Don't Let the Forest In
Ratings15
Average rating4.4
As alluring as it is unsettling, award-winning author CG Drews' debut YA psychological horror will leave readers breathless and hesitant to venture deeper into the woods. Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him. High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more. But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories. Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...
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Where do I begin with this book?
Don't Let The Forest In follows Andrew and Thomas, who along with Andrew's twin sister Dove, make up a group friendship. However, this school year is different. Dove is not speaking to Andrew or Thomas after a big argument the previous year, Thomas is lying to Andrew, and Andrew himself is coming apart of the seams. Andrew plays our narrator, often unreliable and skewed but exactly as I would expect a teenage boy to be. His love for Thomas is unhealthy, reckless, and brash. But at the same time innocent and made of that awestruck naivete one would expect.
“But his ribs were a cage for monsters and they cut their teeth on his bones.”
With rich, delicious prose and violent, downright horrifying imagery, CG Drews paints a story that is simultaneously beautiful, heartbreaking, and unsettling. The story winds us through dark forests, darker fairy tales, and the unrestrained and codependent love so often seen in youth. The twists and turns in the plot keep you guessing until the last few chapters, and the ending left me numb and staring at my reader in disbelief.
“Life didn't fit against his skin and it never had and sometimes everything was just too much.”
This hit my craving for horror perfectly, and is a dark fantasy fairy tale at heart, both grim and beautiful. The cast is diverse and portrays mental illness so well, as well as asexuality which is so rare in fiction. At some points, the reader has to suspend belief a bit, but let's be honest, most horror and dark fantasy are similar in that way. Overall, this has been one of my favorite books this year, and I am so eager to see what else CG Drews puts out.
“... maybe you could love someone so much you ruined them, and then you ruined yourself.”
Didn't know how to review it, decided to sleep on it, still not really sure, mainly just "holy shit"
I understand this might be a bit young for some people (I mean, it IS the drama & pining of teenagers, after all), but I dropped out of high school in my first year due to excessive bullying/struggling with my mental health. So I guess even at 31, I like to live vicariously through books about the school-day experiences that I never got to have. 🫠
It deals with a pretty long list of heavy/triggering subjects (bullying, grief, eating disorders, self-harm, anxiety, mental health, panic attacks, homophobia, etc.) & there's a lot of gore & body horror.
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