Reviews tagging 'Blood'

After the Forest by Kell Woods

13 reviews

lilybear3's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I picked this up because one of the 5th graders in my outreach suggested it to me, it's like their favorite book.  First off, this book is considered adult fantasy (not spicy and the fact that I have to add that, because people will wonder, is discourse for another day).  I don't think it was overly explicit, a few swear words here & there, a few sexually suggestive moments, some violence, but nothing crazy.  I don't know why I'm adding all this, but that is my context.

I loved the idea of retelling/adding onto the Hansel and Gretel fairytale. I felt the additional characters added more depth to the story and helped bring the village to life.  The story was also kind of like a mystery in that you and Greta are given bits of information over time and are figuring out how it all fits together.  The bits of a second story are at the beginning of each chapter in italics give a little more depth.  Our MC is Greta, but (hot take) I wished for more of Hans even though he's a mess.  I thought the story was intricate and interesting.  That being said, the first like 60% of the book was slow paced, lots of discussions happening, not so much plot-driven.  There was some world building involved, but it wasn't heavy so that made it hard to get into.  Past that, the story picks up and it was good.  Some people found reveals to be obvious, but I never pick up on those so it was a surprise to me!

Beautiful cover by the way!  I could see this being adapted into a tv show or movie.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Misogyny

Moderate: Violence, Grief, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Torture, Death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, War, Child death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Child abuse

20sidedbi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Death of parent, Rape, Grief, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Sexual assault

Minor: Miscarriage

ceruleanheather's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

After the Forest is not so much a retelling as it is a sequel. Quite literally, what happens after Hansel (Hans) and Gretel (Greta) escape the witch in the forest. 

Greta makes money to support her and her brother through baking gingerbread (ironic), and Hans gets drunk and gambles as he tries to forget the past. Hans is quite frustrating, but his PTSD is understandable. Greta using the witch's book to help her make the gingerbread is so odd, but I guess it is needed for the story to work.

The book starts out slowly, explaining how Hans and Greta got to this point and their daily troubles. We get introduced to characters that are important, but not always fleshed out. Matthias is interesting and mysterious, but the insta love trope annoys me. The story picks up about a third of the way through. 

I did like the atmosphere of the book. The magic, the setting, the realism of the town and their struggles. I also liked the bear and wolf storylines, and the smattering of other fairy tales that were referenced and reused. The author has a descriptive style that is enjoyable to read.

The story ended up being quite predictable. I figured out the *big reveal* many chapters before Greta made the connection. The characters are also a little flat. They exist for the plot, but don't seem to have much agency. Things that should have been questioned or investigated are just believed and people who are supposed to be smart do not seem to be so. Rob was the best character, and he was a side character!

 *CW* chapter 25 has a fairly graphic scene involving animal cruelty. You can skip the scene honestly, and it does not affect the story. You can glean what happens. 

*TW* chapter 27 has a scene involving relations without consent. It isn't very detailed, but still graphic in content. Again you can glean what happens, just skip page 447.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Sexual violence, Torture, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Pregnancy, and Death

bee12345's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

rambles's review

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

The story is an impressive mix of the Hansel and Gretel story, Rose Red, and a little Beauty and the Beast. It made me crave gingerbread. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Moderate: Miscarriage and Rape

sarrie's review

sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

 

Tl;DR - 2.5 stars. A cold, disconnected story with a reactionary character, this was a frustrating read for me. 

I genuinely was expecting something very different than what I got with this and I’m quite disappointed. For some reason I thought this was more modern, however this leans very hard into the fairy tale ‘retellings/what if’ stories we’ve been getting a lot of the past few years. Hans and Greta are now adults and this follows their lives as more supernatural beings begin to enter it and how they deal with life after ‘the witch’. 

My biggest complaint on this is that Greta was just so bland. I’m not sure if this was due to the writing, which in general felt very disconnected and cold, or the character herself. Even after the traumatic events of her childhood, the frequent supernatural events that followed, and the magical book that talks to her in her own home daily she still manages to find shapeshifters and werewolves surprising and frightening. I believe I would have started having problems well before the book started whispering in my mind, but to each their own. 

Sadly I spent the entirety of the book disconnected, cold to the characters and only growing more frustrated. Greta felt a lot like many female characters I read in these types of stories, reactionary and mild in manner. If you met these women on a Tuesday in the supermarket you’d never know. Which, if this was literary fiction then yeah I can see that making sense. But in a fantasy novel? A retelling of a fairy tale? It makes for a dull and frustrating time for the reader. 

2.5 bewitching gingerbread houses 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Violence, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Misogyny

chris_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This was so atmospheric and magical. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Blood

Moderate: Confinement, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and Violence

Minor: Torture, Gore, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

november 2023
i’m gonna be honest i was really excited for this book when i first heard about it it but i think that if nothing actually plot-related happens after 151 pages, i’m better off DNFing it.

aside from that, the way the author chose to represent the german language was a mess? you can’t just decide some words are capitalized and others aren’t. either you capitalize all nouns like the germans would or you don’t, so it blends better with the english.

ah well. i’ll keep this book around for another month or two and i might come back to it… or not.

january 2024
I ended up finishing it and I’m so confused at what this book is trying to be???
i didn’t sign up for werewolves, werebears and a fairytale mish-mash when i was promised a hansel and gretel retelling. this book had very little retelling.
i also agree with other friends who said they didn’t hate this book but also didn’t enjoy themselves while reading it because that’s how i feel.
it’s a shame because the IC copy is so beautiful but i have no reason to keep this book in my collection ☹️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Self harm, Body shaming, Kidnapping, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Gore, Cursing, Blood, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Ableism

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Pregnancy, Torture, and Miscarriage

Trauma, PTSD, arranged betrothal

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Death of parent, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death and Child abuse

pceldridge's review

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Blood, Death, Gore, and Death of parent

Minor: Rape