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A review by caughtbetweenpages
Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
~ received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for honest review ~
Don’t Let the Forest In is great as a piece of speculative horror fiction. Drews’s writing brings together the visceral agony of anxiety so emblematic of being a teenager and feeling like the heart of you is antithetical to fitting in (AND that your otherness is visible to everyone else, too) with the dark atmosphere of the haunted forest. They don’t let the reader look away from scenes of body horror, from the monsters tearing apart two young boys determined to protect each other, but who are wildly outmatched by their foes. I felt lasting and immediate concern for both Andrew and Thomas’s wellbeing while reading, and that tension carries through both in the forest and out of it/in the school setting. I found the monsters themselves very imaginative, both those that drew upon existing fairytale mythos and those fully of Drews’s own design. Tying them to the creative work of the protagonists was lovely—they literally have a hand in their own destruction, and are tied directly to the horror of it all.
Where I struggled with DLTFI is in the character work. I found a lot of the dialogue to feel very stilted/scripted, especially between A and T, which was a shame because that made it harder to root for them as a couple, because I couldn’t feel their chemistry together. It’s doubly a shame, because there were moments of it (chapters 4 and 5 stand out especially, because they show the relationship as it was in the past and contrast it to now, as opposed to just saying outright that A would do anything for T and vice versa) so I knew while reading that Drews COULD do character work, and just didn’t in some scenes.
And then, very often, characters just DONT talk to each other, seemingly for the purpose of building tension. They just keep burying secrets and not saying them. The lack of communication means there’s not enough info to be intriguing, it’s just repetitive and gets tiring, and there’s not even drama between the characters as a consolation prize. I especially felt the absence of Andrew and Dove’s relationship in the story. I feel like a lot of A’s feelings about her and T (the romantic jealousy and worry about their friendship outside of A) could be fixed with a few Dove scenes (eg. A actually asking T to bring D in on monster hunting instead of just thinking about it and T saying no vehemently. A assumes T wants to keep her from the monsters and keep her safe and jealousy ensues! Or Dove trying to join them here and there while they’re both being all secretive before stubbornly going “who needs y’all” and avoiding them back instead of just not being around from the jump) As it is now, she feels like a convenient way for Andrew not to notice Thomas has feelings for him, another thing we’re told rather than being allowed to feel naturally.
The “telling” also slowed down the pacing of the plot, especially in the first half. I found myself tiring of the lampshading of “the thing that happened last year” without being given an explication which would allow closer readers to infer more about how that past ties into the main plot of this book.
I also found myself frustrated with the confused/changeable characterization of the protagonists. It felt like their personalities and closeness to one another and etc switched depending on what the plot needed in that moment. Eg. At one point I. The narrative Thomas, who until that point had been described as an effective protector for Andrew, is described as one who “bites people only for attention”. It feels that a lot of those inconsistencies are done to make the prose lovely, but the pretty phrasing gets in the way of clarity of characterization, and in the way of continuity (chapter 12: “Andrew would’ve noticed the lack of charcoal smudged sleeves and paint in [Thomas’s] hair”, but only a few pages earlier, Andrew DID notice even from a distance.)
I really do enjoy the prose though, and I feel it’s a good match for Andrew’s anxious, sharp, surprisingly tough character. The asides to his stories he wrote were lovely and I liked tying them to the supernatural elements that come later on in the book. They feel like special hints of what’s to come and I found them especially lovely. It’s impractical, but I do wish we got T’s illustrations to accompany them too.
I know I mentioned the dynamics being stilted earlier, but Drew’s did a great job seeding the obsession between Andrew and Thomas. Their dynamic is entrenched (ch 4), and I loved the internal tension of Andrew’s shame at his dependence at first, and how that changes and develops. His devotion is what he gravitates toward: Being Thomas’s.
I did like how Andrew changed as the stoey progressed. Taking the agency to go after Thomas and take up monster hunting of his own volition was great to see.
Overall, I think DLTFI is a story that has so many lovely elements, from the supernatural/fantasy horror to the teen drama to the exploration of queer identity, and I think that for another reader, they could come together to perfection. It just wasn’t quite right for me. I would recommend it to teen readers with an interest in queer narratives that don’t completely center on queerness, and fans of fairy tales with haunted forests.
