The Wolf and the Woodsman: A Novel

Ava Reid

Jun 2021 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

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. 

Ratings and reviews

This did end up picking up near the end which is why I bumped it to 2 stars from 1. Initially, I did not like the book because the romance seemed a little clichéd and forced. On top of that, there really was not much plot except for the romance. The village the main character is from is really poorly fleshed out. It does not feel lived in due to the small amount of name characters it has, despite the amount of narrative time we spend there. The worldbuilding felt shallow to me. This was fantasy Europe with the serial numbers filed off. In my opinion there wasn't enough creativity or time spent worldbuilding to justify not just doing a historical fantasy and using real world events. This felt like the author wanted to have the historical backdrop of a traumatic historical event without doing the research or really dealing with the realities of the situations she was drawing from. Why not just call the Yehuli Jews and confront those realities head on? Same with the Sami.

I just love the exquisite writing, the hauntingly beautiful atmosphere and the backstories as well. Usually these kind of back and forth irritates me, but for some reason the writing beguiled me to carry on with my reading. They way it show you instead of telling, it makes me almost forgot i was reading a book and not in a movie. Perfect for readers who enjoys adventurous, gruesome, raw and enchanting story.

About the author

Ava Reid is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning, Lady Macbeth, Juniper & Thorn, and The Wolf and the Woodsman. Her books have been published in over fourteen territories. She lives in the New York area. Follow her on Instagram at @avasreid and find her online at tumblr.com/avasreid.