A review by shmadsie
After the Forest by Kell Woods

4.0

3.5. This definitely had some YA formulaic-ness to it but I did love the conglomeration of retellings here and how naturally they all wove together, especially since I was only expecting Hansel and Gretel. That could've been off-putting and yet instead I found it to be a nice surprise. I also appreciated that these awful men who wanted power over Greta were indiscriminate as to how they got it, whether that be via accusing her of being a witch or her body. Unfortunately, it felt a lot truer to life because of that since it's always been about control, however men can get it. I liked Mathias and Greta too, but the side characters were not very strong here - Hans was just an obstacle and Rob was a Tolkien eagle, and the most interesting one was killed off almost immediately.