This was an enjoyable young adult dark fantasy that felt closer to middle grade than young adult. It had a unique magic system with an adventure into a forbidden forest with memory spells and story telling that comes to life. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for a face paced, unique and magical read! This book does not end on a cliffhanger which I appreciated but still leaves you wanting more from Maude's next adventure. Trigger warnings for loss of a loved one and violence. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book!.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Childrens/ Delacorte Press for an eARC of A Hunger of Thorns. Ripe with dark fairytale flair, witches, and forbidden magic, A Hunger of Thorns main character, Maude, sweeps you off your feet with stories of fantastical creatures and takes you on a journey to find her lost friend. This story was undoubtedly unique, fast paced, and super enjoyable!

Maude is a young witch who has lost her magic, unmoored and adrift. She and her former best friend Odette haven't spoken in years, but Maude is still tangled up and living in her memories of their childhood, when she and Odette were wild and fierce and inextricably intertwined with one another. Now Odette is missing and Maude believes that she is the only one who can rescue her, just like in the stories she told Odette when they were children. Her quest will take her deep into Sicklehurst, a wild ruin of a power plant built over the corpse of an ancient magical forest, where she must confront the darkness of her family's past.

I was captivated by Maude - even as the story begins to unravel the real world and spin into something of a surreal, magical hurricane, she comes across as incredibly human. She is a complicated and flawed teen who is trying to do the right thing, and she's struggling to grow up at the same time. She makes quick promises and breaks them easily, she is often careless and even selfish, and yet she is so recognizable as a young woman figuring out the hard way who she is and what she wants to be.

I feel like this was a spectacularly written average read. My biggest problem with it is that I enjoy fantasy stories that are written in first person POV. Therefore, due to that, it was very difficult for me to get through. Also, totally a personal thing, but in my family, my grandmothers name is Nan. So, for me, it was just hard to separate the character. None of these things go against the book or the story or the author. It simply was just not for me, and that is ok. Otherwise, I would recommend.

Content Warning: violence, death

The cover on this book caught my eye really quick. It’s gorgeous! As for the story, this is what I thought:

+ This is a dark fairy-tale and some parts of it reminded me of the book, The Hazel Wood. There are modern and fantasy elements and there are monsters and violence.

+ Maude is an unreliable narrator and a pretty good one meaning I couldn’t tell if what she was remembering was a dream, hallucination or a memory. As the story unfolds and the story comes together, it starts to make more sense. I did like the concept of the story.

+ I found the magic system intriguing and the world is unique. Maude is from a line of witches and magic in the town seems like it’s a forbidden thing. I also liked the fairy-tale characters that come to life, they were interesting!

~ The pacing didn’t work for me. Most of the action takes place in the second half of the book.

~ It took too long for me to feel like I understood the world. It’s contemporary with fantasy elements but in the beginning of the story I was trying to figure it out because it had some modern things like the power plant and the way the characters talk. I didn’t feel settled into the story until almost the end. I think if it was pure fantasy it would have worked much better for me.

~ I didn’t connect to the characters but it kept me hooked enough to finish because I wanted to see how Maude would fix things. Maude was a bit obsessed over Odette but I guess that’s something she was working out with her other issues about losing people in her life.

Tropes: unreliable narrator

Why you should read it:
*you like dark fairytales, unique world building and interesting magic system
*unreliable narrator

Why you might not want to read it:
*slow beginning, got interesting in the end

My Thoughts:

I love the book cover and I love the concept of the story. I think the dark fairytale aspect of the story with the unreliable narrator was enough to keep me interested. The thing that was a miss for me was the pacing, which was too slow in the beginning with flashback memories that made the story feel like a dream at some points. Also the characters were interesting but I couldn’t connect to anyone. It seems like there will be a sequel but I’m not sure that I will continue the series. I think people who like dark fairytales like The Hazel Wood.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A contemporary fairytale, with themes of anti-capitalism and feminism? Yes, yes, and yes. A Hunger of Thorns reminded me of the edgier, disturbing sister of Alix E. Harrow's Fractured Fables series. This book certainly was a wild read from start to finish, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

YA novels are pretty hit or miss with me, and this novel proved to be the former. The storytelling is immersive from the get-go, with folklore/myths playing an integral part of the story. The writing is descriptive, and the dark, foerboding setting of Sicklehurst is incredibly atmospheric; Wilkinson is a master at setting the scene and world building.

