A review by izzyvb023
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I really enjoyed this one! Unfortunately, the wait at the library was far too long, so I had to listen to the audiobook (which is free on Spotify by the way). I prefer print & digital books over audio, and didn’t really love the narrator for this one; but nonetheless i enjoyed it overall!

Some people have criticized them, but I actually really enjoyed the time jumps / character povs. It felt like a great ensemble cast and definitely kept me engaged because I wanted to find out what happened to all the different people. The time jumps were a little difficult to track at first, but after a couple chapters, they weren’t bad at all! I also really appreciated how human each main character was. I felt like I could truly understand the choices each of them made and why they made certain mistakes. That is, I understand the stakes and the importance of some of the decisions for Judy, TJ, Tracy, Barbara, Louise, and even Alice. (Not so much the serial killer or the old men haha). I understand why TJ and her father

did what they did

. I understand why Louise

stayed with JPM

for as long as she did. And I understand why Barbara

disappeared.

In many reviews, I see Alice being critiqued as weak and unlikable. I agree for the most part. But I really think more than anything, her character is just so tragic. She was never really allowed to have ambitions or show emotions. She was forced to marry to a man almost twice her age as a teenager. Her husband

has an affair with her own sister

. On top of all that, both of her children are either dead or missing- all the while she is being force fed Valium and shuffled around by the men. That being said, she was still a terrible mother to Barbara. But I still really felt sorry for her. 

Things I loved:

• The name “Judyta.” I had never heard it before and I thought it was so beautiful, especially how it was pronounced by the audiobook narrator 
• The setting. The author does a fantastic job immersing the reader into the mountains/woods themselves. I could imagine all the aspects of the camp and the preserve. The atmosphere was done really well
• The misdirection/thriller aspect. I loved all the clues and investigation parts. It was fun to try to piece the story together and come up with my own theories. 
• The class tensions / the relationships between the townspeople and the Van Laars. At times it was a little too on the nose, but I do think it added a really interesting element to the story. 
• The ending. I was hoping
  this is what happened to Barbara. Maybe it’s wishful thinking to hope this would happen in real life, but I was satisfied with the conclusion, and especially Judyta’s reaction to it
• The ghost stories: i loved how the children’s ghost stories at camp revealed themselves throughout the novel/how we discovered the real life inspirations! I thought that was a really fun touch
• The silence of the lambs esque side plot: nothing to say other than i thought this was fun. Judy was totally giving Jodie Foster interviewing Hannibal. 

Things I didn’t love:

• The cook. I don’t even remember his name because he was such an unnecessary character.They try to redeem him later in the story, but it doesn’t land for me. He should not have been working at a summer camp in the first place. 
• I had really hoped
  Bear was alive somewhere :((
• The audiobook narrator kept doing silly man voices each time she voiced a male character. I get that she was deepening her voice to better act out a male voice, but it was just kind of comedic to me and was sometimes distracting
• I wish there was more “God of the Woods” imagery/discussion. I loved the part about Pan & the root word for Panic. The title of the book really drew me in, so i wish there was just a little more of that

Overall, this was an absolutely riveting read and I enjoyed it quite a bit! I’d absolutely recommend for anyone who’s in the mood for a good mystery with a great outdoorsy atmosphere