A review by haylsandtales
Song of the Dark Wood by Sheila Masterson

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️{5}

🌶️🌶️🫑{2.5}

KU ✅

This is a 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓪𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓮, red riding hood meets Hades x Persephone, retelling! I’m tellin’ ya, this one is perfect for spooky season!!! Fullll of feminine rage (we love to see it) and morally grey characters. You will fall in love with them and I can guarantee Conor will be your next book bf 🫡😮‍💨🐺

This one follows Rowan (the Red Maiden) and Conor (aka The Wolf aka the God of Death). Since Rowan was young, she’s known she would be a sacrifice to the Wolf to be devoured once her time came as the acting Red Maiden. Now, her time has come and there is a blight in Dark Wood that her town and the Elders are pressuring her to fix. Will she survive her 5 year service to the Wolf? Not many do..

While this 𝙄𝙎 a standalone, I 𝐀𝐌 going to recommend reading Sheila’s Lost God series first y’all! There was a couple of nods to it in this book that had me 👀👀😱 (cuz I haven’t finished that series yet) and ya know I love me an Easter egg 🙃 PLUS, it is a completed series.. with audiobooks on the way!! One a month starting in November!!

𝓡𝓮𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮:

🐺He falls first

🩸He can make me worse > I can fix him

🐺Girls who see ghosts

🩸Feminine Rage: The Fairy Tale

🐺Haunted Forest

🩸Wound Tending

🐺Touch her and ☠️

🩸Music based magic system

🐺A grumpy god of death

𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓺𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼:

“𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘙𝘦𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘞𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

“𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘦.”

“𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘦𝘵.”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴.” 

“𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭!”

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵”