The Wren Hunt
Author: Mary Watson
Publication date: November 6, 2018
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Pages: 432
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Synopsis
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 is told from Wren’s POV as she embarks on a mission for her people called the Augurs. She is to deceive their rivals the Judges and collect information about them. That’s the easiest way to describe the book.
The story starts out with Wren being hunted by a group of Judges and at first I thought this was set in the past because nothing was really given about the time but I quickly came to realize that this is set in modern day Ireland. Throughout the book, not once did I feel like this was set in Ireland it felt more like small town America which was pretty disappointing for me. I live for stories set in Ireland, there’s so much Irish folklore which makes Ireland feel like such a magical and mystical place and I didn’t get that feel from this.
The story was incredibly confusing, nothing is explained, I had no Idea what or who the Augurs and Judges were until almost halfway through the book. The magic system wasn’t explained at all, it has to do with the earth and some sacrifices and rituals but I still don’t understand how it all works.
Aside from the story being confusing and the setting not feeling right to me, I actually really enjoyed the plot. I thought it was mysterious, a little dark and intriguing, I would have liked the book more if you know, I knew what was happening.
I really enjoyed Wren as the MC, she was likeable, she questioned things that didn’t make sense, she was charismatic and intelligent and she was probably the only likeable character in the book. The group of Augurs she interact with, who she calls her family and friends are just a giant group of jerks, they treated her so poorly and continuously used her and berated her when she wasn’t get info quick enough.
Overall, it was an alright book, it was a fairly quick read, once i picked it up I couldn’t put it down. I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of magical realism or urban fantasy, I think you might enjoy it more. I read an ARC of this so maybe in the finished copy things are explained a little better.
Jest and Hearts Library 