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A review by kbwarren
Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
4.0
For context, my favorite genre is fairytale adaptation, especially when the story still reads like a traditional Grimm Brothers or Hans Christen Andersen fairytale. This book is pretty much exactly that, so if that's not your thing, you may not appreciate it as much as I did.
Juniper and Thorn draws from stories from Russian folklore, often directly referencing the tales in the narrative. It's very dark, consistently tense, slightly romantic, and oddly charming. Every main character-- Marlinchen, her sisters, their father, and Sevas, are wonderfully complex and the end of the book left me with mixed feelings about a certain character's death.
In this story, any infliction of cruelty has a story behind it, and every single character has their own tragic backstory. Marlinchen's relationship with her older sisters is a clear display of the cycle of abuse-- the abused become abusers themselves. Can they really be blamed? Did they deserve their fates? Should an abuser's puppet have to answer for the harm they cause without realizing what they're doing?
The world and its magic is simple to understand, which leaves the reader with plenty of mental space to ponder the moral and emotional questions that this story dredges up. Inner turmoil is prevalent, and although the entire book is written in Marlinchen's perspective, the mental/emotional states of the other characters are clear.
My only complaint about Juniper and Thorn is that the mystery of the monster is more or less put on the backburner until the last 75-ish pages of the 300 page book. When the dead bodies popped up, I found myself thinking "Oh yeah, there's a monster on the loose somewhere." Looking back, there were smaller pieces of the puzzle sprinkled throughout, and if the monster had been a more prevalent plot point I might've thought to piece them together sooner, but in the moment they felt more like atmospheric tools used to create a sense of uneasiness. Then, once you get about halfway through the second-to-last chapter, the puzzle pieces begin to fall in place rapidly. Everything happens so quickly that I truly can't remember the finer details only a day later. In my opinion, the monster subplot could've been completely removed from the book and Marlinchen still would've had several good opportunities to complete her character arc. It didn't necessarily negatively affect the book, though.
Altogether, I loved Juniper and Thorn. The simplicity of the worldbuilding and clarity of prose was a breath of fresh air. If you're looking for a clear-cut, easy-to-read, fairytale reimagining with Russian influences and a blossoming romance between two abused and traumatized characters, this is the book for you.
Juniper and Thorn draws from stories from Russian folklore, often directly referencing the tales in the narrative. It's very dark, consistently tense, slightly romantic, and oddly charming. Every main character-- Marlinchen, her sisters, their father, and Sevas, are wonderfully complex and the end of the book left me with mixed feelings about a certain character's death.
In this story, any infliction of cruelty has a story behind it, and every single character has their own tragic backstory. Marlinchen's relationship with her older sisters is a clear display of the cycle of abuse-- the abused become abusers themselves. Can they really be blamed? Did they deserve their fates? Should an abuser's puppet have to answer for the harm they cause without realizing what they're doing?
The world and its magic is simple to understand, which leaves the reader with plenty of mental space to ponder the moral and emotional questions that this story dredges up. Inner turmoil is prevalent, and although the entire book is written in Marlinchen's perspective, the mental/emotional states of the other characters are clear.
My only complaint about Juniper and Thorn is that the mystery of the monster is more or less put on the backburner until the last 75-ish pages of the 300 page book. When the dead bodies popped up, I found myself thinking "Oh yeah, there's a monster on the loose somewhere." Looking back, there were smaller pieces of the puzzle sprinkled throughout, and if the monster had been a more prevalent plot point I might've thought to piece them together sooner, but in the moment they felt more like atmospheric tools used to create a sense of uneasiness. Then, once you get about halfway through the second-to-last chapter, the puzzle pieces begin to fall in place rapidly. Everything happens so quickly that I truly can't remember the finer details only a day later. In my opinion, the monster subplot could've been completely removed from the book and Marlinchen still would've had several good opportunities to complete her character arc. It didn't necessarily negatively affect the book, though.
Altogether, I loved Juniper and Thorn. The simplicity of the worldbuilding and clarity of prose was a breath of fresh air. If you're looking for a clear-cut, easy-to-read, fairytale reimagining with Russian influences and a blossoming romance between two abused and traumatized characters, this is the book for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Gore
Moderate: Cannibalism and Animal death
Minor: Pedophilia
Pedophillia- A main character (Sevas) has a history of being sexually abused by a supposedly trusted adult from a young age. This is alluded to a few times before eventually being confirmed as true. It gives depth to the character but does not go into specific detail about the abuse itself.
Sexual Assault- An adult main character (Marlinchen) is molested/sexually assaulted by an older character. A family member is aware and allows it to happen several times. I honestly skipped through these scenes so I cannot provide much detail, but skipping through them did not take away from my experience of the book. The character's thoughts about how it affected them is enough to move the story along seamlessly.