Thanks to DC Comics and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC for review.

Carmen Maria Machado always has permission to completely devastate me. In proper CMM fashion that is exactly how I felt after finishing this comic.

The Low, Low Woods is a story about El and Vee who one day wake up in the movie theater without any recollection of what had happened. Searching for answers they find much more than they had bargained for while looking deeper into the history of Shudder-to-Think.

CMM is truly a master at any medium that she touches. This was so much a story about women reclaiming their agency on their own terms. The monsters may not be the creepy beings in the woods but instead your next-door neighbor.

If you are looking for another read about teenage girls disrupting the patriarchy, this one is for you.

Overall, I really dug this graphic novel. The art really worked for me, and there was a tone of creepiness that pervaded the whole piece. The only problem, really, is that it is a bit vague in the way it handles the ending-- I don't think I really understood fully what, exactly, had been forgotten. I have a rough idea, but I think it needed to be more specific to carry the emotional impact the story needed.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

This book was very cute and I really enjoyed it. I loved the story of strong women. The plot and storyline in the book gave me what I was looking for. It wasn't over the top creepy but it had its moments of creep factors. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

Carmen Maria Machado's "The Low, Low Woods" begins as a spooky, strange, atmospheric read. There's something afoot in Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. Best friends El and Octavia awaken as a movie ends, not remembering falling asleep, and seeing clear evidence that they did not stay in the theater during the movie. What unfolds is a tale of dark, brutal secrets and magic gone awry.

At its core, "The Low, Low Woods" is a feminist story and a story of rape culture. This is not for the faint of heart, and trigger warnings abound for violence, gore, and rape, though the latter does not occur on the page. If found a number of things very refreshing about the book. The protagonists are a couple of teenage girls, both lesbian and both of color. El is a woman of size. They are never pitted against each other, but rather against the world around them. The representation alone is a powerful feminist statement, and the story that unfolds is even more powerful.

This modern fantasy tale does not seem as much like horror to me, but that is a positive for me. It is really about women, and how they can overcome an established patriarchy at great cost. Memorable main characters with a strong bond of friendship. Diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions, and relationships give the story more depth than older fiction. The art is both realistic, but can add disturbing elements for effect. Definitely YA or adult for some themes.

i always love stories centered around female friendship. the representation was nice, the horror was creepy. what else could i ask for?

I'd picked up the first two issues of this comic as stand alones but didn't feel that compelled to continue, but when the chance to get an ARC from DC Comics and Netgalley came up, I had to take it. Unfortunately it confirmed the hunch I had that this comic wasn't for me even though I normally love Carmen Maria Machado's work.

The handwriting-esque lettering can be a bit difficult to read sometimes, especially since this is on the wordier side of comics, and I didn't love the art in some places. The most surreal moments are when the illustrations really shine, but those are few and far between. There are threads of the story that don't really add up or have purpose, and it felt like a waste of build up keeping us from the main mystery of the series. I did love the effortless representation within the comic, but everything else was a bit of a miss for me.

A pretty dark and unique commentary on the worst of society centered in a small town with many secrets and not-so secrets floating in the air. I enjoyed reading this GN despite the tough subject matter. I thought the way it was presented was creative and original.
The imagery goes with the subject matter, despite feeling a bit blurred and sloppy in some panels. I thought the text for the inner monologues could be reworked to something a bit easier on the eyes for all people. The ending felt slightly rushed, but not enough to disrupt the flow too much.
Overall, I enjoyed this story and the imagery along with it.

3.5

I'm never going to see the end of small towns with coal mines mixing with depression. The people who feel stuck with nowhere to go; people unable to be honest with themselves, people unable to open up. But that's the thing, some of these inabilities are tied to traumas. The kind people want to forget or rather the kind others encourage them to forget. Companies that want people to leave to save their reputation on the coal mines; and the chauvinists who revel in the people who resist them. Having power over others can be addicting, especially when you feel like you and others have no way out. Unfortunately, not everybody can quite understand the full context or meaning behind things, just the effect it has on people. It just becomes harder for everyone else to tell the difference.

It's also why it's hard to discuss those things with the people you love. Not to mention how giving a simple answer to a complicated issue can seem hasty.

Comics and spooky-things together is just a magical concoction for something amazing. The town of Shudder-to-think is an incredible name for the setting. LOVED this comic. It was so wonderfully creepy and superb artwork.

Weird things have always happened in Shudder-to-Think. When Vee and El were younger, something creepy happened in the woods. They don’t talk about it, and they definitely don’t ever visit that spot. When they wake up at the end of a movie one night, they can’t remember what happened, but the creepy projectionist seems to know more than he lets on. The two go on a quest to find out what happened to them, and what may have been happening to women all over town for centuries.

Y’all. I love love LOVE Carmen Maria Machado, and when I found out she was writing a graphic novel, I flipped. Not literally, because I’m old for 34, but I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to read it and was over the moon when DC granted my request to read it.

