This was wild. Like, what the hell did I just read? What a roller coaster of “wtf is happening?”
I’m also going to be honest, Maude was a little problematic (she’s obsessed with her former best friend). That being said odette was a trash friend so really the best people in this book are Niamh and Rufus - everyone else is def morally grey at best.
There were fairytale elements in this (swan prince) and some urban paranormal vibes as well - overall it was a little dark.
The book itself felt really random (and a bit too long) so I kept reading because I honestly didn’t know where it was going.
It was entertaining but I’m left feeling a bit confused.

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A Hunger of Thorns by Lili Wilkinson is a novel that encapsulates all the anger every woman has ever felt at the patriarchy. As the name implies, it is a prickly, sad, intense story. It is the type of story that makes you want to go out and fight every person who has ever held you back, told you that women should be more demure, or said that you would be prettier if you smiled more. In short, it is a novel perfect for today's political fights.

Like many authors before her, Ms. Wilkinson uses magic to embody women's knowledge and strength. In A Hunger of Thorns, there is no potent magic anymore. If that weren't bad enough, a council manages all those capable of using magic, even going so far as to create "institutes" wherein those witches do nothing but churn out the everyday, banal magical items approved by the council for societal use. All day every day, women face admonishments to act ladylike, to be nice, to compose themselves, and to remain neat and respectable. It is as sickening as you would expect.

As the main character, we follow Maude as she hunts for her former best friend, Odette. Most of the novel's action is Maude's search for Odette, but most of Maude's introspection circles around her continued admiration for Odette's wildness and the pang of loss she still feels at the rift in their friendship. Herein lies my issues with the story, however slight they might be. The magical world in which Maude finds herself is glorious in its danger and darkness, and the idea that Maude created this world through her supernatural abilities makes me like it that much more.

However, Maude has two trains of thought. Either she is mooning after Odette, searching the deepest, darkest parts of the supernatural world for a girl who stopped acknowledging her presence years ago. Or, Maude worries about following in the steps of her mother, a woman executed for using too much power and, therefore, too dangerous to allow to live. The latter obsession is something I understand. After all, losing your mother in any capacity at a young age is traumatic. In Maude's case, the people who killed her mother sent back her mother's body in a coffin, a vicious psychological ploy that would cow even the strongest revolutionary.

I struggled with Maude's obsession with Odette and insistence that she rescue Odette from her unknown fate. Odette literally dropped any pretense of friendship one random day, and the two haven't spoken to each other in years. Yet Maude decides that she doesn't agree with the rest of the town that Odette is dead and, therefore, the only one who can rescue her. It's a bizarre attitude, even when counting the fact that Maude is or was in love with Odette. It reeks of an abused person crawling back to their abuser, asking for forgiveness for making them angry, and it made me angry.

Despite this one issue, I enjoyed A Hunger of Thorns. While reading it, I found myself on an emotional rollercoaster, angry at Maude, furious at the men in power, happy with all the ways women flouted the rules and used their true power, sad at Maude's family history, and inspired to continue fighting against men and women who continue to espouse the belief that women are inferior to men. Mostly, my heart ached for Maude, and all the girls Maude represents, as they try to find the strength to remain wild girls amid all the pressure to conform to the "sugar and spice and everything nice" view of women. ( )