This was delectably dark and twisted, beautifully written with our heroine Hyacinth the story’s beating heart. It was perfectly atmospheric from the get-go, and I felt as though I was walking on egg-shells the entire time, not knowing what to expect. The writing style was beautiful and the worldbuilding was engaging without being overly complicated.

Honestly, it was the perfect little surprise wrapped in a beautifully macabre cover!

This was my first time reading folk horror and I loved it! The story is about Hyacinth, a 17 year old who is quickly wedded after an unfortunate situation. She is sent to live at another village with her husband and blame is set on her when the Teeth and the Deep come to feed.

This is a really tough story. I feel so sorry for Hyacinth and all she’s had to go through. At just 17, she’s being blamed for things she can’t control. The Elders and her husband just want to control her. All Hyacinth wants is to make her own choices, even about life and death.

I really enjoyed the pacing and the writing of the story. It’s definitely made me want to explore more folk horror.

Have you ever started reading a book and just decided that you need to read more of the author's work?

Yep.

That’s exactly what happened as I started to read The Bone Drenched Woods. A chance opportunity via NetGalley to read this dark, gruesome but oddly beautiful and satisfying story has left me in awe.

Hyacinth Turning lives in a village that is governed by the fear of that lies in the woods. A being with unsatiable thirst for flesh. The village looks to the elders for leadership and protection – be good, be quiet, follow the rules and you may just escape a fate worse than death.

“Don't be foolish, or wicked, or loud. Don't be brazen, wild, hopeful, hungry. Be pretty, be quiet, be good. Obedient.”

But Hyacinth is none of those things. She doesn't quite fit the mould. After a series of events that end in tragedy, she is, reluctantly, wed quickly to a man she despises and sent out through the woods to the next village. That has always been the way.

“It is what we have always done...”
“Does that make it right?” Hyacinth screamed then, her words raw, aching. She breathed in the Pain.”

The village she arrives in lays by the sea which has dangers of it its own lurking in the depths and are just as brutal as the woods.

Thoughts

I adored the character of Hyacinth. She's not just loud but screams about the injustices of what she, and the other women and families, go through.

The setting feels colour muted and fits the story and the characters trials. Its dark and beautifully written.

The writer builds up the terror and horror slowly. It creeps up on you slowly and you can feel the tension creeping in and tightening. Then you get flashes of what these terrifying entities are, and the imagination can't help but fill in the gaps. Which makes for some fantastically, gruesome scenes.

I read the first chapter whilst I was reading something else, but L. V. Russell's story gripped me, and pulled me under and I couldn't put it down until I had reached the conclusion.

The conclusion left me feeling unsure of how I felt. I wanted Hyacinth to have more, or something better but in a way, it was kind of expected. It just... fit.

Captivating from the word go, The Bone Drenched Woods is a powerful and haunting piece of literature, and I don't think I will be forgetting it in a hurry.

The Bone Drenched Woods is an immersive folk horror about a fiery young woman trying to find her place in an unforgiving land. Hyacinth is forced to wed and leave the village she grew up in to live in a strange settlement by the sea. Along with the eldritch horrors lurking between the trees and beneath the seas, Hyacinth must contend with the Elders and their fanatic rituals intended to keep the monsters at bay.

“You are surrounded by Gods; will you not pray to them? For the safe return of your husband, your… friend, the other men out there? Do you fear they do not listen?”
“Oh, I know they listen. That is why I do not pray.”

The sense of hopelessness in this book is claustrophobic. This is not a world you would want to live in. It feels as though Hyacinth is constantly in danger of being devoured by monsters or sacrificed by men looking for someone to blame for all the misfortune. She becomes more nihilistic as the weight of the community’s order and traditions grows, despite her resistance.

The story is unsettling, like a twisting path leading you deeper into unknown woods, and the ending felt like the path suddenly ended and left me there, feeling lost. But perhaps that was the author’s intention all along.

