The Dead Woods

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

3.5 stars

I liked this book. It was short but a had a great premise. The execution however, was a little messy. Its a YA horror but it was giving middle grade horror vibes. Not that it was bad, just not as advertised.

The main characters are 16 but keep making decisions like they were 11-13 or very stupid. They gave off very similar vibes to stranger things season 1. Which is a great season. But they were 11yr olds.

Also another re read of an editor would of been good. I found a good handful of errors but not enough for me to dnf.

All in all, if you like stranger things, this definitely fits the vibe (minus magic powers). Plots good, characters need a little work.

Well-crafted horror story.
Just what I needed. I was in search of a horror story and luckily found this gem. I loved the story centering around a town with a mysterious past and people who look for answers and find it, but finding more than they bargained for. The ending war exceptional.

Thank you for allowing me to review this intriguing book.

This right here is wny my generation (millennials) raise our kids like they are perpetually grounded. No way are we letting mysterious evil tree men get our babies!
And poor Mike is living in a dilapidated and unsanitary house with open wounds and no one is like "okay. That's enough. You live in assisted living now." Mike is the real victim here. A victim of neglect.
"don't go visit the own man the entire community decided to neglect kids."
This was a typical childhood in the 80s and 90s though, We would ride bikes, visit people in dilapidated houses, some of us got murdered, and we tried to solve crimes.
Sometimes other kids beat me up and stole my bike. Thank goodness we didn't have some evil dead woods.
Anyway I will never recover from this book. Thank you!

This is such an awesome twist on the haunted woods/creature in the woods trope. Combining horror and science fiction, Christian Francis hit it out of the ballpark with The Dead Woods, it was gripping, atmospheric, and unique. I love a horror story surrounding a group of young friends, and Pip and his friends were like a much less lucky Losers Club. A great plot coupled with the perfect "oh no" ending makes this a great quick read.

This book piqued my interest the second I saw the cover. I knew it would be the perfect blend of mystery, horror and suspense and that’s exactly what I got. I had so much fun for this book and I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for something to keep you on the edge your seat.

NetGalley sent me a copy of this book and I can say that it was worth it. Thank you, NetGalley!

A combination of Stephen King’s IT, Fear Street and a little bit of Stranger Things.

A story where a group of kids where just having fun, discovering the different place to play in their hometown until they encounter things at their scary dark woods.

It’s a little cold shivering experience when I read this. It can be considered as a Middle to YA Horror indeed. The book was short, I finished it in less than 2 days I think. I love the vibe! I also love the twist in the ending as it was a shocking twist that I learned! The adventure, the adrenaline and the excitement when I was reading it was so fun! I frequently put the book (kindle) down as the story progress, I got excited! The visuals of how I imagined was so good. It was like I am watching a version of Stranger Things!

I give this book a solid 4 stars! It was a little scary I admit but it was kinda fun as well while reading it at 12midnight.

It gives The Witch and Midsommar vibes ! It's very creepy,TW here for all the body horror and gore. the characters feel a little bit younger but in general it's a really great book.

After a group of friends discuss they’re missing classmate Adam Leblanc pit takes it upon himself to go and give a belated apology to his mother but when pip goes messing the friends or add a loss and want to find him. This seems like such a lame summary but the author is Christian Francis and so you know there is much more to the story,there’s rumors and folklore surrounding Adam going missing but is any of it true? and if so is that who got Pip? I love a great horror story and that’s what The Dead Woods by Christian Francis is one great piece of horror and it’s one I highly recommend. I have loved this authors books and he certainly did not disappoint with this one if you were a great thing of hora then you’ll probably love it as well. It is a total five star read. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this room do you voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Children start to disappear and each time it's near the area everyone calls "the dead woods" because every tree there has died. The parents of some of these children recall when the same thing happened when they were around the same age and they know for a fact that the dead woods are alive. I really enjoyed this short horror novel. It got to the action right away and was fast-paced. The characters were likeable and I cared what happened to them. The book's too short at under 200 pages to say more but it was a fun, quick read.

I finished this last night but needed some time to process my thoughts, since while I was reading it seemed like my opinion was varying a lot more than I expected. So, let me start by saying that I love horror, and I love children's and young adult fiction, and my own love of horror grew from reading RL Stine - typically Goosebumps - and watching the likes of Are You Afraid of the Dark. My love of those two things specifically are what drew my attention to Christian Francis' The Dead Woods.

The Dead Woods is very much a story in the vein of both Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark in that there is a handful of children, to which something bad happens, and some questionable parents/adult authority figures. I appreciate that Francis is also entirely unafraid of killing his characters, even in a children's book. I also love that this was a surprise Lovecraftian story. Some may consider that spoilers but it is its own genre at this point so, not a spoiler. Francis is a crystal clear writer with a good sense of atmosphere and a creative mind for inventive antagonists. The monsters in this story aren't totally unfamiliar, clearly being inspired by known monsters, but it takes a new, wild twist that pushed me from interested to edge of my seat, and the ending! WHAT.

