Soup's Reviews

Summary

'Don't Let the Forest in' by CG Drews is a fantasy horror book following the main character Andrew as well as his best friend/crush, Thomas as they battle monsters that appear in the off limits forest behind their boarding school. Fear and confusion befalls Andrew everywhere as he must learn why his twin sister Dove and Thomas are fighting, whilst also struggling with as much self doubt and hatred that a teenage boy's body can allow. Throughout the story it is believed that Thomas has been creating these monsters through his artwork and they try to figure out a way of stopping them. As the story continues it becomes more clear that it is actually Andrew's stories, that Thomas' artwork is based on, that are truly creating these monsters. The story ends with the plot twist that Dove hadn't existed for the entirety of the book as she had died a year earlier in the forest, something that Andrew was trying desperately to forget.

Ratings and Thoughts

I gave this book a 4.5 star rating.

This was an absolutely phenomenal book with such engaging characters and plot. The plot twists at the end make you question everything throughout the book and I think I would love to read it again in future with the knowledge of the ending to see how it changes my outlook on the story. CG Drews is an amazing writer and this book inspired me to read more of their work.

Andrew as a character was so intriguing due to his paranoia and self-doubt. Him becoming more confident in himself at a certain point as he wished to be the one that Thomas could count on and after he managed to control his first monster was so interesting to me. The fact that behind all his fears he has a darker side that, whilst we could see it before in the story, almost came as a shock as he found joy in controlling the monsters and for him allowing for Mr Clemens to die was so shocking to me. I found his exploration of his queerness to be very soothing to me also. I am not asexual myself but him not understanding that love does not just have to be a sexual act was so heart breaking. The exploration of queer love in this story really did add to it whilst not overwhelming the story due to the actual feelings not being fully established until later in the story.

Andrew and Thomas' love was certainly toxic from both sides due to a mutual obsession and hatred for everyone else causing both to commit acts of this love that were dangerous to themselves, especially the ending scene in which Andrew kills Thomas. This toxic love is also established when feelings are shared between the characters as they don't seem to be on the same page about what they want. Thomas makes it clear that he would want to have sex at some point with Andrew however Andrew does not feel comfortable with this. This point is only mentioned briefly but further proves that they are not a couple that would be fit for each other but due to their mutual obsession they will continue to love each other.

Thomas is also a very interesting character due to seeming strong and aggressive on the outside whilst on the inside he holds a lot of guilt and doubt about himself that is not helped by the bullies and rumours of the school. He blames himself for the death of his parents as well as the death of Dove, neither of which was actually his fault. I believe that if Thomas had come to terms with his own guilt earlier in the story than they would have figured out that Andrew was the true creator of the monsters much sooner.

The monster designs within the book are truly haunting and beautiful with the artwork in the book further bringing the world to life.

The death of Dove created so much understanding and also confusion for the story as it is such a large plot twist. Looking back at the book it makes so much sense due to nobody ever addressing Dove apart from Andrew and with everybody speaking of her in the past tense. Andrew creating Dove within his mind to deal with the trauma of her death also brings about a couple questions that are never truly revealed in the story.

Firstly, it brings the questioning of what is truly real and fake within the book. Just before it is revealed that Dove is fake and dead, fake Dove also tells Andrew that Thomas is also not real as he was arrested at the start of the year due to killing his parents. It is never revealed if this is true or not as Thomas later claims that he is very real. However, this could easily be Andrew's way of dealing with this and the reveal of Dove's death. In the case that Thomas was not real then this would also mean other events were fake within the story such as Thomas' conversations with Lana and the bullies picking on Andrew and Thomas saving him. Fake Dove also speaks on how Andrew and Lana never did talk as Andrew does not have any friends. This would also mean that he had made Lana and Chloe up to deal with his loneliness and to help deal with his struggling sexuality crisis.

Furthermore, this brings into question whether the monsters themselves are even real. Fake Dove also suggests that the monsters are simply Andrew's imagination. But in the case that Andrew made up the monsters, does that mean Mr Clemens and Bryce Kane never died? Was this another story Andrew created in his head to combat the emotional abuse he got from the two of them. Or is it possible that whilst the monsters didn't exist that Andrew actually killed them himself and used the monsters as his excuse for this to not think about the guilt he feels for it? It is clear that Andrew is in some state of psychosis that he cannot escape or understand which can be seen by the confusion of the ending. We, the reader, feel we are joining Andrew in this insanity by the end.

The haunting botanical elements of the story really did make the story so much better to imagine in my mind, especially during the descriptions of the forest growing within Andrew at the end of the book.

As an extra note the artwork of the main cover is absolutely gorgeous and really shows the botanical, dark academia aesthetic that the book wishes to offer.