REVIEW: The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson // Creepy Premise, Irish setting (!!) and Marvellously Magical

I AM TRASH FOR DARK AND WEIRD AND ATMOSPHERIC AND CREEPY BOOKS.

And The Wren Hunt was exactly that. I am forever pleased. You know those books that are just twisty and wacky and dark and your soul just squeals in delight? Yeah, that was this book. I absolutely adored this book and I shall drown in appreciation. THIS NEEDS TO BE ON YOUR RADAR OKAY?!

Thank you to Bloomsbury UK for the review copy! All opinions are my own.

So this was like a drink that at first you don’t like but then you keep sipping at it and then for some reason you can’t stop and you are so thirsty and you’re not even sure you like but it’s so good and wow, there and gone.

(I promise I’m not drunk.)

The premise is as magical as an enchanted potion in a deep dark forest in a land of elves. Basically, verryyyy magical. It is a tiny bit typical but it’s about Judges and Augars and they’re both magical but the augurs are more hipster-magical and they’re looked down upon and everyone basically hates them. There’s this huge unsettling war going on silently between them and it’s fabulous.

It was also really creepy and atmospheric. I did love the whole idea about the wren hunt and David and Cassa’s boys chasing Wren. It was utterly creepy. I mean starting of the book with that? I was so hooked. Wren is an Auguar but is pretending to be a Judge because she doesn’t want all the hate. It’s also because her family have this huge plan of sending her to Harkwoord House, a judge-infested place, to steal a map from there and then do very secretive stuff like find her mother.

But then she falls in luuurrrve. The romance was okay . I definitely wanted them together and it was developed well and Tarc was sweet but annoying but it wasn’t entirely necessary. I wasn’t fully invested but as I said, it was meh and it didn’t completely take over the book.

Wren also has these powers where she recognizes patterns and hsfhdfhfd give me all this good stuff, please. I absolutely love slightly crazy and magical main characters and Wren was one of them. She has a level-headed character and all the while realistic. She got anxious at small things and she put things off and she was indecisive and somehow, somehow, I actually related to her.

For those people comparing this to the raven boys…hmmm.There is a cool wood which Wren goes running in sometimes but it’s not entirely important. And the whole boy aspect? Picture the raven boys and blue but in the wren hunt, Blue is against the raven boys and they basically want to kill each other.

uhm yes.

I don’t think you can really compare this to anything though. It was a unique story in itself but the way Watson told the tale was rich and beautiful and dark. I loved the atmospheric writing and it got the balance between descriptive and telling the story perfectly. it was nothing too dense.

I admit sometimes I was confused. maybe I’ve skimmed something? but what the heck was a Nemat? they seemed like these massive important things but I could not for the life of me find out what they actually were? Other stuff was explained well though which is always good. I just think I’m a slightly deluded pineapple sometimes.

The plot twists were like a sharp change in the drink. Not too surprising but all the same make you blink in surprise. I quite liked the twists and don’t think they were just there for shock factor but like they were actually planned out and made the book stronger as a whole.

It’s set in IRELAND!! which is the land of luckiness and magicalness (not really just leave me alone ok) and I love books set in different places! Plus, you could tell the author had done research or you know maybe lived there, who knows but it was good.

I felt the same way to A Darker Shade of Magic I freaking loved it, so glad I got the ARC but the characters were a tiny bit dry. I loved the family and David and Tarc and everyone else but they just didn’t lift off the page for me. can i say I love Cassa though.. she’s an awesome little witch and ugh, i love weird cranky characters like her, to be honest?

It’s captivating, intriguing and all in all a very strong book. It’s not entirely memorable and it was a little slow and long and it didn’t stick out but it’s a book i would recommend and I really did enjoy it a lot. I MEAN DUDE CASSA.

OKAY, CAN You TELL I LOVE CASSA?

I kind of want there to be the next book so she can develop the characters and add a whole new plot and okay i am kind of a huge fan of this.

RATING: 4 STARS

★★★★☆

The Wren Hunt

by Mary Watson

Every Christmas, Wren is chased through the woods near her isolated village by her family’s enemies—the Judges—and there’s nothing that she can do to stop it. Once her people, the Augurs, controlled a powerful magic. But now that power lies with the Judges, who are set on destroying her kind for good.

In a desperate bid to save her family, Wren takes a dangerous undercover assignment—as an intern to an influential Judge named Cassa Harkness. Cassa has spent her life researching a transformative spell, which could bring the war between the factions to its absolute end. Caught in a web of deceit, Wren must decide whether or not to gamble on the spell and seal the Augurs’ fate.

THE WREN HUNT BY MARY WATSON IS PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 8TH IN THE UK. YOU CAN ORDER A COPY HERE AND READ MY ORIGINAL REVIEW HERE.

What’s your type of book? Do you love dark and creepy books? Have you heard of The Wren Hunt? What books have had an unnecessary romance? Have you read any book set in Ireland?