First I absolutely love the cover. This book had some great inclusivity in it. It's so great to read all th we books that so many people can identify with. I like how everything was reveled throughout the book. I like what strong if at times anxious bad ass Derry was. All the girls in this book were great characters. Even though it had the witch/sinister/paranormal elements it was such a relatable story. Totally recommending

From the start this book was creepy in a way that was unsettling more than fun. I went into this thinking it was going to be more adventurous fantasy, having basically only seen the cover. It’s really more of an X-Men style youngsters with supernatural powers book. And it doesn’t really have much levity to balance the heaviness of the story. There were certainly things to appreciate in the book, especially a well-drawn main character who is tough and coming into herself bravely, but this book is really for people who want a dark, intense story.

*some spoilers!!*
Thank you to NetGalley and Clarion books for providing me access to an e-arc to review!

I was drawn in by the promise of a plus-sized main character and a witchy/magical forest/isolated story, but unfortunately I felt this didn't do enough with those concepts for me. I never quite got into the found family aspect as I found the other sisters to be quite forgettable and reduced to names and one or two characteristics about them. I think it was just hard to keep track of so many characters at once, especially as they were all introduced at pretty much the same time. I do appreciate the inclusion of characters of different ethnicities/gender identities and the LGBTQI+/mental illness representation, but think that when these characters don't get a lot of fleshing out beyond these characteristics about them, some of this representation loses its meaning.

I found the mystery element predictable, and in the last 50 pages I found it very hard to understand why characters were acting the way they were. SPOILERS: I also hoped that Frank wouldn't end up being the main villain, and instead was being corrupted by the forest or something like that, as in the end I didn't think the spooky forest had really resulted in anything of much consequence apart from two of the sisters disappearing for most of the book. Maybe this is setting up for a sequel? I also didn't quite understand why they wanted to stay at the house where their friends had died and their families were drowned in the lake - especially as so many of them had anxiety/depression and had been abused/tortured in that house for years. I also felt like the protagonist was the only one we really got to see come into her power when I was hoping for more of a 'let's do this together' type vibe.

It just didn't give what it was supposed to be gave :( I think House of Hollow had a more compelling mystery for me, and The Bone Houses had the spooky forest content I was looking for!! Kind of also had 12 Dancing Princesses vibes - for which I would recommend House of Salt and Sorrows]!

CW: mental/emotional abuse, murder

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for a review!

Okay... Wow!

I absolutely loved reading this book. From the first page it had me hooked, and had life not gotten in the way I would have easily devoured it in one sitting. The plot was so intriguing and I loved the way the story unfolded.

One of my favourite things was how the cast of characters was so diverse. It was so lovely to read about these characters and their relationships with each other.

At some points I did feel as if Derry was being overshadowed by her siblings, but I also understand why. The book is written from her perspective, so of course we’re going to read about the little quirks of her siblings (instead of hers). And it’s also part of having many siblings. You are not only an individual but part of a group, and I think that it’s described nicely in this story.

Trigger Warning: guardian abuse, mental torture, emotional torture, kidnapping, child abandonment, child abuse, murder, control, pain and fear

Something in the woods is calling...
Derry and her siblings have magic, and in a world that hates them, the best place to be is with Frank on their isolated farm. The farm lets them live and grow and seems like the perfect place on the surface, but with Frank being so overprotective, it doesn't feel like freedom- so they do what any child does, they find hidden ways to sneak out. All this comes to a head when her siblings start going missing, and doubt and darkness fills Derry's mind. Her missing siblings call her from the woods or something that sounds like them, and they say nothing is safe.

This book! THIS BOOK! This book gave me the most uncomfortable, sinister, nerve-wracking bad guy, and I have never wanted more than to go into a book to save characters more than this one. I was on edge the whole book for this character and then for the supernatural darkness haunting this book.
This book showed how you could have a supernatural story without the supernatural being be the worse thing to fear. That ending was VERY satisfying, even if it came with such a terrible heartbreak.

I also loved this book for the huge representation; lgbtq+ (trans and nonbinary folks, the asexual and bisexual plus pansexual), the diversity between the siblings and the found family trip -which I am a sucker for!

