Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - After the Forest

After the Forest is an adult fantasy following Greta (of Hansel and Gretel) years after the woods and the witch. Greta has a lot to love about her home, but with her brother falling into debt and accusations of witchcraft nipping at her heels, danger is always near. When suspicious visitors threaten her and her town, Greta is forced to embrace the magic she’s learned to conceal.

****

I think my favorite part of this story was how it grounded itself in the town and place of the Black Forest in the 1650s with the hardness of life, the threat of war, and the particular brand of misogyny Greta faces. My two complaints are 1) the pacing lagged for me near the end- I read the first 75% pretty quickly but then didn’t feel as caught up- and 2) my personal pet-peeve, only women friends are dead! It’s not entirely fair to put this critique on the book as Greta has few friends period and she gains a woman mentor figure in the story, but her being pursued romantically by multiple men (granted, most of them were unwanted) while only really interacting with townswomen who hate her hit right in that NLOG adjacent area that irks me. Again, I admit this isn’t quite fair for this book because it actually makes sense within the story, but it always annoys me!!

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bee12345's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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smgibson27's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A great witchy book, the relationships were well done, and the imagery was vivid. Made me want to find an adventure in the nearest forest. Very fairytale heavy, it wove together bits and pieces of a lot of old tales into someone new.

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rambles's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

The story is an impressive mix of the Hansel and Gretel story, Rose Red, and a little Beauty and the Beast. It made me crave gingerbread.

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kaetheluise_nckl's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

november 2023
i’m gonna be honest i was really excited for this book when i first heard about it it but i think that if nothing actually plot-related happens after 151 pages, i’m better off DNFing it.

aside from that, the way the author chose to represent the german language was a mess? you can’t just decide some words are capitalized and others aren’t. either you capitalize all nouns like the germans would or you don’t, so it blends better with the english.

ah well. i’ll keep this book around for another month or two and i might come back to it… or not.

january 2024
I ended up finishing it and I’m so confused at what this book is trying to be???
i didn’t sign up for werewolves, werebears and a fairytale mish-mash when i was promised a hansel and gretel retelling. this book had very little retelling.
i also agree with other friends who said they didn’t hate this book but also didn’t enjoy themselves while reading it because that’s how i feel.
it’s a shame because the IC copy is so beautiful but i have no reason to keep this book in my collection ☹️

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