The Dark Between the Trees - Fiona Barnett

 

This folk-horror follows 2 groups of people as they find themselves in a mysterious forest. In 1643, a group of soldiers are ambushed and the survivors flee into the nearby Moresby Wood.  A few of the soldiers know of the wood's rumored history filled with witchcraft and unnatural creatures.  Of the group of survivors, only 2 survive to tell the tale of what happened in Moresby Wood.  In current day, a group of 5 researchers enter Moresby Wood in search of evidence to what happened to that group of soldiers. They bring maps, GPS units, mobile phones, and other equipment in order to be prepared for their journey.  Only, they aren't prepared for what the wood has in store for them.

The setting and lore was the real key of this story for me and I thought both were fantastic.  I was expecting this read to be more of a creeping gradual horror but we know almost immediately that something isn't right in Moresby Wood and I absolutely loved it.  I did find some of the supernatural scenes to be a little vague and I wasn't entirely sure what was going on but that made sense because the characters had no real idea what was going on. I also loved how both sets of characters - 1693 and present day - were sharing theories/rumors/ghost stories about what is going on in the wood.  There was a nice mix of the supernatural threats with some realistic environmental hardships that really built up well over the course of the book.  I thought I knew where the lore was going, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was wrong.  On NetGalley, the description said this book was perfect for fans of The Ritual and The Descent.  I can see elements of both those movies in this story but I feel like it is much closer to The Ritual with the eerie forest, tense friend group, and unique supernatural-ish element.

I really enjoyed the dual timeline aspect but I do wish the book was a little longer in order to more fully flesh out both sides of the story.  The story is split pretty much 50/50 between the soldiers in 1643 and the researchers in present day. The events in the two timelines somewhat mirror each other, which leads to a really fun dynamic for the reader. I also thought it was interesting to see the differences between the 1693 story and what the present day characters know based on historical texts.  I was pretty equally interested in both timelines which is always a good sign.  I also liked how the two timelines, while very similar, did have their own individual elements that highlighted the tense situation the characters were in. 

Where this book lost me a bit was with all the characters.  I found this to be a pretty short read at around 300 pages and since it was split pretty evenly between the two timelines, there just wasn't a lot of room for all the characters and relationships.  I'm more of a character-focused reader which is why I think I like these isolated mystery/horror reads so much.  I was really excited to see how this setting impacted the characters and their interactions.  And while we did get those scenes, they weren't as impactful to read because I didn't feel like the initial character relationships were sufficiently fleshed out. I knew the ranks and surface relationships between the characters, but I wanted more depth.  I felt this way about the character groups in both timelines.  I really think if this book was just a little longer and there was more time setting up the group dynamic before things start going off the rails then I would have really been able to sink into the story more.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the narration style of this read.  The story was told from a 3rd person POV that alternated being closer to one character and then farther away so the reader could get information from other characters.  It wasn't technically headhopping, but it gave me that same feeling while reading of not being completely settled in the narration.  I did read an ARC so this could potentially be fixed in the final copy but I think this would come down to personal preference. For me, the narration choices to be more removed from our main-ish character just meant that I had a harder time settling into the story and with these characters.

Overall, I really liked the premise and setting of this read, but I wanted some tweaks in order to be more connected to the characters. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion publishing for the ARC.  

Expected publication date is October 11, 2022.