Juniper & Thorn: Ginepro e Spina

by Ava Reid

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf and the Woodsman comes a gothic retelling of The Juniper Tree, where a young witch seeks to discover her identity and escape the domination of her abusive wizard father. Perfect for fans of Angela Carter, Catherynne M. Valente and Shirley Jackson
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A gruesome curse. A city in upheaval. A monster with unquenchable appetites.

As the last true witches living in a city shifting from magic to industry, Marlinchen and her two sisters are little more than tourist traps 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 their tyrannical, xenophobic wizard father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. While at night, she and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city's amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theatre, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart.

But as Marlinchen's late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father's rage and magic. And while the city 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.

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Gothic, Romance, Retellings, Fiction, Adult

320 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2022

About the author

Ava Reid is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of gothic fantasies, including A Study in Drowning, Juniper & Thorn, and Lady Macbeth. She lives in California.

Reviews

[Marquise · Rating 1 out of 5]

UPDATE II: This YouTuber by the username of Reads with Rachel has decided to use her channel as a bully pulpit and use my review for her own ends, without even disguising my identity, as despite her hypocritical disclaimer that nobody should come to my review to speak on her behalf, there have been people who have come FROM HER CHANNEL AND NAMING HER AS THE SOURCE to attack me.

Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aEPv...

That's online bullying, which can't be tolerated and will be reported to Goodreads and YouTube. Rachel has an account here and could've engaged me in debate, but instead chose to make an episode that has resulted in harassment of my account for months.

Thank you for that, Rachel, your bullying has done its work, but I'm not going to back down or delete this review and I hold YOU responsible for the trolling and aggressive messages I've gotten recently.

My response to Reads with Rachel's excuses in the comments: 1, 2

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The blurb for this book does describe the plot pretty well, it's indeed a dark fairy tale-inspired story that included serial murders and a family of witches living under the oppressive tutelage of their mage father, from whom they want to escape and enjoy life and love. The world it's set in is pretty much Russia just barely varnished with a layer of magic and new naming that doesn't quite obscure the real inspiration.

I've been trying to enjoy this author's retellings since her début, and this is the second time in a row that I fail. I simply cannot connect with her characters and stories no matter how much I try, and it's frustrating because Ava Reid's playing ground of choice is Slavic lore. I like Eastern European fairy tales a lot, so whenever a book is announced with a blurb stating it takes its inspiration from Eastern European tales, I pay attention. I keep expecting another Katherine Arden or Naomi Novik, and instead they give me disappointments like Jumiper & Thorn.

Besides that, another catch is that Ava Reid's prose is lovely. She definitely knows how to write, her command of imagery and mood and feels is superb, and the flow of her words is smooth. That's another reason to want to love her books so hard.

And yet, the characters and the plotting proper are her weakness. There's no sense of moderation, no sense of directing her train of thought consistently, no good grasp of character progression, and above all, little command of plot structure. That eventually ends up harming her stories, because pretty words and on-point mood can only do so much for a book.

The most off-putting aspect in Juniper & Thorn is the crass oversexualisation, and it starts too early, practically in the very first chapter, that starts with Marlinchen, the protagonist, slipping away with her sisters to the ballet and instantly lusting for the primo ballerino the minute he comes into the stage, drooling over Sevastyan's chest hair, the outline of his groin, etc., and ends up with masturbation. And it doesn't stop there, everything from sexual assault to paedophilia to incest is thrown at us without warning from there on, and whilst I'm not a stickler for trigger warnings, the excessive amount of triggering this book can set off merits saying that there should've been better warning for readers. Readers need to know what they're going to find here, and they weren't given fair warning because many, like me, didn't see any warnings when they asked for the book for review. We thought it was a Gothic fairy tale retelling with dark twists, exactly as the marketing specifies. But it's been revealed that its contents aren't the usual fare for retellings, and it should've been clarified.

The oversexualisation takes away from the story, because Marlinchen and Sevas can't seem to be able to have a healthy interaction that's not immediately jumping into bed or involving sex in every single chapter. They're like traumatised rabbits that only know to couple whenever they're in the vicinity of each other, with little in the way of building up a relationship, and you end up wondering what exactly the story is here. And the descriptions are always tacky and ordinary, because the author doesn't write sex scenes well, and when you add to it the unnatural and criminal aspects (rape, paedophilia), it ends up wearing you down so badly the temptation to stop reading is irresistible.

I did finish the book, however, optimistically hoping it'd get better. It did not. Reid went overdrive with the body horror, adding an excess of gore and bodily functions to the excess sex, so it turns unpleasant very quickly, it grosses you out reading all the vomiting, all the guts out, the blood... I'm not squeamish in the slightest, but this was too much even for my strong stomach.

In the end, that was sold to me as a dark take on the Grimms' "The Juniper Tree" turned out to be a Jack the Ripper copycat with an emphasis on the gore and the sex and grossness, neglecting the plot and the characterisation. I really wish there had been more emphasis on the characters and less on the shock for shock's sake, as well as better marketing, because as with the first book, it promised more than it delivers but this time with the addition of needless triggers and titillation.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Heather Mclarry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this weird little book

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

↠ 5 stars

Marlinchen is a witch, youngest of three daughters to a cursed wizard, living out her days in a city transforming from magic to industry. Last of the true witches in all of Oblya, she and her sisters cling to their gifts, which are little more than entertainment to the general populace and an asset to their father. Sequestered within the walls of their home, Marlinchen spends much of her free time placating the unending appetites of their authoritative father and utilizing her gifts to discern the truth from her clientele. The evening brings escape, as Marlinchen and her sisters creep into the city to partake in its revels and observe the captivating ballet theatre. These nighttime escapades offer salvation, but when Marlinchen captures the attention of a ballet dancer just as lost and isolated, her visits to the outside world become less uncommon. Entangled between the rage and hunger of her father, and her own desires, Marlinchen is caught in a snare, and the cost of freedom may be far more monstrous than she ever imagined.