The Bone Drenched Woods is an incredible, visceral and atmospheric experience mixing horror themes of folk lore and autonomy in an inescapable, oppressive cult-like society, along with the ever present eldritch-like dread lurking just beyond the treeline.
I was hooked from the start and couldn't stop reading. The author writes in a truly masterful way, the descriptions so perfectly balanced I could all but feel the chill in the air and smell the trees, all without a need to go on for paragraphs in order to do so. The pacing is tight, the world vividly immersive and cinematic, and the characters are well rounded and develop throughout the story - all while staying under 250 pages!

I think this book will stay with me for a long time to come, and will undoubtedly be used as a benchmark for atmosphere in reads to come.
Honestly a must read for any folk horror fan.

Thank you to Quill & Crow Publishing for the incredible experience of this ARC and to L.V. Russell for giving us this tale - I would LOVE to revisit this world in the future, to know even more of the lore and the creatures (human and monster) within it.

Interesting dark read, and I did like reading this although wasn't hooked. I think I was occasionally confused too, and I am not sure where the twist in the end came from... I didn't see any evidence of it throughout the book

The story follows Hyacinth, who lives in a community ruled by the Elders of a strict cult. The cult’s teachings are supposed to protect the people from the Teeth and the Deep—ancient and bloodthirsty beings—but Hyacinth gradually realises how useless their rituals are. The beings simply humour them until they grow bored.

What I really liked was the atmosphere. Some truly disturbing events take place in the book, and some world-building details are horrifying. A sense of hopelessness and unease is woven throughout the whole story.

On the other hand, the book was simply way too short. It lacked detail in internal monologues, as well as in character interactions and dialogue. As a result, some events and realisations didn’t have the emotional (or any other) impact they could have. The nature of some relationships didn’t make much sense (for example, why Hyacinth disliked Mrs. Yarrow so much, or the affection between her and Morgen), and some conclusions felt really far-reaching with no hints or foreshadowing. This made them seem out of the blue and, again, lacking in buildup and payoff.

Overall, a cool story with a great and chilling world, but full of missed opportunities to make it pack more punch.

A haunting tale that will leave you pondering whose wrath is worse:
ravenous gods or the men who fear them?

Russell’s storytelling creates an eerie world where questioning the brutal status quo or even minor nonconformity often ends in death. The main character, Hyacinth, survives by the skin of her teeth with the heart of a wildling and feminine rage for days. If you enjoyed Slewfoot or movies like Apostle, The Village, & The VVitch I’d recommend checking this one out!

Although eldritch terror tends to be cloaked in mystery, I think a bit more expansion on some of the themes & rituals presented would really push this story to the next level. Similarly, the ending had me clinging to each word but felt a tad rushed. Nevertheless , I will be turning this story over in my mind for some time.

It is clear that Russell has put a lot of thought and care into building a world that feels completely real and completely horrifying. From start to finish, the horrors of this world feel as though they are always lurking at the corners watching and waiting leaving the reader with a breathless feeling of never knowing what might happen next in the very best way. I appreciated the way that horrors of this story came in the form of both the scared men of the village as well of the eldritch horrors waiting in the woods and the waters; there almost a sense of comfort and welcome that came with the supposed monsters of the world, seducing the characters and readers towards them and away from "safety". A delicate balanced is achieved between on-page descriptions of the gore and horrors and the things that are left to the imagination.

I was hooked throughout this book, desperate for Hyacinth to find something different and safer for herself whilst never feeling as though danger was more than a breath away from her. The character work was deeply compelling and I found myself feeling conflicted about many of the characters as they were often painted in shades of grey. This was an incredible read and fans of folk horror and stories of the quiet rage of living in a world controlled by the whims and false piety of men will likely love what they find between these pages.

Hyacinth is expected to be quiet and do as she is told, in all aspects of life. She has no say in when or who she will marry, where she will live or how she will die. Hyacinth soon finds herself wed and sent off through the woods full of monsters with her new husband. Their new home is similar to their old village but new horrors await.

