My review of Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

Reviews

This book was so up my alley, I stayed awake until 2 am to finish it. I was hyped for this book since Ava Reid announced it on Instagram and I wasn’t disappointed.

Juniper & Thorn is an adult fantasy horror and a retelling of the fairytale The Juniper Tree by the Brothers Grimm. It follows Marlinchen, a witch who lives with her two sisters and their controlling wizard father. Although Marlinchen and her sisters are forbidden from leaving their estate, they sneak out one night to go to the ballet. That’s where thing start to spiral out of control, as Marlinchen catches the eye of a ballet dancer and dead bodies turn up in the city.

About the Book

Book: Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid

Edition: Hardcover

Publication: June 21st 2022 by Harper Voyager

368 pages

Genre: Fantasy Horror, Retelling

Rep: Lesbian side character

This was the first book I’ve read by Ava Reid and I quickly fell in love with her prose. She weaves a lush, atmospheric tale filled with monsters, gore, and desire. Apart from The Juniper Tree, Reid also included various nods to other fairytales such as Father Frost, Snow White, and Bluebeard. The sisters’ names, Undine and Rosenrot, were also taken from fairytales and I was – pun intended – eating it up. I’m sure there were many more references I didn’t catch. Having grown up with both German and Russian fairytales, this book was such a treat for me. The Eastern European inspired setting of Oblya supported the general atmosphere and themes well.

One of my favorite aspects was Marlinchen herself. All her life, she was told she was unremarkable, dense, and generally less than her sisters. Her days are spent working as a flesh diviner and cooking to still the appetite of her insatiable father. But behind those almost mundane scenes, something lurks in the shadows. There is a sense early on that something isn’t right. Glasses of dark liquid that Marlinchen doesn’t remember pouring. Meat in the freezer she doesn’t remember buying. This sense of dread builds throughout the book until it reaches a chilling conclusion, which I was totally here for.

Simmering behind that was Marlinchen’s excellent arc of self-determination and allowing herself to take what she wants. Her romance with ballet dancer Seva was lovely, and seeing them both survive the horrors they grew up with was very rewarding. I believe the monster-lover fans will also love this book. Whatever actions Marlinchen took in the story, I was cheering her on from start to finish.

Another highlight was the familial relationship between Marlinchen and her sisters and their relationships with their father. Reid realistically portrayed the feeling of loving someone who has hurt you and how that impacts people from a young age. No one knows how to twist the knife better than one’s parent and the scenes between Marlinchen and her father were at times hard to stomach. Moreover, their father drove a wedge between the sisters as well by pitting them against each other. Putting one down while lifting the other up, the cycle of emotional abuse and cruelty went on and on. While Marlinchen’s sisters were maybe less likable, their actions were no less comprehensible and I felt for them as well.

Now, I normally can’t handle horror. But while the book handled dark themes such as sexual and emotional abuse, as well as self-harm and disordered eating, it wasn’t scary. Some elements, such as the murders and the monsters on the estate, were spooky, but I wasn’t terrified. It’s more so the elements of body horror and gore which place the book in the horror category.

All in all, a fantastic read for spooky season and I recommend it to fans of Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale.

Rating

Plot: 5/5

Worldbuilding: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Prose: 5/5

Overall Rating: 5/5

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