TandeWrites

I read this book as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Don’t Let the Forest In is C.G. Drews’ debut in the horror genre, and it’s a book that I’ve been dying to get my hands on ever since I saw them posting about it on Twitter and it was added to Goodreads as Skeleton Boys. It’s a bit of a genre change from The Boy Who Steals Houses and my beloved A Thousand Perfect Notes, but those young adult contemporaries contained enough darker elements that I knew I would be safe in C.G.’s hands.

Content warnings for this book include bullying, blood and gore, body horror, death, disordered eating, grief, homophobia, self-harm, and violence.

High school senior Andrew finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality – Thomas, his best friend who turns his stories into whimsically macabre art. And, with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to boarding school, 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 is haunted by something. 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.

My first love about this book is the writing itself, and how it is truly an ode to storytelling. Drews has a gorgeous writing style. The prose is beautiful (which I already knew as an avid lover of their other works) and I’d absolutely be willing to try another book by this author with these horror influences just because of that. This book is hugely atmospheric and dreamlike (or nightmarish?) with hauntingly beautiful imagery that I have taken infinite screenshots of so I can read my favourite lines over and over again. There are also snippets from the stories that Andrew writes that are interwoven throughout in a way that doesn’t distract from the main story and leaves me wanting more. I also can’t wait until my preorder arrives so I can appreciate the formatting of these pages in person.

The thing that means the most to me about this book is the asexual main character, confirmed by the author on social media, in addition to on-page labels and discussions of it throughout the book. The spectrum of representation in this story is refreshing and touches on themes of identity, mental health, and disordered eating. These are not easy topics to discuss with equal parts honesty and sensitivity, but they are important to talk about, especially for the young adult target audience.

I’ve noticed that this book is receiving some criticism for how it portrays asexuality, and there’s just something about asexual representation that I find people criticise a lot more than other sexualities. (In my opinion, because this is my identity, it’s something I pay attention to a little more). With these books, there are always people who review negatively because it doesn’t fully represent their own experience, but…that’s the whole point, to me at least. Don’t Let the Forest In represents an experience that is specific to the author and their character, and also painfully reminiscent of my own, which is why I identify with Andrew so much. But everyone’s sexuality is unique to themselves, and no author can hope to sum up (or fully explore) the experience of every individual reader.

Don’t Let the Forest In is ultimately a love letter to grief, coming to terms with the complexities of asexual identities, and the dichotomy of warmth and brutality that I’ve come to love about C.G. Drews’ works. It’s also completely unafraid to pay tribute to those former weird little kids who lived in their daydreams, and that’s something about this book that makes me feel as if I’m going to come back to it time and time again. It’s a good fit for readers who enjoy stories about intense friendships, overcoming darkness, and the struggle to protect loved ones from inner and outer monsters. C.G. Drews’ debut young adult psychological horror will leave you breathless and hesitant to venture deeper into the woods.