My first audiobook of the year and one that is full of magic and adventure.
A Hunger of Thorns
Lili Wilkinson
Be swept away by a lush, witchy tale about forbidden magic and missing girls who don’t need handsome princes to rescue them. Perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood .
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.
These days, magic is toothless, reduced to glamour patches and psychic energy drinks found in supermarkets and shopping malls. Odette has always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she’s missing, and everyone says she’s dead. Everyone except Maude.
Storytelling has always been Maude’s gift, so she knows all about girls who get lost in the woods. She’s sure she can find Odette inside the ruins of Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant built over an ancient magical forest—a place nobody else seems to remember is there. The danger is, no one knows what remains inside Sicklehurst, either. And every good story is sure to have a monster.
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There was something about the description of this book that just drew me in, witches, storytelling, and an ancient forest, yes please. I was a little disorientated at first because at the start of the book, it wasn’t quite the atmosphere I had envisioned but I stuck with it and I’m very glad that I did.
I loved the magic structure, the strands of mettle and the witch hands, and I thought it was fascinating that there was this type of magic that Maude and her Nan used, which seemed powerful and natural. However, there was also magic that people used as a commodity, for mostly very vain purposes. It seemed as if the more natural type of magic was banned and all that was left was the heavily controlled version.
There was some information on this at the start of the book but I didn’t feel like I totally understood it and I wish I knew more about why there were auditors and where Maude’s mum was taken. I’m not sure if this isn’t clear to me because I listened to this on audiobook, so it is not as easy to flick back through and try and figure it out, or if it is intentionally vague.
It took a while to play out properly but I enjoyed the portrayal of Maude’s relationship with Odette, it is the kind of relationship that you realise morphs from one thing to another the more you learn about both girls. It highlighted how different a relationship can seem depending on whose perception you look at it from. I quite enjoyed that it showed this very flawed side to Maude who for a lot of the story I was annoyed at for following after someone who seemingly treats her poorly.
I loved everything about Sicklehurst, you can tell straight away it’s different from the day-to-day world that Maude lives in. I love the edge of danger that is omnipresent and that of course it is where Maude’s stories have come to life. I won’t say much more about it because I’d hate to spoil anything but it was a brilliant adventure as soon as Maude entered the forest.
This book was also a lot more emotional than I thought it would be, it has a very interesting generational dynamic between Maude, her Mum, and her Nan, which unfolds throughout the story. By the end of the book, I was so invested and could really feel the struggle as Maude has to come to terms with the consequences of past actions. I also feel like the narration helped with that, Katy Sobey did an amazing job and captured the perfect tone for every scene.
A Hunger of Thorns is a wonderful adventure with a dark fairytale quality and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 