One thing that confused me, however, is trying to determine the ages of the main character, Maude, and her friend Odette. Initially, I believed them to be in middle school or perhaps freshman year of high school, and thus their actions and dynamics further in the story were jarring.

Overall, I highly recommend this one to any fans of dark fantasy, fairytales, and female empowerment. I look forward to the next novel in this series!

I love a good hero's journey and this one was amazing because the main character is a storyteller so they knew just what path they found themselves on while looking for their lost friend and answers about their past. It is a quirky little book and I loved the representation of all kinds throughout it. The plot itself kept me glued to the book until I was able to finish it. It kept me from having conversations with others it was so good to read and I couldn't put it down.

I also enjoyed that the writer clearly did a good bit of research when it came to different kinds of witchcraft so I loved seeing that element.

Wonderful book overall!

I've been reading a lot of YA this year, usually with mixed reviews. There are several YA books that I read that I definitely did not connect with because the material was more immature or focused on things that would usually only appeal to that age group. However, there are plenty that I also read this year that I feel are better written the some of the adult novels I've read! This one definitely fell into the latter category for me! I read some other reviews who disagreed, but honesty? I really enjoyed it!

The main focus is on Maude, who is a 17 year old witch who has lost her magic. Her once best friend Odette has gone missing and instead of being the "good girl" she's expected to be, she decides to defy her grandmother's and the law to go find her. Instead she ends up lost in a magical world straight out of her own imagination! What I loved about this story was how it dove into toxic friendships/relationships and the impact it can have on both parties. It also explored someone trying to find their own identity outside of other people. Maude has to grapple with her own monsters to not only find Odette, but to find herself as well. I love that we don't just get the Mary Jane victim. Maude is flawed and those flaws come from not just her environment but also her own internal struggles.

The other element I loved was the story telling. I'm a HUGE fan of myths/folklore/fairytales/etc. Maude's greatest talent is her ability to weave stories and that is what has shaped the world around her. She also uses it as a way to become someone she wishes she could be.

Overall, the story was well told. I loved the descriptions of the world around our characters and I love how the story all came together in the end. It definitely felt like a dark fairytale and I think that's what made me connect with the story and with Maude. This was a definite win for me and I would recommend it as a YA novel that can still be enjoyed by an older audience.

This is probably one of the most unique worlds I have read. The world building was pretty good, I felt like I knew everything I needed to at the time. It was interesting because I felt like I understood the way the world worked, but at the same time I had no clue what was going on. I don’t think I fully understood what the true challenge of the book was until close to the end. That’s probably because the main character didn’t either, and it made it a little more difficult to keep reading. 75% of the book seemed like pointless adventures until it started to come together.

#AHungerofThorns #NetGalley Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

A Hunger of Thorns is a story of adventure, self discovery, and layers of heartbreak tied into a well thought out magical bow. Wilkinson’s words are so beautifully descriptive, they weave you into a world unlike any other. While this story is fairy tale reminiscent, it finds its own path through Maude’s interpersonal struggles and her ability to constantly find strength to carry on.

I truly loved this story. It was so easy to become immersed in Sicklehurst as Maude searched for Odette and clues to help her remember her past. The magic elements, while slightly intimidating to keep up with at first, felt so real and natural as the book found its groove. A wonderful read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced digital copy!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts and comments are my own.

I want to start off by saying that I didn’t think this book was bad. I just think maybe it just wasn’t the right book for me.

It was very slow pace for me. I noticed I had to keep my self on track and make myself pay attention because I felt like it just drug on. I don’t know if it was because maybe I got confused because it was set in a present time when it has more of a past time feel to it. If that makes sense. The magic aspect was cool though. I do think it’s an enjoyable book.

I haven’t dove into much of the fantasy genre but I’m trying and I’m still learning when it comes to the concept of how things in the fantasy genre work.

In all actuality I’ll more than likely buy this book and reread it. I think it has great potential and I’ll probably even pick up the second one when it releases!

3 stars for now!

This title will appeal to fans of fairy tale magic, strong female protagonists, and unreliable narrators. Wilkinson weaves witchy magic with distinct dystopian and horror edges as readers follow Maude, a daughter of witches without magic herself, on her quest to save former friend Odette from Sicklehurst, an industrial magic refinery with a dark corruption which has been contained by spells. A Hunger of Thorns possesses a unique magic system and asks big questions about magic as a resource and whether or not it--an innate power possessed by some--should be regulated and controlled.

