The Wolf and the Woodsman - Ava Reid

⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Magdalene)

I feel like this is my first real adult high fantasy in a while, mostly because I haven't loved any lately and was worried fantasy and I weren't compatible anymore. But to my pleasure, I really enjoyed this book!

Evike is a pagan wolf girl who doesn't have any powers, and so has been ignored her whole life. When the woodsmen come for their sacrifice, she is given up quickly. But she finds out the head woodsman is actually the prince in search of a way to get his seat as heir back from his super religious and evil brother, so they make a deal to work together.

I'm not sure what it was that made me enjoy this book more than others and kept me turning the pages instead of it feeling like a slog. The setting and culture were really rich, inspired by Hungarian and Jewish history (the Jewish part was actually very overt - I was surprised). There's quite a bit of brutality in the book - people are cutting off body parts, torturing others, etc. - but it makes sense in this brutal world. Evike is mean and sharp-tongued after years of abuse, but I kind of loved her. And the religious themes were really fascinating, since it was the evil Christians/Catholics trying to get rid of all the pagan villages and rituals in the surroundings, and persecuting the Jews, when all they wanted to do was keep their culture alive.