The Wren Hunt

By Mary Watson

NOMINATED FOR THE CILIP CARNEGIE MEDAL 2019
SHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS TEEN/YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

'Beautiful, eerie, dark and dreamy' MELINDA SALISBURY
'Watson's writing has the sort of poise rarely found in a debut' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE
'Thrilling and otherworldly' SUNDAY TIMES

Every winter, Wren Silke is chased through the forest in a warped version of a childhood game. The boys who haunt her are judges, powerful and frightening pursuers, who know nothing of her true identity. If they knew she was an augur, their sworn enemy, the game would turn deadly.

But Wren is on the hunt, too. Sent undercover as an intern to the Harkness Foundation – enemy headquarters – her family's survival rests on finding a secret meant to stay hidden. As the enmity between two ancient magics reaches breaking point, Wren is torn between old loyalties and new lies. And trapped in the most dangerous game of her life.

Part thriller, part love story, this captivating debut novel will leave readers spellbound.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Feb 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781408884942

Reviews for The Wren Hunt

[catkin026 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received a free e-book copy of this book for an honest review.This is the gem for me. The one that I have been hoping to find in various other books but it was never discovered until now. I will admit I was slightly confused when I first started reading, but once that scene ended and I was given the reaction of various characters around the main character, I was hooked. I was pulled along a crazy roller coaster of a story, and I didn't regret any of it. I was up until four in the morning, and even with the lack of sleep, having to go to work a few hours later, I would gladly have done it again.There's very little I can actually divulge about this book, and if I attempted to, I doubt I would be able to do it justice. The characters are all well-rounded, and human. It's so difficult to find books that don't give the people in their novel quirks, but actual personality traits that are good, and some that would make them nasty; not someone you would want to be a friend of. None of the background characters just appear to move the story along, but have a point. While not all of their motives are ever explained, at the same time the reader is given enough to guess. The reader may be completely wrong, but even the supposed villains of this book are interesting.This entire book blew way above my expectations, even the bits I was unsure were the imagination of the author, or else had foundations in Irish lore, for example. I will certainly be googling to find out, but no matter what I might discover, I applaud the author for the amount of work was put into this. This is one that I will be buying within the next couple of days, and I highly recommend for any other reader who enjoys mysteries, who doesn't need romance to be the forefront of the story, and who enjoy complex threads weaved together to come to a crescendo at the end that rips apart the reader's heart. I can only hope there is a sequel, though at the same time all the possibilities that could be in the main character's future is just as good.