A review by jamie003
Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.5

I love botanical horror and monsters, so I expected to be hooked, and I was. The illustrations were amazing, and I kept returning to them. However,
I was frustrated with the last 20% or so of this book once it was made explicit that Andrew had been hallucinating Dove. I was much more interested in why she would avoid him and it being a more complicated dynamic than her being killed by the author. It felt like her character and complexity were erased in two pages. I don’t like being left with the question of what’s real and what isn’t; it feels like an avoidance of world-building. The idea that they were creating these monsters and the forest was overwhelming them was fascinating! I couldn’t stop reading! I wanted to know what would happen next, and then the plot twist is that Andrew was probably making it all up. I love an unreliable narrator, but this twist left me feeling like there wasn’t any type of conclusion to the story.
There could’ve been so much more depth to the novel.
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