The Wren Hunt by Mary Watson

The Wren Hunt

Author: Mary Watson

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Release date: March 2018

Pages: 399 pages

R.R.P: $16.99

Every year on St Stephen's Day, Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game. Her pursuers are judges- a group of powerful and frightening boys who know nothing of her true identity. If they knew she was an augur- their sworn enemy- the game would be up.

This year, the tension between judges and augers is at breaking point. Wren's survival, and that of her family, depends on her becoming a spy in the midst of these boys she fears most, and using her talent, her magic, to steal from them the only thing that can restore her family's former power for good. But Wren's talent comes with a price. The more she uses it, the more she loses her grip on reality and soon she's questioning everything she's ever known about her family, about augurs and judges, and about the dangerous tattooed stranger who must definitely is not on her side...

My Review

Thoughts on the book: Wren Hunt is the debut novel from Mary Watson where arugurs and judges are both fighting to keep their magic alive. Wren Silke is an auger and every year she is chased through the forest on St Stephen's Day by a group of local thug boys who just happen to be judges and if they knew that she was an augur she wouldn't make it out of that forest alive. But this year is different and Wren can tell that if she doesn't get away from them this year it will be the year that they end her. Upon getting away her circle decides that the need someone inside the Judges workplace to find the map which tells where the stones are that contain all the power. After the circle have co ducted a ritual its decided that Wren will do it. Getting inside is easy it's keeping her augur status hidden from the judges which is hard and it makes it harder when you start to fall for one of them. Tarc is tall dark and handsome and seems completely different from the other judges so of course Wren falls for him. But what happens when the truth comes out and who will win the battle to control all of the magic; the judges or the augurs?

Thank you so much to Sonia from Bloomsbury for sending me a copy of The Wren Hunt to read and review unfortunately it didn't meet my expectations. The Wren Hunt sounded amazing and what drew me to it was the promise of it being part thriller and part love story, well we got the love story but I believe we didn't get much thriller. Yes there was some action that happened throughout the book but it was so mild and no where near thriller level and that was just the start of it. I was constantly putting the book down and walking away from it for days at a time because I just wasn't draw into the story. I couldn't identify with the characters or the plot and was often left confused about what was actually happening. I mean the villain was supposed to be Calista Harkness and I thought she was practically a kitten, she wasn't this mean women that she was made out to be. Another part that I didn't get was at the start there was this big emphasis on Wren's mother and then she just petered out and I think that it was a missed storyline perhaps that I felt I never got the ending to and if there is a sequel to it I hope we get answers. I think the one saving grace for me was the relationship that progressed between Wren and Tuck. I loved that an augur and a judge were developing feelings for each other, bucking the odds. So although this wasn't really my cup of tea I gave it a read hot crack and am proud that I finished it and did not DFN it.

Rating: 2/5