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A review by saturdayslaughter
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.75
It was so cool to see all this old timey gay stuff! I had a good time following this war veteran invert through rural town hell. I didn’t really go in expecting erotica, I wish I had, I could have enjoyed anticipating it, but anyway that part was good. The story really ramped up for me, and that climax (ha)! Blood and guts and monster sex!
I do think the build up could have been more effective, the tension with the townsfolk was oppressive but kind of repetitive.
(was kind of wild for the epilogue to put them back in an context I recognized where they weren’t being immediately threatened, it made the age dynamic suddenly way more apparent. not a bad thing for the story, but the more you have to think about it the more uncomfortable it is.)
I did find the inclusion of the super natural elements lackluster. I think what I was feeling is that it wasn’t treated like a mystery. I theoretically liked the characters choices around Leslie’s reaction to it and the monster, but I didn’t like how Little reaction to it there was. Like he finds a horrifying gory scene in the woods and after running for his life in the moment he kinda just does not think about it again. There’s like one mention of it afterwards. I would have been fine with that if it had been a bit more explicit that he was avoiding it because of the shellshock or the more immediate threats, but it just felt unaddressed. Overall I felt like something was up with the presentation of the supernatural horror bits. There just wasn’t much there besides dark descriptions of a forest. (also something compromised for me in how connected Stevie supposedly is to the forest, vs his ending leaving. it felt like there could have been more there)
While it didn’t have me wowed the whole way through, I am really happy this book exists. What a cool thing, an explicit and gory queer trans historical piece with reference material listed at the end. What a comfort
I do think the build up could have been more effective, the tension with the townsfolk was oppressive but kind of repetitive.
(was kind of wild for the epilogue to put them back in an context I recognized where they weren’t being immediately threatened, it made the age dynamic suddenly way more apparent. not a bad thing for the story, but the more you have to think about it the more uncomfortable it is.)
I did find the inclusion of the super natural elements lackluster. I think what I was feeling is that it wasn’t treated like a mystery. I theoretically liked the characters choices around Leslie’s reaction to it and the monster, but I didn’t like how Little reaction to it there was. Like he finds a horrifying gory scene in the woods and after running for his life in the moment he kinda just does not think about it again. There’s like one mention of it afterwards. I would have been fine with that if it had been a bit more explicit that he was avoiding it because of the shellshock or the more immediate threats, but it just felt unaddressed. Overall I felt like something was up with the presentation of the supernatural horror bits. There just wasn’t much there besides dark descriptions of a forest. (also something compromised for me in how connected Stevie supposedly is to the forest, vs his ending leaving. it felt like there could have been more there)
While it didn’t have me wowed the whole way through, I am really happy this book exists. What a cool thing, an explicit and gory queer trans historical piece with reference material listed at the end. What a comfort
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Transphobia, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Rape
(it is a revenge story)