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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m always going to be a simp for historical horror. Parts of this work, parts of this don’t, but it’s a fun read and that’s ok <3
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
So much of this book was great that I almost hate giving it a so-so, but all the climatic build-up never amounted to much in the end.
It's a dual-timeline story set in a haunted forest. Present-day scientists are trying to uncover what happened to a group of soldiers. The author delivers creepy descriptions and the slow progression mixed with the spooky atmosphere had me so intrigued. However, it fell flat in the end.
#NetGalley #NewRelease
It's a dual-timeline story set in a haunted forest. Present-day scientists are trying to uncover what happened to a group of soldiers. The author delivers creepy descriptions and the slow progression mixed with the spooky atmosphere had me so intrigued. However, it fell flat in the end.
#NetGalley #NewRelease
I didn’t LOVE the ending, but I do want to sit on it for a little bit and see how I feel
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This is what I love about horror: a creepy setting, rising sense of dread, and simple but driven characters. I was a big fan of the Ritual (the movie) for its simple plot, forest, and villain so while this story doesn't quite reach its level, this is still a great read.
What I liked:
- The setting. I love a mysterious wood with an unseen creature and questions about how it came to be. The addition of two different times (present and hundreds of years ago) was a nice touch, in my opinion, and made things interesting
- The characters didn't grab me but for a horror story, they were solid. They had different motives and distinct personalities and while I didn't care if they lived or died, I could empathize with their situation and motives
- The monster isn't constantly in your face, which I love. It has limited "screen time" and most of what it does happens outside the characters' view
What I didn't like:
- The ending fell flat for me. It felt like a few mysteries were still left unanswered (which I think was the point) but left it not just feeling unsatisfying but incomplete
- I would have preferred we stick to maybe 3-4 POVs instead of the numerous members of the group. Alice had an interesting POV (because she was frustratingly stubborn) but the men and other women all blended together
- The story could get very slow at times and while there's nothing wrong with this slow burn, I found myself hoping something exciting would actually happen when it never did. However, this wasn't a major issue in the book
Overall, a great read for horror fans who love: stories set in the forest, a sense of mystery and exploration, fans of the Ritual or the Descent, and a clean horror that doesn't rely on discomfort or immorality to creep you out. I would recommend this to other horror fans.
[This book was kindly provided as a free e-arc and I greatly appreciate it.]
What I liked:
- The setting. I love a mysterious wood with an unseen creature and questions about how it came to be. The addition of two different times (present and hundreds of years ago) was a nice touch, in my opinion, and made things interesting
- The characters didn't grab me but for a horror story, they were solid. They had different motives and distinct personalities and while I didn't care if they lived or died, I could empathize with their situation and motives
- The monster isn't constantly in your face, which I love. It has limited "screen time" and most of what it does happens outside the characters' view
What I didn't like:
- The ending fell flat for me. It felt like a few mysteries were still left unanswered (which I think was the point) but left it not just feeling unsatisfying but incomplete
- I would have preferred we stick to maybe 3-4 POVs instead of the numerous members of the group. Alice had an interesting POV (because she was frustratingly stubborn) but the men and other women all blended together
- The story could get very slow at times and while there's nothing wrong with this slow burn, I found myself hoping something exciting would actually happen when it never did. However, this wasn't a major issue in the book
Overall, a great read for horror fans who love: stories set in the forest, a sense of mystery and exploration, fans of the Ritual or the Descent, and a clean horror that doesn't rely on discomfort or immorality to creep you out. I would recommend this to other horror fans.
[This book was kindly provided as a free e-arc and I greatly appreciate it.]
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I found The Dark Between the Trees very absorbing, but in the end a little disappointing. Not because of the rather open end, or because the mysteries weren't explained, but because I felt that I was pitched a story where some kind of genuine investigation would be done -- at least some semblance of a rigorous, academic approach to this strangeness.
Unfortunately, the character who seemed set up to do that turned out to be driven mostly by compulsion, and when she reached the heart of the strangeness, she... stopped. It makes it a mildly interesting study of the character of someone inexplicably driven, wrapped up in the mystery before they even came into contact with it directly, but I found it a little disappointing that her academia was nothing but a veneer.
The interweaving of the two stories, the modern team and the ragged band of Parliamentarians, is done quite well and used to good affect: each story reflects and mirrors the other.
I felt like the descriptions of the forest and the way it directed people inwards, to the heart of the forest, had much borrowed from Tolkien's Old Forest. The concept of the two forests existing simultaneously, no, but the general mood, the evil at the heart, the rising fear and tension... and the ways the forest is creepy, the seeming movement of the trees, the root deliberately popped up to trip, the bracken and undergrowth through which you can fight only one way... I wouldn't have been entirely shocked had the story suddenly involved Old Man Willow, somehow. That section of The Lord of the Rings is one I always found rather fascinating, even if I could do without Bombadil, so this isn't a complaint, merely a note on the tone and similarity!
I did start to notice a number of editing issues in the latter half of the book: words missing, mostly, and in some cases (and I wasn't entirely sure if it was deliberate or not), a line break where it didn't feel there ought to be one. The author didn't use these elsewhere and they didn't feel very impactful to me, so I think they were just outright errors.
Unfortunately, the character who seemed set up to do that turned out to be driven mostly by compulsion, and when she reached the heart of the strangeness, she... stopped. It makes it a mildly interesting study of the character of someone inexplicably driven, wrapped up in the mystery before they even came into contact with it directly, but I found it a little disappointing that her academia was nothing but a veneer.
The interweaving of the two stories, the modern team and the ragged band of Parliamentarians, is done quite well and used to good affect: each story reflects and mirrors the other.
I felt like the descriptions of the forest and the way it directed people inwards, to the heart of the forest, had much borrowed from Tolkien's Old Forest. The concept of the two forests existing simultaneously, no, but the general mood, the evil at the heart, the rising fear and tension... and the ways the forest is creepy, the seeming movement of the trees, the root deliberately popped up to trip, the bracken and undergrowth through which you can fight only one way... I wouldn't have been entirely shocked had the story suddenly involved Old Man Willow, somehow. That section of The Lord of the Rings is one I always found rather fascinating, even if I could do without Bombadil, so this isn't a complaint, merely a note on the tone and similarity!
I did start to notice a number of editing issues in the latter half of the book: words missing, mostly, and in some cases (and I wasn't entirely sure if it was deliberate or not), a line break where it didn't feel there ought to be one. The author didn't use these elsewhere and they didn't feel very impactful to me, so I think they were just outright errors.
3.5 upped to 4
There's a lot of potential, a creepy atmosphere, a lot of questions. There's a dual timeline that made me turn pages as fast as I can and a lot of surprising twists.
The author delivers a growing sense of dread and i loved the forest and it's wild atmosphere.
It was great up to 90%, the final part was anticlimax and I was left with a lot of questions.
A good mix of folk horror and paranormal I would love to read another book to answer to the questions.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
There's a lot of potential, a creepy atmosphere, a lot of questions. There's a dual timeline that made me turn pages as fast as I can and a lot of surprising twists.
The author delivers a growing sense of dread and i loved the forest and it's wild atmosphere.
It was great up to 90%, the final part was anticlimax and I was left with a lot of questions.
A good mix of folk horror and paranormal I would love to read another book to answer to the questions.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine