The Wren Hunt Review

Title: The Wren Hunt
Author: Mary Watson
Series: Not Applicable
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: 08 February 2018
Source: Jonathan Ball Publisher
Format: Paperback
Pages: 416
Rating: 4 Stars
Reading Timeline: 26 April 2018 - 03 May 2018

Goodreads Synopsis:

Every year on St Stephen's Day, Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game. Her pursuers are judges – a group of powerful and frightening boys who know nothing of her true identity. If they knew she was an augur – their sworn enemy – the game would be up.

This year, the tension between judges and augurs is at breaking point. Wren's survival, and that of her family, depends on her becoming a spy in the midst of these boys she fears most and using her talent, her magic, to steal from them the only thing that can restore her family's former power for good. But Wren's talent comes with a price. The more she uses it, the more she loses her grip on reality and soon she's questioning everything she's ever known about her family, about augurs and judges, and about the dangerous tattooed stranger who most definitely is not on her side ...

Book Review:

Pre-reading Thoughts:

This book isn't quite popular at the moment. It sounds intriguing and it is written by a South African author, that is all I needed to know to read this book. I am also really happy that I get to interview the author (so be sure to look out for that sometime soon). This book sounds like a thriller mixed with a bit of supernatural and what more can you ask for?

Thank you so much to Jonathan Ball Publishers for providing me with a copy of this book to review. Just a small disclaimer for those reading this review. I have received this book for free. Please note that this does not affect my opinions in any way. All thoughts are my own. 

Writing Thoughts:

The writing in this book was good. All the technical aspects worked well and it was like a well-oiled machine. The pacing was also good, it was never too fast so that the reader could get confused. The dialogue was good but sometimes it felt a bit awkward but overall it was worked. However, I felt like there was nothing unique about the author's writing nothing that made me say wow. I also felt as if there was something amiss with the world building. But considering that it is a debut, it was really good.

Plot Thoughts:

The plot was slow to unfold. It took a while to get to the major plot changing points in the novel and there wasn't enough tension between these changes to make it like a thriller for me. However, I really enjoyed the mythology aspect that we learnt in between this major scenes. It was educational and overall intriguing. The idea what would happen to Wren really helped to push the story forward. It as an aspect that I quite enjoyed.

Character Thoughts:

The characters were developed but they felt a little bland. They lacked an element that made them unique and memorable. The only character that I found quite memorable was Sibéal. She has this sort of erratic behaviour which was hot and cold. She seemed a little out of for the most part.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was a good book. The writing was good but there was something that did not sit right when it came to the world building. The plot was great but it did not hold enough tension between the major events. The characters were good but they lacked something that made them unique. However, with all of that being said, this was a good debut and I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book. Thank you so much to Jonathan Ball Publishers for sending me a copy to review!

Yours in Reading,

Melleny