Ava Reid's debut novel, The Wolf and the Woodsman, is a captivating story about a young woman named Évike and her quest to survive in the tyrannical kingdom of Szarvasvár. Every year, the king sends his Woodsmen, a devout religious order of the Patrifaith, to the pagan village of Keszi to take a young woman, a wolf girl, back to the capital; Évike's mother was taken when Évike was a young girl and she has lived a life of scorn, abuse and unacceptance ever since. But this time, Keszi gives up Évike, the only woman in the village with no skills. When Évike and the Woodsmen are attacked by monsters, only she and one of the men survive. As war rages both at and within the borders of Szarvasvár, Évike and the Woodsman, who is not who he claims to be, enter an uneasy pact to face the growing evil in the kingdom.
Reid draws from Jewish mythology and Hungarian history, weaving a dark, complex world that is horrifying yet beautiful in its depictions of life from Évike's first-person perspective throughout the adventure fantasy. Reid's deployment of magic at key moments bolsters both the mystery and the internal mythos of the narrative. At its heart, it is a story about culture, identity, stories, histories, religion and finding oneself despite the darkest circumstances, as Évike finds herself, reclaims a bond with family she thought she lost, and works to build a new world and return home. --Michelle Anya Anjirbag, freelance reviewer