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luckylulureads 's review for:
Juniper & Thorn
by Ava Reid
4.5 ⭐️
Juniper & Thorn is set in the world of Wolf and the Woodsman—albeit a different time and place—and is written with much of the same magic. However, I also found this book to be much more intimate and gritty than its predecessor. The story follows Marlinchen, the youngest of three young witches, and wards of their cruel father, the last wizard in Oblya. When Marlinchen meets and becomes infatuated with a young ballet star, her tenuous lifestyle starts to come apart at the seams,
The reason I say this story is much more intimate than WATW is because Marlinchen is a very confessional narrator, and the reader has a front row seat to all of her darkest thoughts. In some ways I loved this perspective, but it also made every moment of the book feel almost too intense.
The narration is also very visceral, with much of Marlinchen’s experience being described through the body or imagery that invokes the body. The intrusive thoughts she has were so painfully accurate to my own experience, in the way that they almost appear mundane to the person experiencing them. Sometimes it felt a bit heavy handed, but was overall effective and honest and raw.
Marlinchen has a lot of problematic views that she’s been programmed to have through her upbringing. These views are a product of her upbringing and abuse, and they are integral to the character’s journey of healing. As such, most of them are challenged over the course of the book, yet there were a few things that weren’t ever really corrected in relation to sex that I think would have been VERY powerful had they been explored and righted. (Mostly about purity/female pleasure, etc). However, I recognize that as a survivor of abuse, many of these things take years or decades to heal from and overcome, if at all. I myself took a long time to heal and see things differently, and I STILL struggle.
Overall, I think that this book does an incredible job of conveying the horror that accompanies abuse of all kinds. It’s not simple or easy to walk away from, it can be a living nightmare. For me, no book has ever accomplished this so well, and in a whimsical nightmare of a story too (for even the whimsy is tainted by abuse).
It’s painful, difficult, raw. And still, there is hope. There is the promise of healing. There is love, and tenderness, in spite of the terror. That, for me, is the true power of this book—for characters to find unconditional love and acceptance, without demands or sacrifice.
CW/TW (may be spoiler-y)
I think it’s also worth noting that this book covers abuse in pretty much every way imaginable (physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, animal, etc). In my opinion it’s on almost every page of the book. It takes a lot for me to feel triggered but this book came pretty close and a few things were very difficult to read. I still really enjoyed the book, but this was a much different experience than WATW. That book can also be intense, but J&T covered things more directly and is a horror novel about abuse. If you are a survivor, I think there’s so much value in this book, but I encourage you to be in a safe headspace and environment if you read.
Juniper & Thorn is set in the world of Wolf and the Woodsman—albeit a different time and place—and is written with much of the same magic. However, I also found this book to be much more intimate and gritty than its predecessor. The story follows Marlinchen, the youngest of three young witches, and wards of their cruel father, the last wizard in Oblya. When Marlinchen meets and becomes infatuated with a young ballet star, her tenuous lifestyle starts to come apart at the seams,
The reason I say this story is much more intimate than WATW is because Marlinchen is a very confessional narrator, and the reader has a front row seat to all of her darkest thoughts. In some ways I loved this perspective, but it also made every moment of the book feel almost too intense.
The narration is also very visceral, with much of Marlinchen’s experience being described through the body or imagery that invokes the body. The intrusive thoughts she has were so painfully accurate to my own experience, in the way that they almost appear mundane to the person experiencing them. Sometimes it felt a bit heavy handed, but was overall effective and honest and raw.
Marlinchen has a lot of problematic views that she’s been programmed to have through her upbringing. These views are a product of her upbringing and abuse, and they are integral to the character’s journey of healing. As such, most of them are challenged over the course of the book, yet there were a few things that weren’t ever really corrected in relation to sex that I think would have been VERY powerful had they been explored and righted. (Mostly about purity/female pleasure, etc). However, I recognize that as a survivor of abuse, many of these things take years or decades to heal from and overcome, if at all. I myself took a long time to heal and see things differently, and I STILL struggle.
Overall, I think that this book does an incredible job of conveying the horror that accompanies abuse of all kinds. It’s not simple or easy to walk away from, it can be a living nightmare. For me, no book has ever accomplished this so well, and in a whimsical nightmare of a story too (for even the whimsy is tainted by abuse).
It’s painful, difficult, raw. And still, there is hope. There is the promise of healing. There is love, and tenderness, in spite of the terror. That, for me, is the true power of this book—for characters to find unconditional love and acceptance, without demands or sacrifice.
CW/TW (may be spoiler-y)
I think it’s also worth noting that this book covers abuse in pretty much every way imaginable (physical, emotional, sexual, verbal, animal, etc). In my opinion it’s on almost every page of the book. It takes a lot for me to feel triggered but this book came pretty close and a few things were very difficult to read. I still really enjoyed the book, but this was a much different experience than WATW. That book can also be intense, but J&T covered things more directly and is a horror novel about abuse. If you are a survivor, I think there’s so much value in this book, but I encourage you to be in a safe headspace and environment if you read.