When I heard that Ava Reid had written a gothic horror retelling of The Juniper Tree, there was nothing I wouldn't do to read it at the soonest possible chance. Having absolutely worshiped her adult debut, The Wolf and the Woodsman, this novel promised to ruin me without remorse as much as its precursor. True to the fact, Juniper & Thorn is utterly gruesome, vividly capturing a darkness and horror that lingers down dark halls and underneath floorboards waiting for the prime moment to sink in its teeth. Reid is masterful at their craft, seamlessly blending horror and fantasy together in a story completely grotesque and illustrative of a blooming rose clouded among thorny brambles. Every sentence in this novel is striking, with imagery and prose that threatened to devour me whole. In time with the story, lore and fairytales play an important part in the main narrative, intersecting the vein of Marlinchen’s character development and the understanding of her own situation. These sporadic fairytales were definitely some of my favorite parts of the whole book, getting after the core themes and relationships between the main characters. At this point, Reid's capability for writing complex relationships is unquestionable, particularly ones that are nuanced and not simply good or bad, yet those you cannot help but love all the more. Three characters that come to mind are Marlinchen and her sisters Undine and Rose, as they endured years of abuse at the hands of their father, and impacted one another in continuously damaging ways. In turn, Marlinchen’s love interest Sevas was entirely endearing and latched on to my heart as the two attempted to escape their situations. A captivating gothic horror with a brutal design, Juniper & Thorn is imbued with memory, an examination of abuse, and survivorhood in all forms.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review

Trigger warnings: violence, emotional abuse, gore, blood, death, murder, body horror, cannibalism, eating disorder (bulimia), vomiting (graphic), sexual assault, antisemitism, xenophobia, drug use

[Samantha Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was already a big fan of Ava Reid after being thoroughly enchanted by The Wolf and the Woodsman, but Juniper and Thorn has cemented them as one of my favourite authors.

Their sophomore novel is a Gothic horror, set in a city struck by the unstoppable wave of industrialisation. Here, a cruel wizard endlessly hungers under a curse, and his three daughters try their best to survive him.

Reid captures the grisly darkness of The Juniper Tree – one of the Grimms' grimmer offerings – while leaving room for moments of wonder and sweetness. Marlinchen is a deeply layered and interesting protagonist, and Reid writes her trauma, endurance and defiance with tremendous compassion and care.

Now to wait (im)patiently for A Study in Drowning . . .

Note: I received a free Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher.

[Ava Reid]

As we are approximately six months from publication and advance copies are beginning to find their way into readers' hands, I would like to take this moment to provide content warnings for Juniper & Thorn. The last thing I want to do is cause serious psychological harm to readers whose traumatic experiences mirror those depicted in the book.

At the same time, I ask that readers, particularly those who do not personally identify with these topics, not pre-judge the book based on content warnings. Nuanced depictions of uncomfortable subject matter have always been crucial to literature - one of the most valuable elements of fiction is its capacity to explore these subjects, shine a light on topics that are traditionally stigmatized, and elevate the voices of those who have been historically silenced.

If content warnings are used as a sort of classification system for books, rather than for the intended purpose of protecting vulnerable readers, then the net effect is only to further stigmatize these topics. Juniper & Thorn is a horror novel. It is meant to shock, unnerve, and generally to provoke intense emotional reactions; these are the hallmarks of the genre. Many readers and writers find a certain comfort in a genre where these reactions are valued rather than maligned, and this is one of the reasons I was drawn to the gothic horror tradition. Please keep in mind: something that is repugnant to one reader can be life-saving for another.

A book is more than the sum of its trigger warnings. While I strongly condemn the pressure many authors have been put under to trot out their trauma as justification for the content in their works, Juniper & Thorn comes from a deep place in my heart. It has eaten at me (no pun intended - okay, a little pun intended), and I hope that, in some way or another, it eats at you, too.

So, without further ado, the content warnings for Juniper & Thorn:

Gore and body horror
Child sexual abuse; incest
Cannibalism
Antisemitism, xenophobia, and scientific racism
Physical and psychological abuse by family members; gaslighting
Self-harm and suicidal ideation
Bulimia; graphic descriptions of vomiting
Animal death

[Brend · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so fucked up!
I loved it!

Visceral and twisted, buried deep within the heaviness of confronting the truth that was always at reach but too dangerous to touch.

Following the plain-face, too-dutiful, third-daughter of the last living Wizard in this land, we're swallowed whole by a story of loveless existences and the power in escapes. One can find self-love in the strangest of places, sometimes the darkest.

This is a perfect example of how to handle seriously disturbing things and actions while being able to keep your audience engaged.

[Tia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Take a shot every time:

1. She blushes
2. She mentions that she’s ugly
3. The word “breasts” is used

Invite me to your funeral if there’s gonna be good snacks

My 13th reason quote:
“Their breasts seemed polite somehow, unobtrusive; certainly they would never be rude enough to split the seam on a bodice.”

[Shelley Parker-Chan]

Astonishing. There’s nothing about this book that I’d even think of changing—it’s a dark, terrible fairytale brought to perfection, and every element feels both classic and infinitely applicable to the now (it does go unflinchingly and truthfully into some very dark places, particularly with regards to domestic violence and child sex abuse, so be warned). In its atmosphere of unfolding horror (of powerlessness and abuse) and dread (of violence, of new and repeated cruelties), it reminded me a lot of Elana Arnold’s Damsel—but the setting, where modernity has violently crashed into traditional places and lifestyles, ups the complexity and makes this a multi-layered masterpiece. I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

Note: I received a free Advance Reading Copy of this book from the publisher.

[Ashlee » libraryinthecountry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, wow, wow this book. I’m a feeling a lot of things after reading it, but most of all I’m feeling seen. This book was like stepping through the halls of my soul. It resonated so deeply with me, and feels like a great big “YOU MATTER” in so many ways. ♥️

First of all, Juniper and Thorn is an adult gothic horror fantasy. Don’t let “retelling” lead you to believe this is a whimsical fairytale. There are certainly fairytale aspects of the book, but The Juniper Tree is already a dark story, and Reid reimagines it in ways that only they could do (and they do it well!). One of the purposes of the horror genre is to leave readers unsettled and if you feel that way after finishing this book, all I can say is: Good! Mission accomplished!

Personally, I delighted in every bewildering moment of it. Again, it resonated deeply with me and I think many who have experienced similar traumas and violence will feel the same way. I greatly appreciated the way Reid carefully and accurately represents the effects of sexual trauma, particularly through Marlinchen’s intrusive thoughts and fixation on specific body parts, which tend to be hypersexual in nature. This is a very common behavior and even coping mechanism in folks who have experienced sexual trauma and violence, especially CSA. (There are reviews out there clutching pearls over this and making it out to be gratuitous or gross or unnecessary or disgusting, and simply put, it’s disappointing and disheartening to see, as someone who actually lives these types of thoughts and behaviors. What do these statements say to people who live this everyday? It’s not helpful rhetoric on SA or CSA, and completely misses what I feel is one of the central themes of this book. Again, reminder here that this is a horror book borrowing from an already horrifying story.)