Don’t Let the Forest In is great as a piece of speculative horror fiction. Drews’s writing brings together the visceral agony of anxiety so emblematic of being a teenager and feeling like the heart of you is antithetical to fitting in (AND that your otherness is visible to everyone else, too) with the dark atmosphere of the haunted forest. They don’t let the reader look away from scenes of body horror, from the monsters tearing apart two young boys determined to protect each other, but who are wildly outmatched by their foes. I felt lasting and immediate concern for both Andrew and Thomas’s wellbeing while reading, and that tension carries through both in the forest and out of it/in the school setting. I found the monsters themselves very imaginative, both those that drew upon existing fairytale mythos and those fully of Drews’s own design. Tying them to the creative work of the protagonists was lovely—they literally have a hand in their own destruction, and are tied directly to the horror of it all.
Where I struggled with DLTFI is in the character work. I found a lot of the dialogue to feel very stilted/scripted, especially between A and T, which was a shame because that made it harder to root for them as a couple, because I couldn’t feel their chemistry together. It’s doubly a shame, because there were moments of it (chapters 4 and 5 stand out especially, because they show the relationship as it was in the past and contrast it to now, as opposed to just saying outright that A would do anything for T and vice versa) so I knew while reading that Drews COULD do character work, and just didn’t in some scenes.
And then, very often, characters just DONT talk to each other, seemingly for the purpose of building tension. They just keep burying secrets and not saying them. The lack of communication means there’s not enough info to be intriguing, it’s just repetitive and gets tiring, and there’s not even drama between the characters as a consolation prize. I especially felt the absence of Andrew and Dove’s relationship in the story. I feel like a lot of A’s feelings about her and T (the romantic jealousy and worry about their friendship outside of A) could be fixed with a few Dove scenes (eg. A actually asking T to bring D in on monster hunting instead of just thinking about it and T saying no vehemently. A assumes T wants to keep her from the monsters and keep her safe and jealousy ensues! Or Dove trying to join them here and there while they’re both being all secretive before stubbornly going “who needs y’all” and avoiding them back instead of just not being around from the jump) As it is now, she feels like a convenient way for Andrew not to notice Thomas has feelings for him, another thing we’re told rather than being allowed to feel naturally.
The “telling” also slowed down the pacing of the plot, especially in the first half. I found myself tiring of the lampshading of “the thing that happened last year” without being given an explication which would allow closer readers to infer more about how that past ties into the main plot of this book.
I also found myself frustrated with the confused/changeable characterization of the protagonists. It felt like their personalities and closeness to one another and etc switched depending on what the plot needed in that moment. Eg. At one point I. The narrative Thomas, who until that point had been described as an effective protector for Andrew, is described as one who “bites people only for attention”. It feels that a lot of those inconsistencies are done to make the prose lovely, but the pretty phrasing gets in the way of clarity of characterization, and in the way of continuity (chapter 12: “Andrew would’ve noticed the lack of charcoal smudged sleeves and paint in [Thomas’s] hair”, but only a few pages earlier, Andrew DID notice even from a distance.)
I really do enjoy the prose though, and I feel it’s a good match for Andrew’s anxious, sharp, surprisingly tough character. The asides to his stories he wrote were lovely and I liked tying them to the supernatural elements that come later on in the book. They feel like special hints of what’s to come and I found them especially lovely. It’s impractical, but I do wish we got T’s illustrations to accompany them too.
I know I mentioned the dynamics being stilted earlier, but Drew’s did a great job seeding the obsession between Andrew and Thomas. Their dynamic is entrenched (ch 4), and I loved the internal tension of Andrew’s shame at his dependence at first, and how that changes and develops. His devotion is what he gravitates toward: Being Thomas’s.
I did like how Andrew changed as the stoey progressed. Taking the agency to go after Thomas and take up monster hunting of his own volition was great to see.
Overall, I think DLTFI is a story that has so many lovely elements, from the supernatural/fantasy horror to the teen drama to the exploration of queer identity, and I think that for another reader, they could come together to perfection. It just wasn’t quite right for me. I would recommend it to teen readers with an interest in queer narratives that don’t completely center on queerness, and fans of fairy tales with haunted forests.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Child abuse