This story was wild, and an absolute surprise. This is definitely not a summary that spoils what happens; it's a very basic overview of what this book is actually about, and honestly I kind of love that too because sometimes it's fun to be surprised by a thing.

So why was I torn? This book is listed as young adult. Content-wise, by the end particularly, it definitely is young adult. My problem is that I don't think this author has spoken to a teenager in a very long time because the main kids all speak like they're 9/10 and not 16, which they are. The language at the start of the novel, for the (?) prologue, is also kind of weirdly archaic? I think the author was going for fairy tale vibes but it mostly comes across as awkward.

But the last quarter of the book. My issues with the characterization of the teenagers aside, the plot, the monster - all worth it. I am not kidding when I say it had me at the edge of my seat, especially when I realized Francis was willing to kill characters. It made the whole story so much more tense.

If there is ever a sequel, or a story set in the same world, I'll happily read it. I already plan on checking out his work in the Hellraiser (!!) expanded universe.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Unsettling: 😬😬😬/5
SCARY: 👻👻/5
DEATH: 💀💀💀/5
INTRIGUE: 🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠
Creepy: 🎈🎈/5



The Dead Woods was such a different book than I have read before. It was something that I could emerse myself in, and actually see it happening as if it was a movie. With a different take on a YA horror novel it stood out in my mind after I finished reading. I was struggling to decide what I was going to say.

It is still hard to put into words how I feel about it. I enjoyed the characters, and how well the plot innertwined the whole cast. It included scenes with the parents, even if they weren't always necessary. Some of the parents could have honestly been left out of this and it would have been better. But others needed more within the pages to be able to make their presence more concrete. Without any kind of ending with the parents it's hard to be able to see why the author didn't include them.

The ending rounded out the saga, but still didn't answer many questions for me. Which is part of the reason why it got 4/5 ⭐.

I would pick this up and give it a try! It's worth reading!

This was such a fun little novella! It's listed as YA horror and it definitely reads like it's meant for a younger audience, maybe even middle grade the characters are supposed to be in high school but it felt more like I was reading about middle schoolers. That being said it was giving so many Stephen King vibes which is always a plus in my book! The woods are consuming people, it takes one of their friends so they won't stop until they figure out why this is happening, they learn it isn't the first time it's happened and one of the witnesses last time was the current sheriff. Considering there are less than 200 pages the author really quickly creates a very immersive read with an ending that both made me sad and surprised me.

This is a YA novel and packs a punch.
First off the cover grabbed me right away and the contents within lived up to the hype. The characters were all so well written and you come to care for each one. The story itself was very well written and brought on some scenes that are very memorable. The visuals in the mind movie were depicted as well as any movie on a screen. I will say some parts made me sad where others kept me glued and turning the pages with lightning speed. And that ending...score.
"A fleshy wood with bones within it, held up with vines" - a line highlighted by me.

Read this if you like: Kids on bikes, a town with a secret, plenty of gore.
Inventive, atmospheric, and not afraid to kill its darlings. A strong YA horror.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Dead Woods by Christian Francis in exchange for an honest review. I wasn't sure about this book when I started it, but I was determined to give it a try. It felt a bit like a collection of other stories and there was a lot of influence from shows and movies out right now, but it had it's own twist. I really enjoyed it and was creeped out by it, a great nighttime reading.

The woods are dead. Nothing grows in it, not even a weed. No birds or wildlife are to be seen. Why? A fire didn’t cause it to be dead. A group of friends are saddened when one of the group disappears. There is speculation that he stole money and ran away. The mother says no, but no one believes her. The friends think he went into the dead woods — that he didn’t run away. As they investigate, they read the friend’s diary so they know it has something to do with the woods. Their investigation leads them to talk to a crazy man, the mothers of the two disappearing boys and finally the sheriff. As the group of friends enter the woods at different times, the sheriff is already a prisoner . The sheriff can’t escape until two of the friends group hit the (cruel plant, beast or what? ) with chemicals that causes it too die. Will the people that have disappeared return or?

The author has written a creepy, scary horror book. The novel is also a mystery. I loved how the community thinks it some thing that it isn’t. I liked the surprises that happened as it made the horror seem more real. It’s written in a style that I like to read. If you are a fan of horror this is a must read book.

An excellent and well plotted story that talks about haunted woods, cursed villages and keeps you on the edge.
Well plotted, fast paced, a surprising end.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

There was lots of plot twists within the book, and it definitely had the feel of a YA horror book, I think the characters could have acted more their age, they seemed younger than they should have been. I did however read it in 1 day as I found myself wanting to find out what happened next. I definitely don't trust the woods anymore 😆