Early Review – Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Release Date: June 21, 2022
ISBN-13: 978-0062973160
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars
“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.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book from NetGalley to review.
Thoughts: This story follows Marlinchen, one of three daughters of a wizard. Marlinchen lives with her cursed wizard father and two sisters in an old house. When Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out one night to go to the theater, a series of events starts to unravel everything that Marlinchen has ever known to be true.
This story has a wonderful dark, adult fairy tale vibe to it. It is a retelling of “The Juniper Tree”. The description is well done and the characters are all kind of evil but strangely fascinating. I enjoyed the odd world created here; Oblya is a city moving away from magic into industry and Marlinchen and her family are relics of that magical time. Their magic is strangely visceral and this is reflected in the dark sexuality that is woven through the story. I know some other reviewers have complained about the sexuality here, I honestly didn’t think it was that prominent or that out of place given the tone of the story. It is however, very dark; there is child abuse and sexual abuse throughout but it wasn’t frivolous…just be aware this is a dark adult fairy tale.
Marlinchen was a fascinating character. She came across as both innocent and strangely drawn to darkness. The relationship she ends up in is oddly suited to her and I enjoyed how different, dark and yet, loving it was compared to what you see in a typical fantasy story. Her sisters, father and others that wander in and out of the story are just as fascinating. They are kind of all jerks and they definitely all need some counseling of some sort, but I enjoyed reading about them all the same.
This is a fairly deliberately paced novel but there are some mysteries woven through the story that propel it forward. You are constantly wondering if Marlinchen’s father’s curse will be broken, if the daughters will one day escape their father, and if the mystery of the gruesome dead bodies being found around the city will be solved. I enjoyed the twist at the end of the story and honestly didn’t see it coming. I also liked the irony in how the story ended.
My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this and thought it was an excellent dark adult fairy tale retelling of “The Juniper Tree”. It is very dark but the lyrical writing, fascinating characters, and world on the brink of industrialization really pulled me in. This isn’t the type of book I would like to read every day but I enjoyed how different the tone was from a lot of other fairy tale retellings. I plan on checking out Reid’s first book “The Wolf and the Woodsman” at some point in the future.