Reid has been frank and open about how much of this book reflects their own experiences and I felt like they handled that portrayal through the perspective of a main character masterfully. Simply put, it’s not something we see often in genre fiction. Characters who go through similar experiences are supposed to Get Good With A Sword™ and slay dragons and topple evil and dismantle authoritarian governments. Rather, Marlinchen isn’t a character that’s going to lead a rebellion or sacrifice themself for the greater good or take down a ruthless king. Instead she felt REAL. Marlinchen is smart and resourceful and has an innate desire to not just survive, but to live and experience everything the world has to offer.

And when she meets Sevas and they discover how much of their experiences mirror one another? *chef’s kiss* Marlinchen and Sevas have both been treated in unspeakable ways by the people they should be able to trust and rely on more than any one (common for those who have experienced SA, particularly CSA), and there’s an innate beauty in seeing Marlinchen and Sevas them come together and discover how much power they hold and feed into the other.

There is satisfying romance to root for throughout this book as well and it balanced the horror themes well. Sevas is the himbo fantasy love interest I didn’t know I needed, but I’m taking him home with me! You saw it here first!

Simply put, Juniper & Thorn is a dark book with dark themes and dark consequences. It’s a story of two souls valued only for what they can do, rather than who they are, and the unraveling of the world around them that happens when they stand together.

Again, if this book leaves you feeling unsettled, then it’s done what it’s supposed to do!

I won’t get into a long list of trigger warnings on this book because as a horror novel, it’s safe to assume there will be potentially triggering content. Pointedly, there is depictions of (childhood) sexual assault and trauma (both post experience and seen through flashback), body horror, gore, bulimia, animal death, violence, and more. If you’re at all familiar with The Juniper Tree, then it’s safe to assume this book has a similar level of content. Finally, this is an adult novel.

Between The Wolf and the Woodsman and this book, Reid has found themselves solidly in my favorite fantasy authors and I’m looking forward to everything that comes from them in the future! This book was a win in so many ways for me, and I feel as though I’ve found a kindred soul in Reid’s storytelling.


Original, Cover Reveal thoughts:
This book had me at "baroque Gothic horror" but I stayed for that INCREDIBLE cover. It is giving me all the feels and I am ready to get lost within the dark halls and brambles of this book.

[Taylor Walworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't mince words: this was painful.

It's been a hot second since I read a book that I just could not vibe with on any level, but alas, here we are. JUNIPER & THORN was a disappointment. And while I'd like to think that some of my dislike might have been tempered by a favourable reading of Ava Reid's debut novel THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN (full disclaimer: never read it), or even by some knowledge of the folktale this is purportedly retelling ("The Juniper Tree"), I mostly think that when it all comes down to it.... I'm just not sure this was a well-written book? Or at least, maybe just not a particularly well-edited one?

The main character is a young witch named Marlinchen, who is the youngest of three sisters and also, she doesn't let us forget, the ugliest, except her ugliness seems to boil down to her just having really chaotic hair? She lives with her sisters Undine and Rose, who both hate her for some reason (on macro and micro levels respectively), and their father, a xenophobic warlock who bears the classic male hallmark of believing himself more powerful than anybody else he knows, and I'm really just taking his word for it that he was once because now he's just an emotional terrorist who "has to" pimp his daughters' powers out for money and survival. Also, there are monsters in the garden.

Marlinchen is resigned to her fate, caring for a father who scarcely notices her except when it benefits him to do so, servicing the men whose money her family relies upon but in whose eyes she is merely an object, when, during a late-night jaunt to the ballet with her sisters, she crosses paths with Sevastyan, a dancer who is hiding some dark secrets of his own. Drawn together, the couple resolve to escape the invisible chains their lives are each bound by.

My first issue is that what I described above constitutes basically 75% of the book. By which I mean, not a lot happens. And the remaining quarter was a mish-mash of monsters, mayhem, and murder, except a couple of the men being murdered definitely deserved to die so we don't really care about them anyway. There was a twist that I sort of saw coming, because duh, but also didn't, because the threads of this story were so lazily tied together during the denouement that a light breeze could have blown them apart. And here's where I can't decide if the problem was the writing or the editing, or both.... because I do think Ava Reid is a good writer. There were moments throughout this book of genuine horror, startling morbidity, drop-dead "what the fuck?"-ness. They were just, somehow, the wrong moments, bookended by so much other wrongness that I finished reading this not really knowing what was important, what I was supposed to care about, what the point of it all was.

My second issue: I am a reader for whom books tend to live or die by the strength of their characters, so it was an enormous problem for me that I couldn't quite get around to caring about Marlinchen, and still don't feel like I know her despite having read over 300 pages of her story. Despite her being the main character, aspects of her narration had the effect of holding her at a remove from the readers; I suspect this was purposeful, a move intended to exaggerate her victimhood (casting her inability or unwillingness to acknowledge her dire situation and call it abuse as a kind of twisted survival mechanism) and possibly even to give the final "twist" a bit more of a punch, but unfortunately it left me totally unable to access her character on a deeper level. I also had a problem with how her character and importance were constantly, irrevocably attached to and defined by the men in her life: her father, Sevastyan, Dr Bakay. (And how the ending did nothing, in my eyes, to remedy that, which completely negated any growth she might have achieved over the course of the story.)

As for the other characters, the significance of Zmiy's xenophobia was dulled by my total lack of understanding of the societal structure of Oblya (were these ethnic groups and economic structures introduced in Reid's first novel, and that's why she devoted almost no time to breaking them down here?); Undine and Rose had no personalities beyond being more beautiful than Marlinchen, and therefore they were almost completely irrelevant to the narrative; and Sevastyan was just, I dunno, a cornfield ("I think it would make me very happy to see your face in the crowd", kill me now please). Put simply, you couldn't pay me to care about any of these people.

Also, there are monsters in the garden, which, considering how this book ended, should have been more significant but just... wasn't. Alas.

[Laurens.Little.Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update! Adding in what I wrote for the Washington Post article I was featured in:

“Juniper & Thorn” reimagines the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Juniper Tree,” one of their darkest and most violent fables. Reid leans into Hungarian and Jewish folklore to tell the story of a third daughter trapped in a meagre life by her cursed, tyrannical father, a xenophobic wizard. After slipping away with her sisters to see the ballet, she stumbles across a young man whose deepest desires mirror her own, setting in motion a painful journey toward emancipation. I knew I was reading something special when I found myself scribbling in the margins at 3 a.m., unable to put the book down. I’ve read more than 150 novels in 2022, and nothing comes close to “Juniper & Thorn’s” rich and often vicious imagery. In an era when far too many fantasy novels suffer from unnecessary bloat, this book is the antidote; Reid doesn’t waste a single sentence.