I ate this book up, it is creepy and gory and disturbing. The story and writing itself is so atmospheric, there isn’t a single part of this book where you don’t feel the dread and horror radiating off the pages. Our main character is strong and brave and brutal, you can’t help but want her to carve her own path out of this terrifying world she was born into.

I did find that at the end of the story I have so many unanswered questions. I want to know more, I want more details, but I have to admit that the unknown does add to the terror of this world.

Overall, this was a great little horror read and I found the ending fit the story.

So originally I only stopped at this book because the title was mildly horror sounding but mainly because that cover image. Woof. Loved it immediately. Read what the book was about and was like, alright let's do this.

So in went my request on Netgalley and I lucked out and was accepted. So thank you to Netgalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review of the book.

Let me tell you I was immediately swooning over the forest rot vibe of it all. And the pure feminine rage not only from the characters but that I felt for them? I absolutely devoured this book.

Picture this, 5am (my alarm is set for 6am) and I'm reading my Kindle in a pitch black room as my significant other and dogs snore around me. I simply couldn't put the book down. My Kindle said I was at like 30% done at one point and I was on Amazon pre-ordering the book.

The rotten wood, rage vibe lasts throughout the entire book. But slowly as the story continues you realize that the monsters aren't just the supernatural entities running around in the forest and ocean. They're also living in the village houses. And the ending? I had to read it twice.

This easily is in my top reads of 2025.

This book started off as a gothic mystery in a small settlement, but it turned in to a supernatural survival story of a woman just trying to live on her own terms. I enjoyed it! It’s very well written, with brilliant pacing. The characters are mysterious, and the main character Hyacinth is a puzzle that we get to unravel as we read. Hyacinth is a strong woman who wants to be free, but can she be free? She’s being pulled in different directions, the woods with their teeth and society and their expectations.
As I was reading I was constantly wondering what’s going to happen next. This book has a few plot twists that work wonderfully. It’s a brilliant combination of terror, historical fiction and feminism. I highly recommend this book to anybody who likes gothic fiction, mysteries or darkish historical fiction.

This was super interesting to begin with but gradually went downhill. The pacing felt very slow making this book feel a lot longer than it actually is. There didn’t seem to be much of a plot at all. Lots of body horror just for the sake of body horror. I get creeped out quite easily by horror stories but this book wasn’t very creepy at all. It felt very repetitive, so many mentions of bones and blood and people bleeding, the FMC seemed to be constantly bleeding. I also felt really uncomfortable reading a sex scene when the FMC is only 17. Fortunately it was very short and vague but felt completely unnecessary. I feel as though I learned basically nothing about this world and this whole story kind of lead up to nothing.
Very disappointing, had to drag myself through the final chapters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC copy to review.

This a book of superb fantasy horror atmosphere. If you wanted a book set entirely within the Wood from Naomi Novik's Uprooted, this would be a solid candidate, and that creepy wood is paired with an equally creepy ocean just for good measure. I loved the atmosphere of the town Hyacinth found herself sent to, and the building tension as the townspeople face the ever-growing threat of the Teeth and the Deep and become more and more convinced that Hyacinth is a witch whose sins have brought this (increased) terror upon them.

It could use another round of edits for consistency; the names of some things change throughout or else aren't entirely clear (I'm pretty sure the Form and the Drove are the same place; if not, it's not clear how they differ) and there are some details that seem to flop back and forth at various parts of the book as well, like what type of masks the people in the town wear (there are several types for different people or maybe occasions, but again, not entirely clear). The ending is also VERY abrupt. But the vibes are excellent for a true fantasy horror novel and the writing is generally very solid throughout.

