"The Butcher and the Wren" by Alaina Urquhart - Review

General Thoughts and Feelings

I’ll skip to my very strong feelings regarding this book: if it has zero haters I am dead. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, yes, I loathed this book. This book had so many issues I’m not quite sure where to start but I’ll give it my best go. First, I found the characters to be so boring and dull it made it hard to care about what was happening. I can’t remember the last time I encountered such boring and cardboard-like protagonists and antagonist. Even after revealing of the motivations of said characters, it felt like reading a poorly scripted play. The villain isn’t really given a reason as to why he is the way he is, which has the potential to be appreciated. Not every antagonist needs grandiose reasons for they’re evil or wrong. However, the danger with writing a character in that manner, is that unless you give them other personality aspects, it feels like a cheap attempt at writing a “truly evil” character.

The story follows the two titular characters Dr. Wren, a forensic pathologist, and “The Butcher”, a notorious serial killer whose brutalized victims are ending up on Wren’s table. While the premise and even the pacing of this book kept me hooked, there were so many inconsistencies this piece of work had me stifling multiple groans. The “big reveal” was so poorly built up that I kind of just shrugged and kept reading, pushing for the ending. And that is a saving grace for this book, is that it’s so short, it’s really quick to put you out of your misery. Once I reached the ending, I really was miserable. And that’s cause nothing makes you miserable quite like realizing what a massive waste of time the whole thing was. I reached the end of this book and found no satisfaction, no resolution, and no pay off. The ending itself was rushed and left me feeling it was all for naught. I would say do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Rating

Character: 0/2 - I didn’t feel any of the characters or protagonists were real or likable enough to warrant their own story 

Setting: 0/2 -  the books location descriptors could have left us anywhere

Plot: 0/2 - we’ve come full circle by the end of the book, so no, this books does not get any points for plot

Pacing: 1/2 - the pacing was one of the best things about this book interestingly enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that great

Reaction: 1/2 - I’m giving this a point simply because it’s been a few months since I’ve read this book and I’m still pissed about it

Points: 2/10

Rating: ⭐️