4/5

For fans of: Dark forests, long journeys, underdogs, enemies-to-lovers, retellings, religious zealotry, forbidden love, political intrigue

The Big Questions:

• What genre is this in? Fantasy, fairytale retelling

• Are there any swoon-worthy characters? Brothers Gáspár and Nándor are described as the most handsome men our MC has ever seen

• Is it spicy? Light spice that fades to black

• Is it violent or gory? YES, very gory

• Should I buy, borrow, or pass on this book? If you are new to Ava Reid’s writing, borrow it! If you are a fan, buy it!

Synopsis: 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.

Review: First and foremost, this story is beautifully written with stories within stories and cultures clashing for power and survival. We are not just taking a walk in some foreboding woods. The world building was quite easy to get into starting with Évike’s village and her pagan culture all the way to Gáspár’s capitol city with its heightened tensions among different groups of people divided by religion and culture. The plot plods at some points, however the action is intense and gory. These dark forests are filled with monsters and these cities are filled with dangerous people. The magic is real for all the cultures in this world and the stories passed on of all their gods are delightfully dark and mysterious.

Évike and Gáspár, mortal enemies but outsiders in their own worlds, challenge each other in a dance of survival for themselves and their respective people as they journey through dark woods and icy plains. Their conversations of faith, morality, and humanity are thought provoking and challenge their preconceived notions of each other. Their slow burn romance is beautifully portrayed as they are pulled in so many directions religiously, culturally, and politically. This is an intense and solid debut novel and I can’t wait to read her other works in the future!This is an intense and solid debut novel and I can’t wait to read her other works in the future!