Also, I did indeed make a video essay about the central motifs in Juniper & Thorn:
Watch part 1 here
Part 2 here
And part 3 here

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Will I write a thesis on this? Honestly, probably yes. (In video essay format, obviously 😉)

When I do, I’ll update this review. But I guess I’ll leave you with this: I cannot disagree with the 1-star reviews of this book more. And I will be compiling my arguments for you in a TikTok. Watch this space xx

[EmmaSkies · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t had a five star read in almost six months and THE DROUGHT IS OFFICIALLY OVER. FIVE [VERY WEIRD] STARS.

Reading Juniper & Thorn is like reading a very dark old Eastern European fairytale in the best possible way. The writing in this book is what made me rate it 5 stars because...oh my god. It's haunting and poetic and beautiful and dark and it just sucks you right in and doesn't let go. Ava Reid's prose is incredible.
(It has just now come to my attention that this is a retelling of the Grimm fairytale The Juniper Tree, so the whole "reads like a fairytale" thing makes a lot of sense now.)

I don't even know how to rate or review the story (I'm terrible at reviewing books I loved, I just love them). I have quite literally had this unfinished review sitting open in a tab in Chrome for 3 days while I try to figure out what to say.
Juniper & Thorn is the story of a young witch whose life is confined to a family that mistreats her and a father who terrifies her in a rapidly changing world where her family's brand of magic is little more than a tourist trap of the Old Ways. It is about isolation and the desire to be free warring with the fear of the unknown. It's about all the ways an abuser exerts control over their victims in an effort to feel fulfilled in a way that will ultimately never be enough. It's about love and the escape it can bring.

This book is a difficult read at times. It is gruesome and devastating; both hard to watch and hard to look away. I've never read anything quite like it.

CWs:
- Gore/Body Horror
- Childhood SA
- Disordered Eating

[Bailee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was slightly out of my comfort zone, gothic being a vibe I adore, but horror being a genre that I NEVER thought I’d try out. Turns out, I enjoy it??

The story of a the youngest of three witch daughters to a terrifying and powerful wizard and how she’s trying to break away from her fathers overbearing and cruel ways… all while murders are happening in the city that she’s just beginning to explore.

Not gonna lie I was a little scared there for a minute. Scared really isn��t the right word, I was thoroughly disturbed and creeped out. But I mean what else do you expect from a horror book? This was definitely darker than I thought it was going to be.

Here’s to trying new genres!

[Khadidja · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt like reading a studio ghibli movie if that makes sense. The story was strange, weird and described ugly things in such a captivating way that i wanted to SEE them not experience them because i am coward and i get scared.

The writing was very beautiful i can't wait to read Ava Ried's other book.

[Wiktoria Badora · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5
ehhhh I'm kinda disappointed? 😭 yes it was gothic and dark but at the same time it was shallow and oversexualized to the point of just being repetitive and gross without reason

[Gisele · Rating 2 out of 5]

I came to Juniper & Thorn with high expectations, since I follow Ava Reid on IG and I like her a lot. I knew this book was an adult horror with fantasy elements, inspired by Victorian-era Odessa, Ukraine. I also knew the author wanted to explore trauma and abuse, specially in family relationships, so I was pretty sure I'd love this story. Unfortunately, that's not what happened.

First, the main reason I deeply disliked it: Marlinchen, the main character. Even though this is an adult book, Marlinchen looks like the typical YA fantasy MC: too naive, too innocent, too trustful, always saying she's sooo ugly but ending up paired together with the most beautiful boy in the city (seriously, this is so YA). She's 23 years old, but her innocence, immaturity and lack of knowledge of everything around her made she seems more like a 15-year-old teenager who knows nothing of the world.

I know the author wanted to portray a realistic abuse survivor. I agree with Ava Reid when she said people always expect trauma survivors to act a certain way, and specially female characters in fantasy books, to always be represented as strong and badass. She wanted to bring a character who was impacted and fragilized by her trauma, and I completely understand and agree with her in that subject. However, I did not like Marlinchen, she only felt silly and annoying to me. I've seen other female characters in similar positions who were portrayed way more mature than her (like The Midnight Lie's Nirrim or Spinning Silver's Wanda). And with that, I hope to clarify that I'm criticizing ONLY a character building, and not people in real life who endure the kind of traumas that Marlinchen goes through.

Another thing that annoyed me is Marlinchen always comparing herself with her sisters all the time. In the first 25 pages, she repeated 13 TIMES (yes, I counted) that her sisters were breath-takingly beautiful and she was ugly and plain. And the author repeated this many times, almost every chapter, to the point it got unbearable. It also didn't sit well with me the way Marlinchen insinuated that bad things would never happen to her sisters, because they're so pretty that men wouldn't dare to touch them. I know she's supposed to be naive and not knowing much about the world, but that was just too much for me to believe she could be that clueless.

I also found the plot pretty boring. Nothing much happens, the story revolves around Marlinchen living miserable inside her house, being bullied and humilliated by her sisters and her father, falling in love (insta-love, btw) with Sevas, a famous theater dancer, and a monster lurking in the city. Even the few plot twists felt unsurprising and predictable.

The characters felt too flat and limited, each of them has only one trace of personality. Undine (Marlinchen's older sister) was always despicted as beautiful and mean, Rose (the middle sister) was always clever and cold/distant, Marlinchen's father was mean and cruel, and Sevas (which I liked a lot, despite his lack of character development) was reduced as being beautiful and enamored by Marlinchen. And that's it.

As for Sevas, I wished the author showed more of this character, his life outside Marlinchen's world, his past, his feelings and motivations. I'd like it way more if there were chapters narrated by his POV as well. It seemed like, while the author was very graphic and explicit in many things (despicting sex scenes, for example), she also tried to "protect" the reader of some others.

The writing felt cringy sometimes. While I like poetic writing, sometimes the author would make too many analogies when it wasn't really necessary, and it got me distracted from the story.

The book also lacked revision, by the amount of times Ava Reid repeats the same sentences (Marlinchen remembering Derkach's hands on Sevas' neck a thousand times, Marlinchen blushing every 5 pages, the author comparing breasts to blooming flowers a cringy amount of times, the MC repeating how ugly she is and how pretty her sisters are, and so goes on).

August Update:

Back before, when I read the book (july 31, 2022), I criticized some of Marlinchen's thoughts, which I found very weird and couldn't understand the point. The author explained on her instagram account that those scenes were descriptions of intrusive thoughts, something that people in real life who deal with PSTD might have. Therefore, I decided to delete my comments, since they were a reflection of my lack of knowledge on this issue specifically. Thank you, Ava Reid, for clarifying that.

