The Wolf and the Woodsman: A Novel

by Ava Reid

Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)

Stories don't have to be true to be real...

In her forest-veiled pagan village, Evike is the only woman without power, making her an outcast clearly abandoned by the gods. When soldiers arrive from the Holy Order of Woodsmen to claim a pagan girl for the king's blood sacrifice, Evike is betrayed by her fellow villagers and surrendered. 

But when monsters attack the Woodsmen and their captive en route, slaughtering everyone but Evike 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, Gaspar Barany, whose father needs pagan magic to consolidate his power. Gaspar 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, Gaspar understands what it's like to be an outcast, and he and Evike 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 Evike reconnects with her estranged father and discovers her own hidden magic, she and Gaspar 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.

• ISBN10: 0062973150
• ISBN13: 9780062973153
• Publish Date: 8 June 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperAudio
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 13 hours and 10 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Rach Wood]

Inspired by Hungarian history and Jewish mythology, the haunting debut of Ava Reid follows a young pagan woman with hidden powers and a one-eyed captain of a holy order as they form an unlikely alliance to defeat a tyrant. I started reading it in the summer of 2021 and only finished it after mid-January 2022. But I'm sure I would have devoured it had I read it in e-book format. With long chapters and a tiny font, it was difficult for me to read more than a dozen pages a day. And, to be honest, the first half of the book is definitely slow-paced. But the world-building is so intricate it makes sense we get to know it before the action begins. Atmospheric and dark, the imagery is stunning.

Alongside magic, religion plays a significant role, and there are echoes of real medieval history’s power dynamics between Jewish, Christians and pagans. At the core of the story, nation-building is depicted as a brutal process that takes advantage of the power of myths and storytelling, especially about mighty gods, to bend populations to the will of a few men. Tactfully, but without mincing words, Ava Reid addresses important and sensitive issues, such as oppression, persecution and ethnic cleansing, and gives us the opportunity to see people trying and sometimes succeeding at surviving it.

As for the main character, Évike is a well-written character, for sure, but I don’t know if I like or despise her. Outcasted by her own tribe for her corrupted bloodline (her father is a Yehuli man, one of the much-loathed servants of the fanatical king), she’s bound and taken away to be offered as a sacrifice to the fanatical king of Régország. But the one-eyed captain of the Holy Order of the Woodsmen challenges what she believes in. Not every Patritian, a follower of the Patrifaith, is loathsome as she had imagined. Especially not the gentle and tortured Gáspár Barány. It’s great to watch how their alliance allows them to grow as individuals, and I also loved the slow-burn romance, but it annoyed me how mean Évike could be (and was most of the time) to Gáspár, especially after he shows how compassionate and trustworthy he actually is.

Bottom line, I just wish this one wasn't a stand-alone. I feel it could have been a superb duo or trilogy; that would allow the author to delve deeper into the political intrigues and the lore of the world. The first half was much slower compared to the second and the end, while somewhat satisfying, felt rushed (the crux of the issue was swept under the rug). There were also topics that could have been more developed. For example, I would love to know more about Gáspár experience as a mixed-race man with olive skin in a vaguely Eastern European fantasy country. Maybe he should have had a POV. I also would have loved to see more of the relationship between Évike and her father, since that was one of my favourite storylines. And then, there’s a question that will haunt me forever: why a certain character is granted power by praying while some have to get hurt in order to reach theirs? I guess it’s related to the different religions and belief systems, but I wanted to know more about it.

I guess this is actually a 3.5, but I rounded up. In the end, I had a good time with it and plan on re-reading.

[riv @dearrivarie]

I received a copy from the publisher for review - all thoughts are 100% my own

The Wolf and the Woodsman is a book that pushes both its characters and readers on how far they're willing to go and how much they're willing to sacrifice for their faith. Set amidst Hungarian history and Jewish folklore, this story is absolutely captivating with an atmosphere and cast that slowly grabs its reader and pulls them into a cold and cruel world. Évike is a wolf-girl who has been shunned her entire life for her mixed blood and lack of gifts. When the king's Woodsmen come to claim a seer, Évike is disguised and sent into the forest as tribute, betrayed by her people, and forced to the same fate as her mother.

Right from the get-go, this story was immersive with so much atmospheric tension both from the danger of the woods and from the unknown that comes with being taken by the Woodsmen. Évike is one of those characters who embraces her status as the outcast and literally survives this book through sheer determination and will. Her strength is astounding and that's what makes her so admirable and impactful as the main character.

Both Évike and Gáspár are tested beyond their capabilities throughout this book on different fronts and it was both fascinating and rewarding to see them work through their differences. I loved how (for the first time in what feels like forever) we have two characters who don't seek to change their beliefs and personalities to fit someone else but continously challenge each other to become better human beings. The discussion of religion and of ethnic and cultural cleansing also delved deeper into the horrible acts committed throughout history and opens up this space for conversation for both the characters and the readers to examine personal biases and why the fear of someone else plays such a huge role in hatred.

There are honestly so many thoughts I have for this book and all I want to do is dive back in because I know there's so much I can still learn from Évike's story. For a debut, Ava Reid absolutely blew me away and I'm waiting eagerly for her future works.

Originally posted on dearrivarie