After the Forest by Kell Woods [Fantasy Review]

Summary 💬

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour. A drop of blood to bind its power.

1650: The Black Forest, Wurttemberg.

Fifteen years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people recovering in the aftermath of a brutal war. Greta has a secret, the witch’s grimoire, secreted away and whispering in her ear, and the recipe inside that makes the most sinfully delicious – and addictive – gingerbread.

As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat. But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her intoxicating gingerbread is a source of ever-growing suspicion and vicious gossip.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta’s own powers – magic she is still trying to understand – may be the only thing that can save her … If it doesn’t kill her first.

Goodreads

Review ✍🏻

I read the first chapter of this book. I debated setting it aside. Then, I decided I was being too harsh a critic for having read only 13 pages. I persevered. I read another chapter and begrudgingly committed to continuing. I regretted my decision around page 257 (68%), but by then I was in too deep and it was practically the end of the year and it wasn’t like I had any other pressing reads and sometimes you just watch a mediocre movie and that’s fine so why not finish this mediocre book and just see how it ends?

The first sign that put me off was the prose. I can’t pinpoint why. I thought, “If I did a syntactical analysis of this book and some of my favourite fantasy folk/fairytale style stories, I may be able to pinpoint why”. To be fair, I settled into the style eventually. It was not my least favourite thing about this book.

Why does the jacket copy for this book not advertise the romance contained within? It’s not predominantly a romance novel, but only barely so. It definitely contains more romance than I’d typically put up with. Unfortunately, the main character Greta is largely useless. She spends the majority of the story fretting about things and listening to male advice without taking any action. The amount of time it took for her to realize Maurice’s secret… (I’ll allow some concession for the fact that she’s a character in the story, so it’s less obvious, but there were still so many signs!). So this made reading about her romantic pinings even more painful than usual for me.

Romance aside, the rest of the plot felt disjointed. Many disparate elements are never fully realized or explored. For example, Greta interacts with Mira far less than I expected. The fox pelt plays barely a role. The origin of magic in Greta’s book isn’t explored. Etc. Poor communication more than once fuels the conflict. Two clear instances where Greta’s refusal to listen at all when someone’s about to explain drove me mad; nevermind all the other times a character teases a secret and then says they can’t say more ‘for your own good’.

A few things I did like: The consideration of Greta and Hans years after they’ve left the gingerbread house. The incorporation of the Rose Red and Snow White fairy tale. And it’s hard to go wrong with this sort of historical forest town setting.

I’ll wrap up with some cover commentary. At first glance, I like the cover design. It doesn’t take much to appeal me. Woodland motifs will hit the spot almost every time. But there is something about the colour scheme of this that bothers me: those pinkish hands and rabbits against a sickly green background. As well, arrows in the back aside, there’s something about it that feels rather juvenile.

The Bottom Line 💭

I hope for something that matched the strengths of Uprooted or The Bear and the Nightingale, but After the Forest fell far short of my hopes for a dark fairy tale retelling.

Further Reading 📰

🍂 Read an excerpt
🍂 Author website
🍂 Interview @ The Fantasy Hive
🍂 Reviews: Mogsy @ Bibliosanctum

Have you read any good fairy tale retellings lately?