A Dark and Starless Forest Review
Gosh, what a dynamite book! Thank you Clarion books for sending me this, god was it a ride!
I will go ahead and say this up front though. A Dark and Starless Forest is incredible but also, it
was not an easy book. What with some emotional abuse and manipulation/grooming (not sexual though) and some slight body horror and some general unsettling vibes. This is not what I would call a feel-good book. This is not warm and fuzzy and fluffy. You know what it is though? Necessary. Cathartic. Look at the absolutely gorgeous stunner of a cover. That does not show a happy, docile young lady. No, what we get instead is so much better. Hollowell gives us what is so rare to see, a badass fat girl protagonist who is allowed to be messy and angry and embrace her power. How utterly glorious is that? How great and good is it to get to have such a wonderful complex character like this that is fat and it gets to just be an attribute and not a source of shame? F***ing fantastic.
Speaking of fantastic, the way that diversity was treated in this book was just amazing. Amongst the alchemists who mostly come from different families we had multiple races, a trans and nonbinary character as well as a deaf character and several fat siblings as well and it’s all just treated with care and organically. Of the bad situations in the book, none of them are because of any of these factors which was appreciated. Like there was a character that was awful but Hollowell actively chose to not make the readers sit through them being awful about those things.
All that being said, it could sometimes be difficult for me in certain bits because Hollowell was so good at crafting a tense atmosphere and an air of worry and suspense. It just made certain bits uncomfortable to me because i was so invested. That’s a personal thing though. I know that i prefer happier books and i should have known from the cover that something was gonna happen to make Derry look that angry but like, it gets a little dark in a few bits.
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SOME SPOILERS AFTER THIS BIT SO LOOK AWAY TO AVOID THEM!!!
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One of these days, not today clearly, BUT ONE OF THESE DAYS, i’m gonna get to read a book with more than 6 siblings WHERE NONE OF THEM DIE. Like seriously, is it so much to ask to end a book with the same large number of siblings as when we started? What is it about big families that makes authors go “yes good, plenty of kiddos. It should be fine if i kill one or two, there will still be plenty. It’s all good.” Like no. No. stop it. Okay no author genuinely thinks no one will care but why is it that this is the third book i’ve read this year with a big family of sisters with a death toll? Like stop. Like i should take this as a sign and just stop requesting books about more than two sisters because the track record is bad. I am just a girl with multiple sisters who just wants to read about sisters and have them all survive at the end. Like please? Is that so hard? Apparently. Apparently it’s a very big deal. THat being said, i had my suspicions going into A Dark and Starless Forest that the same would happen here but I was still sad to be proven right. One was especially brutal. I know that the point was that they deserved better than that and because of that Derry took vengeance and did it so it would never happen again but also, they deserved better.
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END OF SPOILERS
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Overall, it was very well written. I liked that the siblings all felt distinct and I really felt like I knew them and their dynamics with each other. If you love complex ladies and sister stories and atmospheric creepy books, you’ll love this. If you’re a softie like me, it might be a little more difficult but I still think it was worth it! Thank you again to Clarion books for granting me access to this book!

I have had this e-arc sitting on my TBR for months and I am absolutely appalled that I did not read it earlier.

Anyone who has ever heard me talk about books knows how much I love a spooky/magical forest and this has an excellent one. It also had an amazing sibling group, with tons of diverse rep that felt quite well done although I can't speak for any of it.

The vibes of this book were just so sinister and I couldn't believe how fastly I flew through it. I was desperate to know if Frank really was bad (not a spoiler) and what was going on with these magical girls.

I can't wait to reread this and annotate!

Queer witches what more can I say! There’s something so hauntingly beautiful about this book that I’m still unsure I can narrow down to one thing.

The story follows Derry who is a witch stowed away in a house amongst the forest until her siblings beings to disappear and the secrets of her life slowly begin to unravel around her. Will say the story takes its time to get going and there are some moments that feel as if it’s prolonging the action instead of getting to the point. Yet, as you get more into it, a dark, almost psychological horror narrative begins to play out and that’s where the book shifts from an okay book to one truly worth your time. A lot of the time, I was reminded of Doki Doki Literature Club and how that starts slow and normal with some little hints to the darkness underneath until it reveals its true face.

The writing is, also, very easy to read. Derry’s a very clean cut narrator and doesn’t over complicate things but that doesn’t mean there is no room for gorgeous imagery especially in relationship to the fireflies. It uses its language to the max effectiveness without becoming dull which is so hard to do.

