The Bone Drenched Woods
L.V. Russell
Carve the bones. One for the gate, one for the door, two for the mantel, and three for the floor… Hyacinth Turning knows the terrors beyond her village, the insatiable hunger of the Teeth. She listens to the sermons given by the Elders in their hare-skin masks. She watches as the heathens hang and the witches burn. They tell her to be good and quiet. But Hyacinth is neither good nor quiet. After a series of tragic events, Hyacinth finds herself hastily wedded and sent far away from all she has ever known to a settlement at the edge of the sea. Where more than just the Teeth are hungry. Another horror swims below, leviathan shadows kept at bay by offerings of flesh and bone. But no sooner does Hyacinth take root in her new home do the Teeth and the Deep come to feed. Suspicion soon falls upon the outspoken Hyacinth, who spends more time with the outcasted Morgan Carroway than her own husband. The Elders want her burned, her husband wants her hanged, and a long-lost love claws at her dreams, but Hyacinth only wants one thing. A life and death of her choosing.
Publication Year: 2025
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Sentient forests with insatiable hunger? Check. Deep seas haunted by leviathans? Check. Body horror? Check. Deliciously complex characters whom you couldn't possibly form a proper opinion on until the last few pages? Check. In a world surrounded by the endless Teeth and Deep, we accompany the strong-willed and outspoken Hyacinth Turner as she struggles to find her own place in life, where decisions are always made for her, and any act of defiance would result in a slow, painful death. Following the tragic events that transpired after her nameday, she was forced to be wed and sent off to a gloomy town nestled between the forest and the sea. Here she remains unyielding, refusing to be chained down by the town’s cultist leaders, or be tamed by her own ill-fitting, insufferable husband. There was a part at the end that seemed incredibly rushed and unnecessary—the goal could have been achieved with much less of whatever had happened. There is also my concern about the lack of details or explanations thereof; we could have used a couple more chapters that delved deeper into the story’s folklore. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time reading this book, and I certainly wouldn’t mind returning to its world, should we be blessed with a sequel, perhaps in Mistress Yarrow’s point of view next time. Coming across this novel felt like finding a needle in the haystack. Fast-paced and dripping with folklore, The Bone Drenched Woods dragged me face first into its pages with its lush world-building and eerie atmosphere. Folk horror is usually a hit or miss for me, but thank the gods for L.V. Russell for doing it justice. I also loved the bisexual representation, of course! What a ride, truly. A recommended one, at that. Trigger warning for animal deaths and cruelty, but I can at least assure that all of them were quick and equivalent to what we could say as an "off-screen death". My sincere thanks to L.V. Penner, Quill & Crow Publishing House, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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