The Girl of Hawthorn and Glass by Adan Jerreat-Poole: Reviewed

I received this as a free ARC from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I always go into a book with the intent to enjoy it. Even when I saw how many poor reviews this got on Goodreads, I still went in expecting something good. Unfortunately, that isn’t what I got. Even worse, that was almost what I got. This book has such a unique and cool premise: a girl who was made of glass and stone to hunt ghosts for a coven of witches. Sounds awesome, right? That’s because it is! Every character who isn’t the main character is also awesome. They’re quirky, fun, flawed, and consistent. However, the main character is just a bland, edgy girl who goes from trusting no one to hopping on a stranger’s motorcycle in nothing flat. And don’t get me started on the plot. The pacing is wonky and hard to keep up with, with some problems solving themselves within a page and some being abandoned for the next shiny plot point. The prose also came so, so close to being amazing, but it’s littered with lines that were clearly only put in to be quoted, and weird places where the author decides to describe something by smashing two colors into a compound word like “purplegreen” or “greengray”. Which is effective, I guess, but also… unimaginative? Immersion-breaking? Lastly, the world-building is almost nonexistent. Cool things are constantly introduced, but then whisked away without explanation and you never see them again. 

Now, let’s take a moment to talk about how this is truly even more of a shame than it would be otherwise: the author is nonbinary. The publishing industry is severely lacking in authors who aren’t cis. I myself can only name one other (though their book is absolutely stunning and I might talk about it later when I reread it). The author, Adan Jerreat-Poole, made an effortlessly diverse cast, and like I said most of their characters are amazing. There’s a nonbinary Black character named Tav and they are amazing. They’re quirky and outgoing and the exact type of person some people dream will whisk them off on an adventure among the lesser-known attractions of a big city. The witches are creepy and cool at the same time and you love them for how divinely wicked some of them are, and you love to hate others for just how awful they are. Then there’s the magic system. While I wish it was explained much, much better, it was actually so damn cool. The main character has two sets of eyes that she switches between and one of them lets her travel between worlds! She has multiple knives that all do different jobs for ghost hunting! The magic that I did understand was pure, unadulterated awesome. I just wish it came with a better plot.

It gets some points for the cool premise, but sadly it wasn’t enough to make up for the flaws. 4/10.

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