimes perceived helplessness of a victim was spot on, as well as the hypersexualization that can sometimes come after an assault. The relationship between sevas and marlinchin was a little bit too smooth for me. Two people so traumatized would not have such an easy relationship. I feel like she was trying to mirror classic fairy tale romance tropes bc this a retelling, but im not sure it was a choice that worked for me. While the horror aspect of it sometimes makes it hard and the relationship plot point being not my favorite bring it to a 3, the authors writing style and portrayal of other things is soooo good it kicks it up back up to a four. A little give and take with my rating of this one.
Also, I know a lot of people are mad about how graphic it is, but it’s a retelling if the juniper tree. That is one of the Grimm brothers most graphic fairy tales. It is NOT a walk in the park. The retelling is true to its roots in that way. The author didn’t try to trick anybody, you just aren’t familiar with the original tale. Which is fine. But that’s not the authors fault. If it’s too much, please just stop reading. No need to force yourself through a triggering book, bc this book is a lot.