⭐️ 4.5

This is a dark, brutal fairy tale with just the right ratio of unknowable magic and sacrificial gore. If you're a fan of Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom, the movie The Witch, or just crave stories about wicked forests and witches, you'll love this short book. The writing is lush and immersive and so fast paced. Once I started, I just couldn't stop until I'd devoured the whole thing. I'll be thinking about this story for a long time. Would recommend and buy for myself.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh I’m obsessed. A perfect book. The ever-present blood, bones, and viscera keeps you immersed in the bleakness & true horror of this world, unending & omnipresent. The main character is relatable but wild, and I loved her. Characters were well-developed, and the best of them acted against their own self-interest in ways that fit into the oppression of the system they exist in. I loved the unfathomable yet visible beasts, and the shadows they brought to the world of this book & to the reading experience. Read this book in two sittings, 10/10, highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a digital arc!

Carve the bones. One for the gate, one for the door, two for the mantel, and three for the floor…

First things first, Folk horror is not my thing.
L.V Russell's writing instantly pulled me in and the world was interesting enough for me to devour the last words of the story. The way she woven the intrinsic pieces of the story together is spellbinding. The dark themes of this book held me in a chokehold. This is first book i read by this author and it did not disappoint me.

Hyacinth - the heathen she is 😂. I love how she didn't cower in front of the The Elders, she did what she could in a survival mode. My only problem in this book is I was immediately pushed into the story and it took me time to understand what's going on in the story. And regarding the dog, twice i believe, the author wrote that the dog wasn't with Hyacinth but again the dog was with her in those scenes. I was confused with those descriptions.

This story... It'll be in my thoughts for a long time.

In the woods beyond each village, the Teeth keep watch, ever hungry. Stories of witches who can be heard in the night call to Hyacinth. She dreams of a world where she is free to choose her own future, rather than face down the only two options left to young people in her world: to marry and leave the village alongside a husband she does not want, hoping that the Teeth are held back by the efforts of the Woodsmen who clear the path, and death on the Farm, to be splayed and skewered, left as a feast for the crows.

Forced to marry a man she despises, Hyacinth makes her way through the woods to find her new home in a village hemmed in by both the Teeth and the equally terrifying and demanding creatures in the water: the Deep. When these eldritch horrors begin to seem more restless and hungrier than ever, the Elders look to Hyacinth as the potential cause of their newfound peril, and she must navigate her survival in a world where both men and monsters seem to thirst for her blood.

This is a phenomenal book. Russell constructs an unflinchingly brutal world that had me hooked from the first page. It's short enough that the pacing doesn't feel like it stumbles and it picks up at all the right points. My one complaint is that we get a little too close to the monsters at the end, but that's personal preference for liking to stay more in the dark. Easily one of the best horror novels I've read this year, and I'm confident it'll remain in the top of my list.

Big thanks to Netgalley for the eARC. Do yourself a favor if you're into gory eldritch horror and pick this up.

The atmosphere of this book is unmatched. The world Russell creates is unsettling and bleak, with hungry gods and cultists that are equally dangerous as the monsters in the woods and sea. I was drawn to this book because of the cover, and it absolutely delivers on the premise. It’s disturbing and violent and I could not put it down as Hyacinth navigates her new place in a society where no one is fully trustworthy and everyone is prepared to do what it takes to survive.

I would have loved to learn a bit more about the gods, cult rituals, and the world, but I very much enjoyed reading this regardless!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quill & Crow Publishing House for the ARC.

I read this book via NetGalley. I debated between 4 and 5 star for a bit, before settling on 5.

I read this book in one day, it grabbed my attention that strongly from start to finish. This macabre world was fascinating to keep reading. It felt a bit confusing at times to follow along, but it ultimately did not ruin my experience reading.

"You wonder why the world is so very hungry for us. It is for the heavy sins we carry, for the rot here."

A strange world where people fearfully worship the terrifying monsters of the woods and the sea. They practice cult-like traditions in attempts to protect themselves, but as our main character Hyacinth learns-- the Gods care little for these rules and traditions. They will eat what they want, when they want. Ultimately you cannot sacrifice others for your sins, the rot will continue to fester.

I think the ending is a bit rushed, and a few points confused me.

There's so much more I want to think about-- The abuse women suffer and the ways they rebel to carve their own lives. The queer themes. The concept of sin... I'll be thinking about this book for a while.