Book Review: Briar Girls by Rebecca Kim Wells

  • Source: I received an advance copy of this book on NetGalley

  • My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (see my review on Goodreads)

I'm not a big fan of fairytale retellings unless the end result is very far removed from the original and feels like a fresh new story. In this case, I was intrigued by the idea of a sentient forest and the whole "main character kills anyone she touches" trope. While I did get those things - along with a mysterious raven fellow and some other magical creatures - I guess I feel like I didn't get *enough* of them. Most of the characters didn't hold my interest, and the only one I was eager to learn more about didn't have as much of a presence in the story as I was hoping for. This made it hard for me to care much about what was going on plot-wise, and it made it challenging for me to understand why the main character was drawn to their love interest. The last quarter of the book picked up a bit action-wise, which kept me intrigued until the end, but I still felt like I wanted more meat, more character exploration, and more world building. I've read some other reviews that feel there was *too much* world building, so this seems to be a case of personal preference. It's a fine story, just maybe not wholly for me.

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