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3.5 

The Wolf and the Woodsman

By Ava Reid
The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

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. 

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372 Reviews

3.5
Expressionless Face“The best part of this book was the way the different cultures and religions were discussed and compared with one another. Other than that, the story fell flat for me. I felt like a lot of what our characters did was pointless. I think a lot more points could have been made with regards to how religion can be used to manipulate. Also, the author's writing style was repetitive. I could tell she has favorite words and phrasing because they showed up often.”
Morally ambiguousDescriptiveSeriousThought-provoking
Thinking Face“The writing is good and what kept me reading despite disliking so much of it. I didn't like the characters. The romance was forced and weird. Either give me a better romance or none at all. The epilogue did nothing but make me angry because it just kept that ambiguous relationship going. I'm glad Evike feels more at ease about who she is but it just wasn't enough for me”
Heartbreaking
Thumbs Up“There are a lot of pieces of this book I really enjoyed. Ava Reid’s writing is immersive and engaging. The world she built, especially the magic system and the depth of stories and myths, was really interesting. Where I struggled was with the plot, which at times felt a bit uninspired, and in some of the characters, especially Gáspár. I wanted to like him more than I did but he didn’t really ever give me a reason to.”
Beautifully writtenBeautiful settingDescriptiveSerious
Beaming Face with Smiling Eyes“Loooove a sentient, spooky woods book. I read someone describe this as a story full of stories, and I would agree with that. Some parts were hard to get through, but I took my time with this one, reading it throughout the month with other books in between. I loved Ava Reids story telling and I can't wait to see what she puts out next.”
Diverse charactersBeautifully writtenLyricalPoliticalThought-provoking
Thumbs Up“I was really into this book in the beginning but once it got to the middle and the introduction to the romance it seemed to slow down and I became a lot less interested. The romance wasn't as believable as a I wanted it to be and I wish I saw more of the world and it's history. I really liked the way it was written”
Multi-layered charactersAction-packedCreative settingDescriptive

About Ava Reid

Ava Reid was born in Manhattan and raised right across the Hudson River in Hoboken but currently lives in Palo Alto. She has a degree in political science from Barnard College, focusing on religion and ethnonationalism. 

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