There are some content warnings, so just be aware. Also, it is horror, so there’s some blood and cuts and such. It’s so well done, and there are few instances where I will say this about some of the content warnings, but it’s handled very well and has a direct impact on the story. It’s got a solid message, something I think all horror should aspire to do.

The art is super cool. I loved the main characters, and their lack of whiteness was refreshing. Their lack of heterosexuality was also a welcome surprise. More queer characters in horror always please and thank you.

The story jumps back and forth in time as it unfolds, and that builds suspense and mystery as we follow the girls to find the answers to their (and our) questions. It’s out at the end of September, and I’m 99% sure I’ll be re-reading it this October as part of my Halloween spookfest.

This wasn't for me. I DNF'd it after 50 pages which is more than 1/3 of the way through. Didn't see the plot, didn't care about the characters. The artwork was great but wasn't much in it for me.

This is a fabulous, dark but satisfying standalone comic. Machado is an amazing author, and her characterization, themes, and stylistic flourishes make this a truly memorable work. I loved the queer representation and the friendship at the center of the book. The art style fits the content as well. (Quick note: the main characters have pets, but none of them are harmed even though this is a true horror story.) Content warning for sexual assault.

As a native of eastern Pennsylvania, I loved the setting for this and found it to be spot on in its representation. I also loved the intimate friendship between the lesbian characters; I feel like relationships for LGBTQIA characters is usually romantic or the friendship occurs in a large group of LGBTQIA characters. Highly recommended and I will be reading any future volumes.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review. Thank you, DC Entertainment and DC comics, for the chance to read this graphic novel.

Octavia (Vee) and Eldora (El) are best friends and they live in Shudder-to-think, in Pennsylvania, a city where mysterious things happens, where there are monsters in woods, where people are affected by a illness that eat away the memories. When they wake up in a theater, without remembering anything of the past few hours, they decide to start investigating.

Creepy, eerie and captivating, The low, low woods is an horrific story, full of twists, discoveries, witches, magic and evil people ready to do anything to get away with their deeds, but they didn't see El and Vee coming. They are fierce, loyal and stubborn, living in a city plagued by deaths, disappearences, witches and mysterious water. The artwork is amazing, the colours and touches gorgeous and captivating and I really liked reading this story.

Oh my god, tremendous. Breathlessly paced without feeling speedy, full of deep dark mystery that unfurls at just the right speed, vividly rendered by Dani's jagged illustrations -- a rural PA queer teenage feminist war cry against the evils that men have wrought upon women and the planet. Carmen Maria Machado can do anything; this just proves it.

The Low, Low Woods is a striking story that blends horror storytelling conventions with the effects of generational trauma, and looks unflinchingly at what happens to women living under the oppressive control of amoral men. Not only that, but Machado's story examines the harm it causes to a whole community when women are allowed to be systemically harmed with no repercussions or long-lasting consequences. Vee and El, two teen girls, unexpectedly shoulder the burden healing their small town when they set out to try and remember events that end up being part of a long chain of abuse. The horror and magical realism woven into the fabric of the story, that makes literal monsters out of both victims and abusers, serves to underline the themes rather than undercut them. I loved this book and will be thinking about it for a long, long time.

When I want a horror graphic novel, this is what I want. I want the story to take me on adventure and not let up until you figure out everything on the last page. El and Vee are friends. Best Friends. They living in an old mining town where things are strange. Beside parts of the mines being on fire, women loose time. We start with El and Vee waking up in the theater and remembering nothing. El can not live with this. She has to know what happened in those hours. Lost time is not really lost, no matter how long it has taken place. This book looks at witches, myths, and things that go bump in the night like human sink holes. This book is very woman centric. Our heroines are people of color, lesbians, teenagers, and friends. And ones driving personality will find what they fear. What they have feared since childhood. And maybe, just maybe the town will be better for it.
#LGBTQIA+Rep
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#ReadwithMrBook.

In Carmen Maria Machado's fantastically strange graphic novel, she blends gory body horror and a strange setting of a cursed coal mine town to explore queer love, female friendship, and issues of memory and consent. Haunting and creepy, the story follows El and Vee, best friends who try to unravel the mystery that hangs over the town of Shudder-to-Think. Without spoiling the plot, I'll simply say it involves witches and a fount of strange water, like you would expect from a graphic novel coming out under the Hill House imprint. But more to the point, Machado's book really speaks about the imbalance of power between the sexes, and the foul lengths men will go to exert their dominance.

This book is incredible and terrifying and really disturbing in all the best ways a comic could be. I wasn't expecting this much from someone new to writing in the comics medium, but wow, did Machado knock it out of the park. The art is grungy and messy in a way that fits the story very well. The story is layered and nuanced. It's probably so horrifying because so much of the horror is left unsaid. The reader has to extrapolate what's going on rather than seeing it illustrated. This graphic novel is amazing. I already have this slated as a pick for my graphic novel book club for 2021, so I will make sure my library purchases plenty of copies.