wolf and woodsman

The Wolf and the Woodsman reads like a cross between a swords and sorcery fantasy and modern mythology. This is the debut novel by Ava Reid, and it was pretty good. Reid took on a huge task for her first book, creating a new world, with its own history, multiple cultures, languages, flora and fauna. She was aided in her world building by basing many of those things our our world, from the wolves to the cultures, which not only align with some of ours, but also seem to include some similarities in their histories, languages, and for this book specifically, their conflicts and prejudices.

Into that complex soup of people, Reid weaves a magical system that is pretty simple, and I don't think the story arc relies to heavily on it, which is good. It does help to define who some folks are, from a status point of view as well, and there are some personal struggles and interpersonal dynamics that play on that, but that's not really about the magic, its more normal personal, pecking-order behavior.

At its core, I guess I'd call this a hero adventure, and along the way, Reid is touching on themes from coming of age, to romance, and from racism, exploitation, and oppression to revolution. There are some surprises here too, and not all of the fauna are as simple as wolves. I think Reid does a good job of keeping the pace moving along, and managing all of the threads she has set in this book. I'll keep my eye out for her next venture.*

This is another catch-up book review, which I read months ago and didn't get my thoughts down then. I've tried to recreate the list of books I read in 2024 as completely as I could, and to put them in the order that I read them. You can find where this one sits on the list by going to The Books tab at the top of the page.

* Since this book was published in 2021, Ava Reid has been cranking them out. She's written four since then, and a fifth is available for preorder now. Dang!