Or maybe, I say to the crow or to myself, the beginning hasn't yet begin. Maybe that is where I am running to. Maybe there is a time between end and beginning that is like the time between beginning and end. A time that is to middle as beginning is to end. Maybe this is that time. Middle but without the hope of resolution.

Brilliant!

"It is clear there is no simple beginning or simple ending. Every live thing is the history and future of all dead things. Every dead thing is the future of all live things."

Growing up, I would've filed The Hidden Life of Trees under what I think of, affectionately, as dad book lit. You know the type: trees, bees, war history, or some dead white guy on a boat, and as a kid I'd absolutely have been like, dad, be serious, who is choosing to read about trees? But this book completely won me over.

It's calm, fascinating, and surprisingly moving, full of details that make the natural world feel more alive and connected than I ever gave it credit for. By the end, I not only learned a lot, I also finally understood the deep, sincere dad enthusiasm for trees. Don't get me wrong, I have no intention of diving into giant nonfiction accounts of various civil war generals. But this has definitely helped me be a bit more open minded to what I once would have classified as "boring".

I loved the story and hated the romance. I think that's the best way that I could describe my initial thoughts after finishing this book. This was a very unique take on werewolves and demons in a historical fantasy setting around the very beginning of the French Revolution. It also includes the following at various points: Mars (yes, that Mars—the God of War) vs. God and Michael the Archangel, Joan of Arc, cannibalism, and a lot of blood.

tl;dr Sebastian Grave is an immortal-ish warlock of unknown origin who has a demon living within him. Twenty years ago, he fought and killed a Beast that was slaughtering a small town in France with the help of his demonic guest, Sarmodel, at great cost to himself, including an estranged lover who saw the price that Sebastian had to pay and turned away. Now, his ex's son, Jacques, has come looking for him, saying that the Beast has returned. As Sebastian travels back to the town, he recounts the full story of the original Red Winter to Jacques—but both he and Jacques have secrets that may change the fate of this new hunt for the Beast. Throw in a corrupt Church, hedge witches, and a France hurtling towards rebellion, and you have this book in a nutshell.

What I thought the author did particularly well in this book was the worldbuilding. I loved the way that he wove the fantasy aspects between a millennia of history between the Hundred Years' War and the French Revolution. The author had clearly thought through how the magic and fantasy aspects would work with the real world stuff. I love historical fantasy and deep/involved worldbuilding, so this part of the book was completely up my alley. Relatedly, I also loved the footnotes. Not only did they flesh out the world, but they were written in a hilarious and snarky manner.

That leads to the next thing I really enjoyed: The amount of snark throughout the writing. So many of the characters were quite sarcastic, especially the demonic ones (Sarmodel and Livia the succubus, in particular). Although the human characters were not as fun (including the main character, unfortunately), the demonic ones certainly made up for it. The amount of sulking and snippy remarks that Sarmodel made were thoroughly entertaining and made reading a gory and bloody tale simply fun. And the interludes narrated by Livia were my favorites because of how dryly witty her voice was.

While not everything was clear at first, the further that I read, the more that it all started to make sense. The author weaves a couple of different threads at the beginning of the novel—the current situation with Jacques coming to ask Sebastian for help with the new rampages of the Beast, the previous Red Winter when Sebastian first faced the Beast 20 years ago, and strangely, the story of Joan of Arc. At first, I was particularly confused about that last item, but the author eventually brings all of these threads together in a way that makes everything clear. You realize how intricately plotted this book was, and while it felt a little long and slow at times, the payoff was brilliant and felt worth it.

So that was the good. Here is the stuff I did not like as much:

First, for anyone who gets upset by animal death, there is a LOT of animal injury and death starting from the beginning of the book and going through the end, especially of dogs and horses. So if that is a dealbreaker, definitely don't read this book, because there's just no way to avoid it.

My biggest issues I had with this book was the romance between Antoine and Sebastian during the original Red Winter. I could absolutely not see what Sebastian saw in Antoine, and it continued to frustrate me (as it did Sarmodel, actually) that Sebastian continued to make completely dumb choices because of Antoine. I wanted to slap Sebastian multiple times throughout the book because he continued to try and save Antoine even when other bigger things (did I mention Mars, the God of War) were at stake. Additionally, we never ever really got the sense that this was some deep love, moreso lust than anything else...and Antoine was a fucking idiot.

Even after Sebastian reunites with Antoine twenty years later and sees how different Antoine is and how much Antoine literally hates him, he still thinks with his dick rather than his brain. I hate when characters act completely irrationally out of emotion and don't employ logic in their decision-making. I was like "Just let that asshole fucking die OMG" the whole time. The bond between Sebastian and Sarmodel was way more rewarding for me. I would just have loved a book about them being bros and fighting monsters together rather than a whole story that continues to circle around this estranged "love."

While I did say that the threads eventually came together, the amount of time jumps in the book started to confuse me a bit, just in terms of me forgetting whether an event that was being described had taken place 20 years ago or in the present. The two periods are closely mirrored and parallel each other, and the past bits are slowly told over most of the novel to the point where it felt like it was overshadowing the present at times. I feel like that could have been better balanced in some way, just to make things clearer and so that the reader does not have to keep moving between past and present.

Also, in case I haven't said it enough...I hate organized religion!!!!!

In sum, I would recommend this book for anyone who likes very detailed worldbuilding, gory scenes written out in all their bloody glory, snarky banter, and a magic system woven between the beats of history. The author's note indicated that there would be a sequel at some point, so I look forward to returning to Sebastian and Sarmodel's adventures next time!