Don’t Let the Forest In 🍄🌲🍂 A Book Review

Hello Folk of the Hollow!

So back in the summer, I had stumbled upon the Instagram page of author C.G. Drews and, after browsing for a bit, found their (I’m not 100% sure on the pronouns that this author goes by, so instead of accidentally using the wrong ones I figure it would be okay to stick with ‘they’. I’m also pretty sure the author goes by ‘they / them’ pronouns anyway but again, not positive).

I read about half the book and decided I couldn’t finish it—because this felt more like an autumn book than a summer book! I knew that if I finished it in the summer, it would be forever locked in my mind as a “summer” book, and I wanted this to be one I reached for in the autumn. So I begrudgingly put this one aside until the leaves started changing and the temperature began to drop. When the time came to finally be able to pick up my autumn reading list , this was the first book I went for.

At last feeling like I was allowed to pick this one up again, I devoured what remained of the book and I’m so excited to share my thoughts with you!

Without further adeu, let’s get into it!

Warning: There May Be Spoilers Ahead!

“High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality.”

Overview

Don’t Let the Forest In is a queer YA novel about a boy in a boarding school who comes back after a summer away, only to find himself isolated from the two people he cares about most: his twin sister Dove, and his best friend Thomas. There seems to have been some sort of fight between Andrew and Dove before the narrative begins, and right after school starts for the new year Thomas is pulled into the school office because they believe he might be a suspect in his parents’ murder.

From there things escalate. Monsters are lurking outside in the forest surrounding the school and it’s up to Andrew and Thomas to sneak out into the woods every night and fight the monsters so they don’t make their way into the school—but there’s one catch. The monsters are shockingly similar to the ones Thomas draws in this sketchbook . . .

Reading this book was an absolute delight. I remembered devouring huge chunks of it every time I sat down to read, and getting through it super fast before I forced myself to put it down and wait for fall. Honestly? That was the right choice. Don’t Let the Forest In is definitely one of those books you want to read curled up in the dark with a halloween themed blanket, maybe with a cool breeze through the window, and a fall scented candle flickering nearby.

There aren’t a lot of books that I would personally classify as “goblincore” because I feel like that aesthetic, while popular, hasn’t really been popularized in the literature sphere yet (and if I’m wrong, please tell me! I’d love to read some more goblincore books!). Don’t Let the Forest In, however, I definitely would consider goblincore and dark academia. There’s lots of imagery of moss and forests and mushrooms and bones, while also integrating imagery of mahogany wood, books abound, and the “old-world” school aesthetic that is so prevalent in dark academia.

Most of all, though, I like how this book is YA but doesn’t feel like it’s talking down to its audience. I feel like a lot of YA books feel like they cut corners in the technical sense because they’re writing for a younger audience. However, C.G. Drews doesn’t give off that feeling in this book. I feel like the writing in this could easily translate to a more adult audience, and that it’s simply the set dressing of it being in a school and the characters being in high school that make the story YA. If one wanted to change this to a more adult book, that’s all that would have to be adjusted and that’s a really good thing in my opinion.

Characters

I feel like the characters in Don’t Let the Forest In are pretty well fleshed out, especially in terms of the YA genre. We get Andrew, our protagonist, is so anxious he can barely function and I can say that because same dude. It’s nice to see him slowly begin to find a tribe outside of just his sister and Thomas, and to assume a more confident role in the narrative while Thomas, who is usually the confident one, struggles with his own mind and sense of reality. The way C.G. Drews writes this couple is the way most couples, I think, should realistically be: One picks up the slack for the other, and neither of them sees it as a burden. They feel and act like the team they are, and you’re rooting for them to get together the whole time.

Thomas’s reputation around school becomes quickly apparent when nobody is surprised when he is considered a suspect in the death of his parents. He doesn’t have a lot of friends outside of Andrew and Dove (if any) and his tough-guy demeanor frightens a lot of his peers. It’s that aspect of him that I think makes him a good choice for Andrew—every anxious bean needs their scary-dog-with-a-heart-of-gold-who-loves-them-dearly partner, even if it’s just for moral support.

Both characters are artists. One is an illustrator (Thomas) and the other is a writer (Andrew) and the best way the book describes how well they mesh together is when it’s revealed that Thomas often illustrates Andrew’s twisted fairytales. The fact that these two combine their artistic interests into one even better piece shows their chemistry without having to overly explain.

Plot and Pacing

I’m going to try and keep away from as many spoilers as I can, because this is where it could get a bit dodgy.

Overall, I think the plot was really well thought out. The pacing was on point— C.G. Drews alternates between the fast-paced action scenes and the calmer scenes of their everyday lives in a way that makes both sense for the story and for us readers. If the story had too many action scenes all together, then we would feel rushed and tired. If there weren’t enough, we would be bored out of our skulls. But the way Drews doles out each type of scene throughout Don’t Let the Forest In keeps the reader invested throughout. I think I mentioned in the overview (or the preamble) that I devoured this book when I sat down to read it the first time, before deciding I wanted it to be an autumn book instead. It carries you through as if on a wave, and you don’t even realize how far in you’ve gone until you look up and see that you’re literally halfway through the book and several hours have passed.

Plot-wise, it was good. I liked the concept for the monsters (Drews includes illustrations of the monsters, which is a nice extra touch!) both in the art included in the book and in the literal concept. I’m a sucker for dark fairytales, and I liked how Drews designed the creatures lurking in the forest. There was one, especially, towards the end that I found especially creepy (but in the interest of not spoiling, I won’t say!). It was a good call to make Andrew and Thomas outsiders within their school community, because it makes it even more emotionally impactful when it just keeps getting worse and worse thanks to them having to keep the monsters at bay.

Drews also handles the escalation of threat well. The monsters begin bad enough as they are, but quickly become something that you wonder if the boys can even handle. That’s the best way to keep a reader interested in a story like this one. Can our poor, poor boys handle these things now that they’ve become something so much worse? Stay tuned to find out!

At one point I thought I could see the twist at the end coming. It’s a sad side-effect of having read a lot of books and having gotten an MFA, and no real fault of the writer themselves. I turn into that really unfun person in the movie theatre shouting out the endings because they already know what they’re going to be. Drews managed to misdirect me right before the big reveal and make me wonder if maybe I was wrong—then swung back around and hit me with the reveal I thought was coming all along!

Really my biggest problem with this book is that the actual ending, at the time that I read it, didn’t make all that much sense and I’m a little confused about what happened or what it was supposed to mean. I’m pretty sure I know, but at the time there was enough doubt in my mind that I wasn’t sure. But also, I read the ending when I was really tired and kind of allergy sick, so I’m not going to set that part in stone until I do another read-through.

Final Thoughts

All-in-all this was a really great book, and I’m glad I read it. I can definitely see it finding a permanent spot on my autumn reading list, and am interested in seeing what else C.G. Drews does with the releases they’re going to have coming up soon!

Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

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Have you read Don’t Let the Forest In / do you plan to? I want to know what you think!

Until next time!