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572 reviews
The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke
It’s always a risk to write a novel with multiple perspectives from the first person, because even with extremely solid character building, there’s always a chance that the reader will confuse one character’s chapter for another’s. Cooke handled this fairly well, all things considered: I could tell within a page or two whether Pearl was narrating or Mabel, due both to their distinct personalities and to the cues that came from their surroundings. When the two narratives converged into the same year, however, things became more complicated, and I recall an instance where I switched between thinking “this is Pearl” and “this is Mabel” at least thrice within the same chapter.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
Thank you to HarperCollins as well as NetGalley for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
When HarperCollins emailed me with the news that C.J. Cooke—whose novel The Lighthouse Witches I had read early last year and thoroughly enjoyed—would soon be releasing a new book in the same genre and an ARC was mine if I wanted it, I was delighted. Cooke has the ability to bring any setting to life, giving the world her books are set in just as much personality as the characters who live in it, and The Ghost Woods lived up to my expectations of it on that front.
When HarperCollins emailed me with the news that C.J. Cooke—whose novel The Lighthouse Witches I had read early last year and thoroughly enjoyed—would soon be releasing a new book in the same genre and an ARC was mine if I wanted it, I was delighted. Cooke has the ability to bring any setting to life, giving the world her books are set in just as much personality as the characters who live in it, and The Ghost Woods lived up to my expectations of it on that front.
The story is primarily set in Lichen Hall, a sprawling manor house owned by the Whitlocks. Here, unwed pregnant mothers are allowed refuge until their children are born in order to avoid the humiliation and abuse they would doubtlessly face if they went instead to an institutional mother and baby home. However, rumors spread of the manor being a “palace of rot and ruin,” home to fairies and witches and an odd couple who once, years ago, demanded to take their own son out of the morgue after he died in a car accident. What they did with the body nobody knows, but many in the surrounding countryside believe they experimented on it—and to date, the boy’s grave has never been found.
This is the house where our two protagonists, Mabel Haggith and Pearl Gorham, find themselves upon discovering they are pregnant out of wedlock. Their narratives are set six years apart, with Mabel entering the Hall before Pearl, and this stylistic decision amplifies the mystery surrounding the setting: what goes on in the manor grounds? Why are the people living in the house upon Pearl’s arrival an almost entirely different cast of characters than the ones around Mabel? What happened to those characters in the years between? Poisonous mushrooms, headless creatures, and sightings of children who apparently don’t exist all clamor for the reader’s attention, making one keen to read on and fill in the gaps. Some aspects of the plot weren’t at all unexpected—the Cordyceps fungus was too obvious a Chekhov’s gun to never be fired—but the real anxiety came from wondering how the characters would discover the truth, and how the climax would come about. (And it was a sight to behold, fiery and unforgettable.)
Cooke has spectacularly woven together a story featuring the fear of the unknown in several contexts: that of creatures unidentified and unidentifiable; that of nature at its wildest; that of pregnancy, of the violence it inflicts on a woman’s body and the destruction it wreaks on the shape of her future; that of hidden truths and long-buried pasts coming to light. The evil child trope is turned on its head; the terror lies in how to best protect one’s offspring, both from the forces of nature and from exploitation at the hands of others, human or inhuman. The author’s note at the end of the novel addresses all this as well:
I suppose the question could legitimately be asked whether motherhood, gay rights, reproductive rights, and gender inequality have any place in a gothic novel. For me, the gothic is exactly the space to explore darkness of any kind, and the practice of othering is one of the darkest corners of human history.
It’s always a risk to write a novel with multiple perspectives from the first person, because even with extremely solid character building, there’s always a chance that the reader will confuse one character’s chapter for another’s. Cooke handled this fairly well, all things considered: I could tell within a page or two whether Pearl was narrating or Mabel, due both to their distinct personalities and to the cues that came from their surroundings. When the two narratives converged into the same year, however, things became more complicated, and I recall an instance where I switched between thinking “this is Pearl” and “this is Mabel” at least thrice within the same chapter.
Horror isn’t my go-to genre, so this was a refreshing read for me. I’d recommend this book to both serial horror consumers as well as readers who want to try something new, because the gothic avoids heavy depictions of gore while still managing to stay just the right amount of disturbing.
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
4.0
Bloodmarked by Tracy Deonn
adventurous
medium-paced
4.0
Blew all my reservations regarding its prequel out of the water. This is young adult fiction done right!
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Written in an Austenesque style, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell follows its two titular characters, the only practical magicians left in England, as they meet and clash and clash again in their views on the shape that magic and its study should take in the country. The novel plods along, its plot unraveling unbearably slowly, but the dedication to detail and evocation of character traits made it all worthwhile. I for one enjoyed this book immensely, and look forward to reading Clarke’s more recent release Piranesi to see how her style has evolved over the years.
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
this was a good one. rtc!!
Everything Here Is Under Control by Emily Adrian
emotional
slow-paced
4.0
The author did a very good job of withholding information from the reader because I did not see that coming.