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A review by bookishmillennial
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
WHEW, this took me on a JOURNEY! This is actually the first book I've read by Courtney Gould and I am now set on reading her backlist because I am really impressed. My booksta/booktok friend Laurel (https://www.instagram.com/laurelreads17/) first recommended this author to me, so I gotta give her a lil shoutout :)
Devin is taken from her foster home to a wilderness therapy camp with two super young camp counselors Ethan & Laura, (they're like ~21, barely older than these teens) and a few other kids: Aiden, Sheridan, Hannah, Ollie. The teenagers are all clearly unimpressed by this program and can't wait for it to be over (it's a 50 day hike through the woods, this is truly absurd and what kills me is that these programs really do exist). After crossing a river, Ethan & Laura are nowhere to be found the following morning, leaving these kids to fare on their own & decide to either wait for their counselors to return, to seek out help, or to simply continue on with the trail, since they know it will end after 50 days if they follow their map. As if this isn't a hard enough decision, the kids feel like they are being watched by something in the woods.
This book was SO creepy. I should not have read it by myself at night, and yet, I'm happy I did lol. It set the tone for Gould's incredibly atmospheric and eerie forest setting, and I was left at the edge of my seat for the entirety of the novel. I also absolutely loved getting to know each of the characters. I really enjoy interpersonal conflict in any story, but especially high-stakes conflict in a horror novel because you get to see how people respond to danger, and how they react and aim to resolve conflicts in groups or 1:1 settings. It makes it even more interesting when they're practically strangers and are forced to rely on each other purely for survival.
As a rape survivor myself, I could tell from the beginning that Devin was fighting demons deeper than the others knew about, and I really felt for her when she finally told Sheridan about it. I recognize this was painful for her to revisit those memories, but what a tiny bit of relief she could feel in finally disclosing this to someone, after years of having to carry it all by herself. Devin's journey was not easy, but I'm so proud of her.
The monsters were very well done; I was so thoroughly entertained by their motivations in wanting to become human and to leave the forest. The forest was their domain, where they remained the most powerful, and yet, they yearned to have a human experience? I know we're supposed to hate these monsters for wreaking havoc on these literal children, but the sensitive sweetie pie in me is like, 'omg????? all this to be human? I'm so grateful to be human and living on this garbage floating rock in space! monsters would KILL to have MY life. that's unreal?!?!?!?'
I also just loved this parallel to the kids, because they were mostly sent to this wilderness therapy camp to otherwise "get their shit together" by their parents/foster parents. However, when you're faced with the possibility of actually losing your life or someone taking it, you're forced to reconcile with the fact that uhhh actually yeah, I DO WANT MY LIFE AND I WILL FIGHT FOR IT! I'm not condoning wilderness therapy camps; I'm just saying it was powerful how these kids named that they DID want to live, and they worked together to get out of that forest so they could begin the next chapter of their lives. No matter what these kids have done in the past, they deserved another chance to try again.
The ending made me happy as far as the kids who got out alive, and it was so easy to root for them, even as the messy, angry, angsty kids they acted like (because underneath that, I knew they just needed to feel seen/valued/listened to. They're allowed to be imperfect humans too.)
I undoubtedly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it!
WHEW, this took me on a JOURNEY! This is actually the first book I've read by Courtney Gould and I am now set on reading her backlist because I am really impressed. My booksta/booktok friend Laurel (https://www.instagram.com/laurelreads17/) first recommended this author to me, so I gotta give her a lil shoutout :)
Devin is taken from her foster home to a wilderness therapy camp with two super young camp counselors Ethan & Laura, (they're like ~21, barely older than these teens) and a few other kids: Aiden, Sheridan, Hannah, Ollie. The teenagers are all clearly unimpressed by this program and can't wait for it to be over (it's a 50 day hike through the woods, this is truly absurd and what kills me is that these programs really do exist). After crossing a river, Ethan & Laura are nowhere to be found the following morning, leaving these kids to fare on their own & decide to either wait for their counselors to return, to seek out help, or to simply continue on with the trail, since they know it will end after 50 days if they follow their map. As if this isn't a hard enough decision, the kids feel like they are being watched by something in the woods.
This book was SO creepy. I should not have read it by myself at night, and yet, I'm happy I did lol. It set the tone for Gould's incredibly atmospheric and eerie forest setting, and I was left at the edge of my seat for the entirety of the novel. I also absolutely loved getting to know each of the characters. I really enjoy interpersonal conflict in any story, but especially high-stakes conflict in a horror novel because you get to see how people respond to danger, and how they react and aim to resolve conflicts in groups or 1:1 settings. It makes it even more interesting when they're practically strangers and are forced to rely on each other purely for survival.
I also just loved this parallel to the kids, because they were mostly sent to this wilderness therapy camp to otherwise "get their shit together" by their parents/foster parents. However, when you're faced with the possibility of actually losing your life or someone taking it, you're forced to reconcile with the fact that uhhh actually yeah, I DO WANT MY LIFE AND I WILL FIGHT FOR IT! I'm not condoning wilderness therapy camps; I'm just saying it was powerful how these kids named that they DID want to live, and they worked together to get out of that forest so they could begin the next chapter of their lives. No matter what these kids have done in the past, they deserved another chance to try again.
The ending made me happy as far as the kids who got out alive, and it was so easy to root for them, even as the messy, angry, angsty kids they acted like (because underneath that, I knew they just needed to feel seen/valued/listened to. They're allowed to be imperfect humans too.)
I undoubtedly enjoyed this and would highly recommend it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Sexual assault