I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava ReidPublished by HarperCollins on June 8, 2021
Genres: Action & Adventure, Epic, fantasy, Fiction, Jewish
Pages: 432
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: Netgalley
In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, this unforgettable debut— inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology—follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.
In her forest-veiled pagan village, Évike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. The villagers blame her corrupted bloodline—her father was a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king’s blood sacrifice, Évike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered.
But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Évike and the cold, one-eyed captain, they have no choice but to rely on each other. Except he’s no ordinary Woodsman—he’s the disgraced prince, Gáspár Bárány, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gáspár fears that his cruelly zealous brother plans to seize the throne and instigate a violent reign that would damn the pagans and the Yehuli alike. As the son of a reviled foreign queen, Gáspár understands what it’s like to be an outcast, and he and Évike make a tenuous pact to stop his brother.
As their mission takes them from the bitter northern tundra to the smog-choked capital, their mutual loathing slowly turns to affection, bound by a shared history of alienation and oppression. However, trust can easily turn to betrayal, and as Évike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gáspár need to decide whose side they’re on, and what they’re willing to give up for a nation that never cared for them at all.
Alright. I’m going to admit that I received this book early from NetGalley way back in January, and I still haven’t finished it. I’ve picked it up and put it down at least 3 times. I found the world of Évike’s danger-filled forest intriguing. I loved every bit of the mythology, from the forest creatures to the far-northern climes.
However. And you knew there had to be a however coming. This book is paced soooo slooooooowly that I couldn’t stand it. It felt like I read *forever*, slogging through this story, but according to my e-reader statistics, it was 4 hours and I got to 52% of the book. I can generally read 300 pages in about 2 hours if I’m motivated. The entire book almost (as much as I read) was characters traveling, and when I gave it up, they had only barely reached the city that was their destination. By that time, I was so frustrated with the pace that I didn’t have enough trust in the author to want to go through the obviously horrible racism and prejudice that was clearly coming.
I know, I know. It’s based on Hungarian history and Jewish mythology. People are poor and oppressed and wrongfully accused of doing hideous things. That’s what really happened, even if this is a fantasy land version of it. And I just don’t want to read it. I feel guilty about this because it sounds so good. But here’s the thing. This is the author’s little blurb when you google her website:
Ava Reid paints a rich and complex picture of a kingdom steeped in ancient magic, straining along seams of religious and cultural tension.
I want to stress this bit: “… along seams of religious and cultural tension.”
Speaking as a left-leaning someone who lived through the years 2016 to present in the US of A, I have to say: no, thank you. I’m an agnostic feminist, raised Southern Baptist by a Confederate-flag waving country boy, married to a black man in America in this our year of 2021.
I do not *need* any more religious or cultural tension, thank you very much.
That doesn’t make this a bad book. Clearly the opposite, since it was released to some acclaim. It’s an International Bestseller, even. And if you really enjoy what appears to be a slow (slow) burn romance, then this book might be your new favorite thing. Unfortunately, it’s just not for me. I’m rating this 3 stars.