[Leo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was expecting an intense read but I was definitely not prepared for this. I listened to this as an audiobook. The story was horrendous, dark, twisted (check tw) but at the same time it felt beautiful in a twisted way, but easy to get hooked on while at times I wished I didn't.

I would highly recommend to check trigger warnings for this

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5/5
Difícil valorar este libro. Me gustó muchísimo su ambientación: la atmósfera tan oscura y siniestra, esa ciudad industrial (inspirada en los países del este) en la que la magia ya casi no existe, esa casa de pesadilla en la que conviven tres hermanas brujas y su padre, los cuervos sin ojos, un estanque en el que mirar el futuro y muchos monstruos.
Hay tantos elementos retorcidos y oscuros que encajan tan bien aquí... Es un cuento de hadas pero perverso de verdad. Una historia para adultos que habla de abuso, problemas alimenticios, autolesiones..a mi me resultó un libro especialmente incómodo y agobiante, además de difícil de digerir a veces.
No todo me ha encantado pero me ha resultado una lectura original, totalmente envolvente y única.

[eclaire de lune · Rating 1 out of 5]

The problem with Juniper & Thorn is that it fundamentally misunderstands its own genre. The key to good horror, especially Gothic horror, is the tension of not fully knowing what's going on. Is the house really cursed, or just old? Was that an ominous whisper, or the wind through the leaves? Did the previous lady of the house die of illness, or something more malign? But you get none of that suspense in this book because everything, right from the very first paragraph, is spelled out for the reader in such blindingly obvious terms that it feels like getting smacked in the face with a mallet (with the glaring exception of the reveals that Marlinchen's mother got cooked and eaten and Marlinchen was the monster doing all the killing, which were slipped in so offhandedly it had me flipping back through the book to see if I'd missed something earlier. It's not spine-chilling or suspenseful or frightening; it's just gruesome. I don't have an ethical objection, on principle, to gory or explicit content, but I do want it to serve a purpose in the story (just like everything else) and I am not entirely sure everything here was. How would Marlinchen's character have been different without Dr. Bakay? How would anything about the plot have changed? Would it have at all?

Part of the problem there is that Marlinchen is a non-character, a character-shaped hole who is shaped entirely by the dynamics of the people around her and has absolutely no substance of her own. Even her witch-gift, which would be crucial to her character, is used increasingly sporadically and inconsistently throughout the book. Without her jealousy of her sisters, or her fear/adoration of her father, or her lust for Sevas, what would she be? What does she want? What does she like? What does she need? Who is she when she's alone? There might be something in there about how trauma turns people into empty shells, which is a valid reading, but given how bluntly every other message in the book is spelled out, if that's what the author intended she probably would have just said it. And for a book that's so concerned with trauma and abuse and monstrous womanhood, it really did not do right by Undine. Although there's a token attempt or two at giving her nuance (which is about as much as any of the characters get), at the end of the book she's still the Beautiful Blonde Bitch whose only character traits are being cruel and vain and who is punished for the sin of owning her own sexuality by being brutally murdered, and is sexualized in death not only by a crowd of relative strangers but her own sister.

Every other character is both shallow and static, so much of the dialogue blunt or forced, and there was absolutely nothing interesting about Marlinchen and Sevas' dynamic. I think his acceptance of her as a monster was supposed to be sweet and emotional, but it just makes him look stupid and desperate. Neither of them have anything to offer the other except being the first relationship in their lives that isn't abusive. The worldbuilding feels shallow and slapdash, with the aesthetics of trying to make a point about capitalism and xenophobia but no substance behind it (what are all those factories in Oblya making? Does anyone know?) and the prose wasn't good enough to stand up against the structural flaws. In particular there was a lot of verbatim repetition that made me think the book needed an editor.

I also think this doesn't hit the mark as a fairy tale retelling. Turning something like a fairy tale or a myth into a novel is always a tricky process - you want to keep enough of the source material that it's recognizable, while still imparting an additional layer of depth and interpretation. I was unfamiliar with the Juniper Tree before reading this book, so I read it afterwards, and it turns there is very little in common between the original fairy tale and the book. There are a few thematic elements that are picked up - the tree itself, the cannibalism, Marlinchen's name - but the plot and emotional dynamics are entirely different.

Finally, in no particular order, a list of petty gripes I had while reading:
- Marlinchen's pink dress is referred to as being made out of crinoline. Crinoline is an extremely stiff horsehair fabric that was used to make those huge round stiff petticoats you see in mid-19th century fashion. It is not used for outerwear.
- Reid consistently refers to a corset as if it were the bodice of a dress. Corsets are in fact separate garments from gowns and would go underneath them. On that note, at no point was there ANY period-appropriate underwear on any of the female characters. Stockings? Pantaloons? Shifts? No??? JAIL. JAIL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
- How much blood does Reid think breaking the hymen causes?? Enough to coat a man's hands?
- All of these issues come to a perfect conflux when Marlinchen is worried her skirts will ride up and her sister will see the dried blood on her thighs. Girl. You're telling me that before she left the ballet theater with Sevas she didn't take five minutes to wash herself off?
- Similarly, in the book's timeline, Marlinchen first goes to the boardwalk and murders two men, picking up enough black sand to clog a bathtub drain, then goes to the ballet, then has what is presumably her first bath since the boardwalk. WHAT.
- Derkash being Sevas' handler is so weird, that's not a thing in the ballet world, even just "agent" or "coach" would feel more natural.
- Why and HOW has Sevas been playing the role of Ivan, an adult male character, since he was TWELVE? You're telling me a twelve-year-old kid is going to dance better than senior members of the company? That he's going to pull off a pas de deux with an adult woman? LIES.
- SEX SCENE ON A FLOOR COVERED IN BROKEN GLASS. WHY.
- Marlinchen's comment about how the sisters were given names that couldn't be given Russian diminutives is silly on a couple levels. First because absolutely no one in this story goes by a diminutive anyway, apart from Sevas and his friend Aleksei, so it's not like it matters. Second, even if it did, Slavic naming conventions follow a pretty standard pattern and it would be very easy to create diminutives out of their names, even if they're not traditional. Dinya? Rozya? Marlinka? IT'S NOT HARD.
- Why couldn't Zmiy magic himself out of prison at the end? Like, as far as we're shown, his magic doesn't need components or materials, he can just will things to happen, and there's no mentions of any precautions being taken against him casting spells. So... why is he still in jail?
- Oblya was another one of those fantasy settings where it's such a thinly-veiled description of our own world it makes you wonder why the author bothered to make it a second world in the first place. Reminds me a lot of A Far Wilder Magic, down to the in-universe anti-Semitism, the falling-apart grand house, and the abusive parenting.

