A review by bonafidefaygo
The Woodkin by Alexander James

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was immensely disappointing for me. As someone who's frightened of deep woods, camping/hiking, and deep isolation in nature, I should've found this scarier.

I found the main character/narrator to be insufferable. Like, okay, so you find out your wife cheated on you so you're logical step is to go on a three week hike?? I guess people do it, but then add on that i didn't like his voice. Also there's literally a part where he's talking about a woman getting harassed in a store and literally says he doesn't need to step in because "she's a strong independent woman" 🤢 

But I can forgive an unlikeable/unrelatable character and the weird nature horror was good in the first bit so I continued. And it just got progressively more disappointing with everything. Like it really jumped the shark, and I say that as someone who enjoys cosmic horror a LOT but it just felt poorly executed to me and I HATED the conclusion. Like so, so much. How are we gonna wrap everything up in a nice little bow after everything without any discussion of repercussions.

This did have potential though, and I think it would be some people's cup of tea. I think it would've been vastly improved if it was significantly shorter and far more ambiguous.