The Wren in the Holly Library by K. A. Linde (book review)

GENRE: Adult Fantasy

LENGTH: 381 pages

PLOT

Kierse is a thief who lives in a world of humans and monsters. When she tries to steal from a monster, Graves, she gets caught. Impressed by her, he hires her for a dangerous heist - to steal a magical spear from a vampire king.

CHARACTERS

Kierse, the protagonist, is a morally grey character (my favorite archetype). She's a thief and she's brazen, but she also cares deeply for her found family - her friends Gen and Ethan. I really enjoyed Kierse as the main character, but my concern is she commands so much attention that there isn't a lot of room left for other characters.

Graves is a warlock who is mysterious, intelligent, and ultimately lonely. Based on the synopsis, I anticipated him to be a lot darker. He is very powerful, yet I didn't necessarily find him intimidating. Graves is also the love interest. I confess at first I didn't see the chemistry between him at Kierse AT ALL. To me, their relationship read as merely transactional. That changed during the scene of a party they attend. That was the start of me seeing sparks between the two and from there their relationship felt more natural.

The four other characters of importance are Nate (Kierse's werewolf ally) who is generous and kind, her previously mentioned friends, and Lorcan (Graves' warlock rival who is charming and manipulative). Of these four, Lorcan contributed the most to the story. He is the true main antagonist in my opinion. I found him to be such a compelling character, even more so than Graves as he had more personality. Gen and Ethan, meanwhile, had a part to play in the story and I suppose they filled it, but they read more like pawns than fleshed out characters.

WRITING The novel is primarily told from the third person perspective of Kierse. There are chapters interspersed throughout from the third person perspectives of minor characters. I am so grateful Linde didn't shift to first person for those other characters' chapters. So many authors do that and it always irks me.

In terms of world building, Linde gives us the infamous info dump which I have always considered to be lazy writing. I mean no offense; I think she's a fine writer overall; but that is simply my opinion. The monsters in the novel are pretty standard fair that you've likely encountered before; think vampires, werewolves, trolls, etc. The thing I liked most about the world was how it had this unique mixture of dystopian and fantasy. The story takes place in New York after a catastrophic war between humans and monsters and we get to see the current day ramifications of the war.

There are a few comparisons to other stories I can give you that may help you determine if you want to read this book or not. The novel is a Beauty and the Beast inspired tale, that is pretty evident. I would say it is a very loose inspiration, however. Graves reminded me more of the Beast than Kierse did of Belle. While this is an adult fantasy book, it reminded me of two stellar YA fantasy books - so this could be a good transition book for YA readers wanting to explore adult fantasy. The first comparison - which I've seen other reviewers make as well - is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Both are heist stories featuring rival gangs. The other is Only a Monster by Vanessa Len as both feature a protagonist who lives in a world of humans and monsters and learns that she herself isn't what she always believed.

There are quite a few trigger warnings for this book. I commend Linde because at the start of the book she makes sure the reader is aware of them all. I highly suggest you take a minute to read them before going into the book.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This book was such a mixed bag for me. Kierse was my favorite part of the story, but as I said some of the other characters were lacking dimension. Despite the info dumping, I did really like the world. I also enjoyed the heist plot a lot - those kinds of books are always thrilling. I was hoping to love this book, but in the end I only liked it.

FINAL RATING: 3.5⭐️