Gothic horror, please. The only horrifying thing about this book is how bad it is.

[rachelle (m00dreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

View this review on my booksta!

3.25 rounded down.

Juniper & Thorn is a chillingly visceral portrait of the underpinnings and repercussions of abuse, painted over a haunting imagining of Slavic lore. Reid’s evocative writing heightens the morbid effect of her main weapon of delivery – body horror. Her words are darkly atmospheric; they snake around you with all the slithering seduction of vines and drag you headfirst into her gritty and sepulchral world.

For those who like their fantasies heaped with indulgent servings of sordid, this is the perfect October read (if you’re planning on picking this up, I cannot implore you enough to look up the CWs and heed them). However, if you’re looking for an action-filled and plot-driven tale, it’s best to turn elsewhere. I love myself a depraved, no-holds-barred fantasy, but I still require orientation. I need the story to be grounded with a sense of direction regardless of how sinuous the trail may be. And yet, the cohesion between the underlying themes and the plot is weak. The grittiness began to feel like over-liberal seasoning compensating for an undercooked center. There was an effort to incorporate explorations on xenophobia and industrialization to the overarching storyline, but they proved to be as purposeless an element as the city map plastered on one page.

The romance? Also very off-putting. The love interest had the potential to be an intriguing character in his own right, but it was like Reid had dunked both him and the MC in a tub of trauma, and upon their resurfacing, poked them with a stick to get them going at it. Zero chemistry, and a farce of a build-up (if having them meet each other a grand total of four times even constitutes one lol). Of course the cloistered and traumatized MC was going to fall in love with the first person who drops her a crumb of sincere kindness 🙄. There were better devices for character progression that could have been used.

In retrospect, my expectations for this were ramped up high — Novik and Valente’s Eastern European lore-inspired books are some of my most beloved, and my standards were through the roof. Still, I commend Reid for her raw portrayal of womanhood, toxic relationships, and the hope that cycles of abuse can be broken. Marlinchen earned my sympathy and tested my patience; and it is the poignance of her journey that allowed me to overlook most of my gripes.

~

a gothic retelling for fans of catherynne valente... a tale about sisterhood... SOLD.

[Charlotte Kersten]

“No one had ever told me that I was allowed to scream.”

(CW for bulimia and sexual abuse mentioned in this review; there are a lot more potential triggers in the book. The author's review on Goodreads covers them comprehensively.)

So What’s It About?

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.

What I Thought
I missed Reid’s debut The Wolf and the Woodsman a bit ago, but Juniper & Thorn sounded like such a good fit for me that I was delighted to get an ARC. Thanks to NetGalley for that!!! The first thing that I can say about this book is that I wanted to keep reading it very badly and ended up finishing it in a day. There was definitely something about it that drew me in all the way until the end - it has grit and atmosphere and personality in spades. I think a lot of this has to do with the writing style, which I generally found to be beautiful, immersive and effective in creating a sense of a dreadful fairy tale with lots of interesting/charming little details, especially about the stories that Marlinchen loves. I do think it could have been cleaned up in places, however - I definitely noticed certain tics and repetitions and similes of dubious quality.

As a fairy tale retelling, I think this book generally does a good job of taking the roots of The Juniper Tree and transforming it into something interesting and new that still stays true to the bloody heart of the original (extremely grim and grisly) tale. All of the magical elements worked pretty well for me. But I think it ended up being a weaker read for me in a couple of ways. This is especially true when it comes to the way that it remains true to fairy tale tropes with regard to Marlinchen’s love interest and sisters. Specifically, the love story progresses very rapidly and veers a bit too close to insta-love for my tastes and the sisters are frustratingly one-dimensional. Sevas, the ballet dancer who is Marlinchen’s love interest, only interacts with her a few times - they meet briefly in an alley, talk again briefly in her sister’s storeroom, have a date where they go to a tavern and the beach, and then they briefly see each other again while Marlinchen is trying to heal a customer - but they end up being more or less ride or die with passionate declarations of love for the rest of the book after these interactions. It didn’t quite work for me.

One of the biggest things that brings them together is both being survivors of abuse, and I think that’s always a really beautiful idea that I often enjoy seeing executed (The Mirror Season, Heart’s Blood and Empire of Sand are all examples of this that I’ve liked). In this book. there are a couple really powerful moments of them protecting and supporting each other, but my overall feeling (as with the romance in general) is just that I wish there could have been more of this because I think it could have gone a lot deeper.

As for Marlinchen’s sisters, their role in the story is essentially that of the nasty fairy tale sisters: to insult and patronize and bully her, to show how much worse Marlinchen is treated by their father, to keep her excluded from their secret rebellions against him because they think she is stupid. There are a few other fantasy books I’ve read recently that explore siblings surviving in and after abusive situations, specifically The Once and Future Witches, Spinning Silver, and The Onion Girl. I think these three books did a good job of showing how a family member’s abuse can destroy the relationships between siblings and turn them against each other as they hurt each other to protect themselves. Juniper & Thorn does this too.

But in the other books I mentioned, there was also room for growth and reconciliation, reckonings and the potential repair of terrible relationships between the siblings once their abuse ended - they acknowledged the things they had done to hurt each other and betray each other while they tried imperfectly to survive in situations that no children are equipped to survive in. They grappled with what it meant to have turned against each other, blamed each other and tried/or not tried to protect each other from the abuse. To simply say “Well, Marlinchen’s sisters are just mean and there’s no room to examine this possible aspect of their mutual experiences of abuse” feels very disappointing to me.

A few other thoughts about what didn’t work for me - the father’s competition to get the sisters married and the ensuing portion of the book where there are just a bunch of random boys hanging around the house as murderbait felt somewhat clumsy to me. In addition, I know Reid herself stated that the book was intended to continue along in exploring The Wolf and the Woodsman’s theme of nation-building/empire/identity in an emerging industrial context this time, but I would personally say that this was mentioned with only the lightest of touches.

