Fantasy Book Critic: Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid (Reviewed by Shazzie)

OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Ava Reid is the author of critically acclaimed and bestselling adult fantasies Juniper & Thorn and The Wolf and the Woodsman, as well as the forthcoming A Study in Drowning, her young adult debut. After obtaining her degree in political science from Barnard College, she moved to Palo Alto, where she continues to haunt university libraries.

OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: 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.

FORMAT/INFO: Juniper and Thorn was published in hardback, audio and ebook, in June 2022 by Harper Collins in the U.S and by Del Rey in the UK. It will be published in paperback by Harper Collins in the U.S on April 25, 2023.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Juniper and Thorn is a modern retelling of one of the Grimms' lesser known fairy tales, THE JUNIPER TREE.

This book follows the story of Marlinchen, the youngest of three sisters of the Vaschenko household. They live with their father, and she is treated the worst of them by a long mile. They live in the city of Oblya, which is on the shift to industrialisation, something her father scoffs at. She and her sisters are relegated to the role of performing for the tourists who can keep their xenophobic father supplied with the coin they have a dire need for, and they use their "remedies" to keep their merger business running. The book starts off with her accompanying her sisters to the ballet, leaving the house for the first time. She meets a dancer who she gets enamoured with, and grows bolder over time.

This tale is told purely from her point of view, with most of the narration being in present. The focus shifts to the past as often as the present allows for it, and this gives us answers to many questions that arise along the way. We learn what happened to her mother, how her father's behaviour has fared and changed over the years, as well as shows us his growing tyrannical attitudes. There are moments in there that made me feel pity for her, ones that made me shocked, as well as others that made me furious.

Like the original tale, this one deals with many dark and uneasy themes, and they both have many in common. I would advise every reader considering this to go through the entire list of trigger warnings, since this will not be a book for everyone. I felt rather queasy and horrified in multiple chapters myself. A standout for me was its depiction of bulimia, which Marlinchen suffers from. Due to the flashbacks that show us how she was abused as a child, Ava slowly gave me a better understanding of why she reacts very oddly in certain situations, as well as a lot of the unhealthy fixations she seemed to show right from the beginning of the book.

Not that the present was easy to read, either. A lot of her abuse doesn't lessen, but she finds a few ways to circumvent her father's rules, as well as gain her understanding of good and bad treatment, to an extent. The love interest, Sevas, has his own baggage, and while their relationship and tale are quite messed up as a result of this, they work with each other, along with Marlinchen slowly resolving her feelings for her past, and this is always something I appreciate. Where I would differ from many of the opinions on this book would be about the prose, which while to the point, didn't seem special to me.

CONCLUSION: This is a tale of an abuse survivor, told in a melancholy tone. If you are a fan of darkly told fairy tales, and don't mind them being a bit heavy on the exploration of what I'd call some queasy themes, this might be right up your alley.