While this book contained many great elements in theory, the execution fell flat for me at times. I was not very compelled by Maude, and at times the emotional beats of the story felt incredibly slow. Maude is an unreliable narrator, which will appeal to many. However, Wilkinson's prose, particularly her atmospheric descriptions, are fantastic.

Maude’s parents passed their magic on to her, and she spent her childhood using her storytelling magic to entertain her best friend, Odette. But when Maude’s magic left her, so too did Odette and some of Maude’s memories. But then Odette goes missing and is presumed dead, though Maude is sure she’s still alive. As she ventures into the abandoned ruins of a dangerous powerplant, some of her memories begin to return and she realizes that there’s much more to her stories than she thought.

This was a well-woven tale that had elements of familiar fairytales included in a unique way. I enjoyed the atmospheric setting of Sicklehust and how dangerous and fantastical it felt. The characters were well written, and I enjoyed the exploration of friendship throughout and how different it can look for people. I also loved how strong a character Maude was, as well as how her memories were incorporated throughout the story to flesh out her character and the plot.

There were a few things that I felt could have been explained a bit better throughout the work (e.g., more details surrounding the rules of magic, etc.), but overall, these didn’t distract me too much from the story. I enjoyed the author’s writing style and how she was able to tie the work together with so many interconnecting details.

Overall, I enjoyed this magical realism read and how much the author was able to make this feel like reading a fairytale. My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book, which will be published in April 2023. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I tried to get into this but between the ARC format and the story I wasn't able to. Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity though!

Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic—and her best friend.

I found Maude’s obsession with Odette a little unsettling. At first, I related to Maude because of her longing for childhood - simpler times when you got to play in the woods with your best friends. I do love the writing style, Maude’s deep longing for the past was very well thought out and written beautifully.

The magic system was confusing and I believe it would have made more sense in a purely epic fantasy world. The mention of worldly day to day things threw me off.

Overall, the writing and descriptions are beautiful in A Hunger of Thorns. I know a lot of people will love this book.

Full of magic, angst, lore, environmental damage, lust, love, imagination, and daring, this was an intense but also fun and fast-paced read. Drawing on the bleak landscapes of abandoned industrial sites as well as magical traditions and plant lore, author Wilkinson creates a deep and complex world of witches and love--albeit one that feels overstuffed at times. The monsters and dangers are as real as radium poisoning, and the characters are created with skill and thought. The book is written, I think, for a YA audience, but older readers will appreciate it as well. The only thing that rubs me wrong is the author's thank you to a library for letting her "escape her toddler"--I'm uncomfortable when parents complain about their kids in such a public forum. What will her kid say when she reads that one day?

Thanks to PRH and Delecorte books for a chance to read an e-ARC of this book. I give it 3.5 stars.

This book is a strange twist on Sleepy Beauty and The Secret Garden with witches involved in every aspect of the story. For most of the book Sicklehurst seemed to have a mind of its own with no explanation as to why. Maude was magical as a little girl, and then she wasn't. Odette didn't have magic, but she practiced it somehow? The parameters of magical rules felt a little hazy throughout. I appreciated how the end of the story looped back to the beginning and Maude's past and the town's past, but for most of Maude's journey in learning about herself and Sicklehurst I felt confused. The writing is solid; only my ongoing confusion led to me skimming through pure descriptive parts to better understand the world. Where Maude and the whole society is in time and space is never touched on. I would've liked to have some connection to our world or at least known for certain this is an entirely fantasy world.

All qualms aside, the story itself is entertaining and magical with a strong fairy tale vibe. From early on someone is presumably locked in a tower. Sicklehurst gives the feel of a faerie land where girls can lose themselves and with vast vegetation in a space confined by a brick wall. Maude is steadily determined to rescue Odette, Winnie, Ginger, and others, yet she never knows how she can manage that until she tries. Strong female power essence in most of the book, especially the latter half, with no one expecting a man to rescue them. The story even passes the Bechdel Test and has a bit LGBT rep. I'd recommend this to someone who wants a unique fantasy retelling story with a beginning and ending that are intricately tied together.

I thought this book was ok. It was very slow paced for me, which I don't enjoy. Besides that, the book was very unique and I loved the magic aspect about it. The story really picks up at the end and that's when I started really enjoying the book. I would like to see the flashbacks/past separated in some way from the present text as I got confused sometimes and had to reread to be like oh its a flashback. Overall, I rate this book a 3.5/5 and would recommend this book to a friend

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me with a digital arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A Hunger of Thorns is a really interesting and attention grabbing story! I really really enjoyed the story and characters so much!