I’m updating this review a bit now that I’ve had some time for the book to settle - and to see some other reactions to it. A lot of negative reviews seem to feel that the book jam-packs in way too much graphic, upsetting content for a book of its size. One particular review (the top one on Goodreads) became subject of quite a lot of Discourse because it claimed that the book was oversexualized - that Marlinchen and Sevas have way too much sex, that sex is talked about too much and in a gross way. The first part of this is just strange to me because there is only one fairly mild sex scene. The second part is more subjective, of course, but I personally liked that the book was willing to be frank about really uncomfortable things - like, YEAH, it does suck to wake up from a sex dream of someone who hurt you!! And I get that that's a super icky thing to read or think about but I also think depicting it can be really powerful for people who do experience it - or for someone who doesn't experience it to think about what it might be like to deal with that. It's something I wrote about in the Elf Books That Like 10 People Have Read To Conclusion and I personally appreciate that Reid is willing to go places like that. I also liked that Marlinchen had sexual agency beyond the way that she was abused. As for the matter of how Reid handled the dark content/if it was “too much,” I get that everyone is going to feel differently about this - as I’ve made clear, my feeling was mainly that I wanted more depth and exploration of what was present.

I’ve already talked about the bits that didn’t work for me, but my favorite part of the book's exploration of abuse was how messy and raw Marlinchen felt as a character. We see her fantasies of grotesque self-harm, her hatred of her body, the way she binges and purges to self-regulate, the self-effacement and doubt and crushing sense of powerlessness that she slowly fights off as she starts to take action for herself. This depiction definitely stayed with me and I still think about it sometimes even as I’m revising this review a year-ish later.

[Emilie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book.
I enjoyed The Wolf and the Woodsman, and so was very interested to read this book. But I did not enjoy it at all. I am not sure if there are enough trigger warnings for this book. It was a lot. This book dealt with child abuse, psychological abuse, emotional abuse, eating disorders, sexual abuse, pedophilia, animal abuse and cruelty, sex trafficking, cannibalism, torture, xenophobia, and graphic depictions of gory injuries and death. And I'm probably leaving some out... It was too much. If the author was trying to make a statement about the horrible nature of these things, picking one or two to include in her story would have had a much deeper and meaningful impact on the reader than throwing everything in. It was almost like, "What now? Well of course they all ate the murder victim, killed their pet, murdered their family member.... Nothing else can surprise me in this book." Things that perhaps were supposed to be jarring and shocking became almost cartoonish by the end of the book. Another issue I had with the book was the overly sexualized nature of just about everything. Right off the bat I thought to myself, "Oh. Okay...we are going there...alright." And then things began to feel unnecessarily graphic and vulgar. The relationship between Marlinchen and Sevas felt rushed at best, terribly toxic at worst. These are two horrifically traumatized individuals who have just fallen into insta-love with the first person who has shown them glimmers of affection. By the end I couldn't wait to finish the book--not so I could find out what would happen, but because I just wanted it to be over with.
This book was dark, disturbing, graphic, gross, unsettling, and disjointedly weird. And none of that in a good way. Don't come into this expecting another book like The Wolf and the Woodsman, even though it is set in the same world. This is a horror book filled with the terrifyingly awful things that humans can do to each other, described in a strangely off-hand and matter-of-fact YET disgustingly graphic manner.
I would not recommend this book. And I am not sure I would read another book by this author, despite my opinions about her earlier work.

[kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you netgalley, avon and harper voyager, and ava reid for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! i really enjoyed this book and i can tell that it’s one that will stay on my mind for a long time. it’s dark and gruesome, but also hopeful.

juniper and thorn is a loose retelling of “the juniper tree” and follows marlinchen and her two sisters, along with their father. i really enjoyed the writing style of this one and thought that it fit the story really well. reid’s lyrical prose helps the book establish its place as a gothic fantasy novel and kept me intrigued the entire time i was reading.

i loved seeing the growth that all of the characters undergo throughout the novel. marlinchen starts to believe more in herself and learns some of the secrets that have been kept from her. there are some lighter moments between her and those she loves, but overall this is a very gruesome novel, and i recommend checking trigger warnings before reading. i was shocked at how descriptive some of the scenes were, because i wasn’t aware that this was an adult book before reading, but i was really impressed with it.

ava reid did a wonderful job with the setting and character growth in this book and i’m eager to read more from them. i highly recommend this book for people wanting a darker fantasy novel.

[Allison Saft · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely ADORE THIS BOOK, which is haunting and whimsical and brimming with monsters both human and fantastical. More importantly, it has my sweet children, Marlinchen and Sevas, both of whom I would lay down my life for without question. This book is a reimagining of The Juniper Tree, and the prose is as effortlessly beautiful and timeless as any fairytale. But what I admire most about this book is how cleverly Ava uses fairytale conventions to underscore the horrors her protagonists experience: stories root themselves deeply and begin to sprout thorns the more and more they're repeated. J&T is delightfully gruesome--but always, always hopeful. I seriously can't wait for y'all to read this one next year!

[lilratboy · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book is so bad that i think less of the authors that gave reviews on the back cover.

first off, this author’s overall writing style is so overwhelmingly and unnecessarily sexualized that it felt like it was written by a preteen boy. or, you know, stephen king. in a 300 page book, she uses the word ‘breast’ 68 times. then there’s all the nipples and slick thighs and people getting turned on by everything all the time. god, it was exhausting.

the main character has no personality. that’s kind of her thing. that’s the character flaw she’s supposed to challenge and grow from, but she doesn’t. even when she’s supposedly doing something bold, she does it in the absolute most boring way she possibly could. it’s hard to feel like she grew or had a sense of agency even by the end… she had a part in what happened, but it still all feels like things are just happening to her.

her being boring as fuck also makes it impossible to feel any chemistry between her and the male lead. he falls in love with her for some reason. gun to my head, i could not tell you why. i felt bad for him. he’s the only good part of this story.

the book also seems to have something to say about capitalism, industry, xenophobia, and familial abuse. what it’s saying is entirely lost on me. there really doesn’t seem to be a point, but they also feel like they’re supposed to be pillars of the story.

i was so annoyed while reading this book. now that it’s over, im just exhausted of it. don’t judge books by their covers

[Brittany Taft · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What was a story except a berry you ate over and over again, until your lips and tongue were red and every word you spoke was poison?”

Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ava Reid’s debut, The Wolf and the Woodsman, was nothing short of a masterpiece of adult fantasy and set such a high standard for what debuts could accomplish. I was incredibly excited to be able to continue to support them and read more of their work… and a fantasy-horror retelling of Grimm’s darkest fairytale? Say no more!

Juniper & Thorn follows Marlinchen, the youngest of three daughters of the last wizard in Oblya, a city in the midst of throwing off the old ways and embracing modernization. As witches, Marlinchen and her sisters are little more than a source of income for their tyrannical father, who keeps them locked away from the outside world and under a tight leash.

But as young women, they chafe under his rules and sneak out of the house at night. On Marlinchen’s first night out, she is swept away by the ballet performance she sees, and the principal dancer who plays Prince Ivan. Every midnight tryst leaves hope for true love and freedom, but she also risks her father’s magic and rage if she’s ever found out.

