🟥 Don't Let the Forest In (2024) Review - In Need of a Forest Fire | Book Waffle
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Don't Let the Forest In (2024) written by C.G. Drews
"It hadn’t hurt, the day he had cut out his own heart … No one would want a heart like his. But he’d still cut it out and given it away."
Andrew Perrault is a gawky gay boy and high school senior with the musculature of a plastic straw. He's got a crush on local bad boy Thomas, who may or may not have murdered his parents.
Inexplicably, "monsters" begin emerging from the woods outside their school. Monsters that bear a striking resemblance to Andrew's drawings that he presumably doodled in between sketching this fucker for the 100th time:
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WHERE IS THE "S" MONSTER, ANDREW!?
This book is so bad.
You know how women can often tell when a bad heroine wasn't written by a woman? That was this book for me. I kept thinking, "Men don't think this way. They don't talk this way. These are not characters. They are caricatures."
And so bloated! There's so much rambly woe-is-me narration and clunky figurative language, and none of it is interesting. It reads like another case of Nanowrimo syndrome: "Write words. Don't worry about content."
Except this is a published book where these problems should have been addressed. Not to be rude, but I'm curious if there was an editor for this book. If there was an editor, then I don't think they did their job. This story is what I expect to find in the abandoned depths of AO3 and fanfiction.net slash fiction: "Harry Styles/Josh Hutcherson at Haunted Prep" yaaas. Not that I would know anything about that stuff... >.>
You know how women can often tell when a bad heroine wasn't written by a woman? That was this book for me. I kept thinking, "Men don't think this way. They don't talk this way. These are not characters. They are caricatures."
And so bloated! There's so much rambly woe-is-me narration and clunky figurative language, and none of it is interesting. It reads like another case of Nanowrimo syndrome: "Write words. Don't worry about content."
Except this is a published book where these problems should have been addressed. Not to be rude, but I'm curious if there was an editor for this book. If there was an editor, then I don't think they did their job. This story is what I expect to find in the abandoned depths of AO3 and fanfiction.net slash fiction: "Harry Styles/Josh Hutcherson at Haunted Prep" yaaas. Not that I would know anything about that stuff... >.>
Actually, that's a lie. I've read fanfiction that was much, much better than this.
The horror isn't great either. The scares come to life seemingly just because, before vanishing for an equally baffling reason. Same with the protagonist. He exists in whatever emotional state the author needs him to be in. Cowering. Brave. Spin the wheel and see where he lands for this chapter.
And while we're on the topic of characters, the supporting cast never rises above cliche. The rich bully. The kind goth. The protective bad boy. The sadistic teacher. The characters are supposedly high school seniors, but they sound like they're in middle school. I probably rolled my eyes a dozen times while reading this because of the sheer amount of cringe. No social commentary kudos if it's going to be this poorly executed.
Okay, whatever. 2 out of 10. Maybe 3 out of 10 if I wanna be charitable for Lent and not rack up too many you're-going-to-Hell points before I jump off my next 12-story.
But it's the ending that is making me choose violence in this review. Yes, there's a twist, and it is so mind-numbingly stupid on a host of different levels. There's even an unnecessary fake-out before the twist reveal which is icing on top of the shitcake.
In summary, this novel is already lacking mechanically. But content-wise? Character-wise? It's horrific. I cannot fathom why this trash is so popular, let alone how it has a +4 star rating on Goodreads. Go read creepypasta on NoSleep instead. It's free, and the quality will be infinitely higher.
The horror isn't great either. The scares come to life seemingly just because, before vanishing for an equally baffling reason. Same with the protagonist. He exists in whatever emotional state the author needs him to be in. Cowering. Brave. Spin the wheel and see where he lands for this chapter.
And while we're on the topic of characters, the supporting cast never rises above cliche. The rich bully. The kind goth. The protective bad boy. The sadistic teacher. The characters are supposedly high school seniors, but they sound like they're in middle school. I probably rolled my eyes a dozen times while reading this because of the sheer amount of cringe. No social commentary kudos if it's going to be this poorly executed.
Okay, whatever. 2 out of 10. Maybe 3 out of 10 if I wanna be charitable for Lent and not rack up too many you're-going-to-Hell points before I jump off my next 12-story.
But it's the ending that is making me choose violence in this review. Yes, there's a twist, and it is so mind-numbingly stupid on a host of different levels. There's even an unnecessary fake-out before the twist reveal which is icing on top of the shitcake.
In summary, this novel is already lacking mechanically. But content-wise? Character-wise? It's horrific. I cannot fathom why this trash is so popular, let alone how it has a +4 star rating on Goodreads. Go read creepypasta on NoSleep instead. It's free, and the quality will be infinitely higher.
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