Hey y’all! Welcome, welcome! I am so glad you’re here!

It’s no secret I tend to get to read a good bit of advanced copies (which I am BEYOND grateful for) and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was to receive the arc of one of my most anticipated- THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN! When I first heard about Ava Reid’s stunning debut novel, it was an immediate add to Goodreads and pre-order! So let’s talk about it! Without further ado, let’s get right into it!

In the vein of Naomi Novik’s New York Times bestseller Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s national bestseller The Bear and the Nightingale, Ava Reid’s unforgettable debut, THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN (on sale 6/8/21) follows a young pagan woman with hidden magical powers and a one-eyed captain of the Woodsmen as they form an unlikely alliance to thwart a tyrant.  But it is Reid’s in-depth research and personal exploration she took to develop her novel that make this one of the most anticipated fantasy debuts of the year.

With THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN, Reid weaves together the myths and legends of her Jewish and Hungarian heritage with diverse cultural magic. Leaning into her education in political science, Ava focused on the contemporary politics of Hungary and the indigenous ethnic minorities such as Jews and Roma. Hungary’s brutal history of suppression of pagan beliefs in the wake of Christianity is far from unique, but unlike other parts of eastern Europe, the annihilation of paganism was swift, violent, and total. This period of Hungarian medieval history served as the primary inspiration for THE WOLF & THE WOODSMAN. 

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. 

Ava’s heritage inspired her to make Jewish mythology and culture a central part ofTHE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN. Realizing how scant the representation of Jews were in fantasy, especially given the recent glut of Eastern European-inspired tales, it was frustrating and disappointing to Ava to realize how often Jews were excluded from those settings,

“I wanted to write something that at least attempted to do justice to the contributions that Jews have made to Eastern European history and culture, and to write Jews in fantasy that aren’t poorly rendered as gold-grubbing goblins, or as a people defined only by their misery and oppression.”

THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN is a story about magic and faith, storytelling and tradition, belonging and violence. From the truly vicious magic to the sizzling heat between Évike and Gáspár, the twists and turns of this stand-alone will delight and surprise readers as they fall in love with Évike and connect with her struggles and triumphs.

I’ve spoken to Ava a few times in DM’s and she is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever interacted with. For me, I absolutely love when authors respond to my instagram posts or IG stories. Ava has always responded and been overjoyed about my excitement and I truly appreciate that. From everything she’s said about THE WOLF AND THE WOODSMAN I could not be more excited to tackle this one! This is next up on my TBR and I could not be more excited. Even the big names have been praising this one, and it’s not surprising in the slightest to me.

“Ava Reid paints a rich and complex picture of a kingdom steeped in ancient magic, straining along seams of religious and cultural tension. From the first page to the last, every facet and detail is beautifully wrought. Rooted in history and myth, The Wolf and the Woodsman is a stunning debut – a powerful and haunting tale of a young woman’s will to live, of love flowering in defiance of tyranny. It will twine like a dark forest around your heart.”—Samantha Shannon, New York Times bestselling author of The Priory of the Orange Tree

“Reid’s fast-paced debut examines religious freedom through the lens of myth and magic. … The convincing enemies-to-lovers romance, fascinating religion-based magic system, and thoughtful examination of zealotry make this a notable debut.” —Publishers Weekly

“A thought-provoking, thrilling magical twist on the history of religion and politics that I couldn’t put down. In her stunningly rendered—and frankly terrifying—forbidden forests, Reid conjures up some of the ghastliest monsters I’ve ever read, and yet never lets us forget the worst horrors are perpetuated by human hands.” —S.A. Chakraborty, bestselling author of The Empire of Gold

With reviews like that, who wouldn’t be excited for this? I have anxiously been awaiting this read and I can’t wait to come back here and tell all of you my thoughts and feelings! Stay tuned for lots of Instagram posts and my review!

Is this on your TBR? You can add it to your GOODREADS now! Want to pre-order: Click this link to order from your local bookstore! Until next time…

Safe Flights & Happy Reading Nights!

XO

B