Between money problems, their father’s turbulent moods and explosive fury, and a monster who stalks the streets of Oblya murdering innocents, everything will fall to Marlinchen as she figures out the true depths of what her father has done to them, exactly what the cost of freedom could be, and if she can afford to pay it.

Similar to TW+TW, Reid is able to craft such vivid, palpable atmosphere that is perfectly suited to the story they are trying to tell. Behind sunny and bright gardens lurk monsters and a sinister house that hides many things. Times of day alternate, turning sunny gardens to shadow-filled silence. Night migrations that lead to brightly lit ballet theaters. Like taking a bite of fruit with a rotten core, the atmosphere is in turns gorgeous and enticing, then shocking and disgusting, and back again. There’s a claustrophobic feel to the horror within their house, the weight of secrets and suffering.

The vividly different imagery mirrored their abusive father’s moods. Sometimes he would be kind and grateful, and then he could explode and threaten them with his magic. They lived in constant fear of him. He was cursed by a witch to never feel satisfied with anything. This novel was a realistic (but horrible) example of how it can feel to live under the abuse from a parent. The fear. The unknown. Walking on eggshells. Desperately trying ANYTHING to please them and to be loved, only to fail, to slip up, again and again. Nothing will ever be good enough, and the difficulty of truly coming to terms with that fact.

Fairytales are woven in to this narrative as Marlinchen recounts them to herself as she compares them to her life or uses them to make sense of things that have happened to her, or tells them to Sevas, the love interest. She was a child raised on magic and a fairytale codex and since this was a fairytale retelling, it seemed fitting. I always love the incorporation of fairytales and mythology within fantasy books.

And Sevas, my god, I would die for him. I truly don’t know how Ava is able to write such compelling but noticeably different love interests. I loved Gaspar in TW+TW, but they are not very similar and relationship dynamics were completely different as well. Sevas’ kindness and compassion and understanding to Marlinchen from the very beginning above all. There is something so visceral and unendingly awe-inspiring than a good, old fashioned “I see you. I see all of your flaws. I accept them. I love you.” scene. They make me want to rattle the bars of my sanity cage and scream into my pillow.

And I have to say I loved the complex relationship Marlinchen had with her sisters. So many times we read books about siblings being the best of friends, even if that isn’t always what reflects real life. Marlinchen’s relationship with her sisters was messy, was awful, set them apart, showed what they all had to do to themselves and to each other to survive living under their father, regardless if that meant throwing someone else to their father’s rage. I found it fascinating, and horrible, and understandable.

Since humanity began recording their stories, we’ve used fairytales to explore the darkness inside us and around us and explain that monsters can come from within as easily as they can stalk us through the woods. Juniper & Thorn is faithful to that purpose and shows such understanding and reverence to that function fairytales performed, and as custom, also managing to have a happy ending for our dear plain-faced fairytale heroine Marlinchen.

I look forward to anything else Ava Reid may write in the future, especially A Study in Drowning (fall 2023) and will certainly add this book to my collection come June!

I encourage you to read the author’s full statement regarding this book’s content warnings that you can find in the Goodreads reviews and as a reminder, this book is a fantasy horror. It’s meant to horrify, to repulse, to offend. It tackles and gives words to topics that may be hard to read for some, but everyone, from abuse survivors, to SA survivors, to ED survivors, deserve to have stories written for them and deserve to see themselves within fiction. And perhaps even more importantly: remember that survivors have different experiences. Do not disregard their voices because you, personally, might not find it palatable.

Content warnings: gore / body horror, child sexual abuse, physical and psychological family abuse, bulimia and graphic depictions of vomiting, animal death, cannibalism, self-harm and suicidal ideation, antisemitism and xenophobia.

[Elle]

Check out my giveaway for one of EIGHT advance reader copies over on Instagram:

JUNIPER & THORN ARC GIVEAWAY

________________________
A new book by Ava Reid set in the world of The Wolf and the Woodsman. I die.

[Jessica ❥Chatterbooks Book Blog❥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to come back and review this later, but for now, I'll leave something short and sweet.

Juniper & Thorn is a gothic horror fairytale retelling. There's a romance involved too which made it even better. The author's writing style took me a second to get used to, but it's absolutely perfect for the story.

I stayed up all night to finish it. I couldn't put it down. I'm paying for it now, but it was totally worth it!

Overall, Juniper & Thorn is dark, seriously fucking weird, and twisted, so naturally, I loved it! 😂

[Ava · Rating 5 out of 5]

THIS is what people were outraged about and calling it "oversexualized"?! Jesus. Purity culture will be the death of us.

I loved this book. I think it's gorgeously written, it's a wonderful gothic horror and a deconstruction of certain dark fairytale archetypes. I first learned about the outrage on Reads with Rachel yt channel, who came in defense of the book and ironically I was like "fuck this, now I'm really interested in it" and after finishing it I'm even more angry at certain reviews that misconstrue the book and its whole message... It's a story of two traumatized people finding each other and finding the strength to break away from their situations. Sexual trauma is complicated. Were people really expecting these characters to be some pure, delicate flowers? I thought they were written with a lot of compassion and complexity. During the short time that we follow the main character, Marlinchen, we see an incredible amount of growth. Always shunned and dismissed by her tyrant of a father and selfish sisters and delegated into a fairytale archetype of the youngest sister, we witness her coming into her own and gaining courage to stand up for herself and break away from the lies she's been fed, free herself from the stereotype. The impulsivity of her and Sevas' love/lust was very believable and appropriate regarding the circumstances, but to say that it was only lust would be to completely miss the point. It's their similar traumas and deep understanding that ultimately saved them from their respective miserable circumstances and gave them strength, and I found it a source of beauty in this otherwise bleak, gothic tale.

Which, by the way, brings me to the setting, dark but full of life, so vividly painted. Reid mixes the classic, more magical elements of gothic horror with well-known horrors of our reality in this confined setting, like capitalist greed, xenophobia, antisemitism. And they do it with a lot of skill and subtlety. Their prose is also very fitting for this, descriptive, beautiful, but managing not to cross into the purple territory.

Surely a book that will stay with me for quite some time.

[Jena · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars
This is the first book I’ve read by Ava Reid, and I was absolutely blown away by her writing style. It’s very atmospheric and clearly inspired by a few different gothic works. This story is equally as interesting as it is beautifully written. Ava Reid weaves a touching story about parental abuse through a fascinating magic filled mystery. Overall, I was so engrossed and impressed, I can’t recommend this author enough!
Thank you to Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!