Juniper & Thorn
Books | Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy
3.5
(74)
Ava Reid
From highly acclaimed, bestselling author Ava Reid comes a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, set in another time and place within the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father, perfect for fans of Shirley Jackson and Catherynne M. Valente. A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites. Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya's last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city's amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart. As Marlinchen's late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father's rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.
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More Details:
Author
Ava Reid
Pages
301
Publisher
HarperCollinsPublishers
Published Date
2022
ISBN
0062973169 9780062973160
Community ReviewsSee all
"3.5 stars - Juniper and Thorn is an extremely dark and grotesque retelling; it did a great job emphasizing the horrors of abuse and the lengths abusers will go to in order to feel control. I felt like the middle section if the novel was a little bit slow, I could have used more drama. Especially because of how much drama is an innate part of this storytelling! I loved the ending and almost wish it had been drawn out a little bit longer, there could have been more to explore! Finally, I saw a review saying they thought Marlinchen was more of a removed narrator and therefore the story fell flat for them. I agree with this, I wish we had gotten a deeper look into her head. This is the perfect book if you’re looking for something macabre!<br/><br/>Thank you to Edelweiss for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review."
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Alyssa Czernek
" Enchanting, Gruesome, and Breathtaking. This Novel is seeped with the most captivating metaphors. It seems to capture modern, preset themes and wrap them in gothic horror topped with magic. This is one of the best books I’ve read in awhile, so much so I couldn't put it down. Every word hooked me deeper than the last until I’d consumed the final word. Truly, I recommend you take a chance on it. (TW: graphic body horror, cannibalism, depictions of sexual assault, mentions of rape, both verbal and physical abuse, and descriptions of an eating disorder)
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Em Divers
"This book was super disturbing, yet also really good. I liked Marlinchen and Sevas relationship and it may have been the only somewhat cute thing in this book."
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Gwenna
"i love this book with all of my being. it’s magical, transformative, beautifully descriptive, thought-provoking, skin-crawling- there are not enough adjectives to describe how it makes me feel. even after rereading it almost two years later, it remains my favourite book of all time"