In the House in the Dark of the Woods
Ratings33
Average rating3.5
I found this book incredibly frustrating. It took until about 3/4 of the way through for it to become a story. Before that it felt like a contextless jumble of experiences. If I hadn't been at work with nothing else to do I probably would have stopped listening. That said, coming to the end I am mildly intrigued by the world that's created here and the rules of it. But wading through this writing style leaves me unlikely to pick up anything else by this author. If you like narration and writing without a lot of detail or context, this is for you.
Odd but enjoyable, and I found it got going (and made sense...) about 2/3 of the way through, though spooky/eerie forest descriptions were great all the way through and I liked the witchy undertones throughout. Not sure what I expected as picked it predominantly based on the spine/title/small physical format, but found this quite a strange fairy tale, and didn't really want it to end!
The first half of this book I understood. A woman gets lost in some magical woods and stays at a woman's house. I thought initially it was like an “Into the Woods” type of deal perhaps without the fairy tale vibe. But the more I read into this book, the more I got lost. Soon there's this whole surreal world that somehow extends into the real world but it's still The Wood.
Even though I was lost, I had a great time. It was the first ever horror book I read and it was good. It genuinely creeped me out and had a really scary feel to all of it. The way it's written has this slowish feeling but in a good way. As the book creeps on, the creepier it gets.
Yes, the book didn't make sense but it was enjoyable.
This review can also be found on my blog.
I honestly have no idea what this book was trying to accomplish. It starts off as a lighthearted fairytale of sorts and turns into...? It alternated between dry and confusing, sometimes both. There was one point where I thought I genuinely liked it and thought it had a great ending – until I realized I had only hit the 75% mark and had to muddle through to the true ending. This had the potential to say so much about abuse and trauma, which I thought was its purpose for a while, but it ended up being a bit of a meandering mess that I genuinely regret spending my time on.
What a strange, interesting read. This was perfect for October lol. Weird and dark woods, creatures of the night that may be helpful or may want to eat you. Personal demons that play games and keep you locked away until you find a willing participant.
Fabulous! I could not put this down. It's like a fairy tale you have never read set in the world of The Witch (movie).
For me the book had a slow start, but I was easily hooked by the atmosphere and writing style. Enjoyed it so much I practically absorbed the last half of the book. I also feel it's a 3.5🌟 read and will clearly read this author again.