And the characters. Obviously they are the true stand out of the novel. Derry is complex and a heroine you’re really rooting for. Plus, I love to see a fat lead who’s whole story isn’t about their weight but just a horror-fantasy thriller. Like Derry could be any size and the story would have stayed the same so loved that so much! Her siblings as well are all well developed and all unique in their personalities that it doesn’t feel like they’re just doppelgängers of Derry. Their relationships with each other is really the bind that holds this book together because without it, this book wouldn’t be half as good. And Frank. Really watching the slow unmasking of him is one of the best parts of the novel. I loved how dastardly he was and how he’s built up to seem unstoppable which makes the journey to stop him all the more satisfying.

All in all, this is a great YA horror-fantasy for the Halloween season with a stunning cast of characters, simple storytelling and a villain you love to watch be overcome. Great read, just what I need right now to get out of a slump.

A Dark and Starless Forest is a fun debut story by Sarah Hollowell. Full of mystery, darkness, love and wonder; this story will keep you on the edge of your seat but fill your heart with so much emotion.

DNF at 15% (for now)

The decsion to DNF this is entirely on me and not on the book itself. There's nothing wrong with the book that made me not want to finish this. It's just that I'm not engaged in the story or its content and nothing about it has inrtrugued me thus far.

From what I did read of it, I loved the diverse represenation. There's POC characters, there's plus-size characters (with the main protagonist being one of them); there's a non-binary and (I'm pretty sure) a trans character as well. One of the siblings is also deaf and uses sign lanugage to communicate. I've never seen this much represenation in a YA novel and I thought it was super cool to see that amount of rep.

With saying all that, I will come back to this in the future (I'm not sure when that's gonna be), but I know I'll read it again at some point, Once I'm in a better mood to pick this up.

This was a really great atmospheric read. Hollowell does a great job crafting a world and setting that feels realistic and is descriptive enough to create vivid imagery in your mind as you read. The plot was well paced and engaging. The characters were enjoyable. DEfinitely recommend this one.

A Dark and Starless Forest
By Sarah Hollowell

Derry is a witch, but that’s not what Frank calls her; he says that’s a harmful word and that she and her eight siblings are alchemists. It’s all a rather idyllic life filled with chores, meal times and magic practice, until one of her sisters goes missing in the woods one night. From then, a darkness settles and begins closing in all around her family, and it is up to Derry to save them. All of her skills, both magical and mundane, will be pushed to their limits. Will she be able to defeat the darkness before it takes more from her family?
Derry’s journey is full of twists and turns. Part ghost story, part thriller, Hollowell invites the reader to a world where it’s difficult to know who or what to trust. The world and magic are beautifully described and immersive. I love books with a found family where they are all brought together by their magic and we can explore everyone’s abilities.
The representation in this book was incredibly diverse; Derry’s found family includes varied body types, ethnicities, sexualities and gender identities. Their diversities are presented descriptively, as parts of each sibling's identity but are never intrinsic to the story. Derry’s presence as a fat main character is beautiful and relatable. She is big and not just curvy. She’s described as having fat arms, and at one point her attention falls to her belly resting on her thighs when she stands in front of the mirror. I can not recall another book where someone with a body like this was the hero of the story. I can not recall encountering a body like this in fiction where that body was not shorthand for gross, lazy, or immoral. It is important to have strong characters in all bodies. Being fat in real life is not a moral failing, so it should not be shorthand for that in the fictional world.
Sarah Hollowell has beautifully woven elements of fantasy, suspense and horror into a gripping story of found family, survival and hard choices through the vehicle of a beautiful, fat magic girl’s hero story. Derry reminds us how important it is to trust our instincts, and the perils when we don’t, even when everyone disagrees how to find and use our inner strength to protect those we love and how to allow ourselves time and space to grieve when we realize we were blind to the darkness around us. I am glad this book exists, and I am grateful to have met a character like Derry.

Wowee!! What a reading journey, A Dark and Starlight Forest is! There’s family, magic and mystery all wrapped around the forest and it will blow your socks off!!

We follow Derry, a 16 year old alchemist, trying to grow her magic and make Frank (her guardian) proud. Derry lives with her 7 sisters and Violet who is nonbinary, in a big house in the woods, which is out in the sticks. Frank is guiding the sisters and Violet to grow their magic and he is documenting it all.
When Derry’s sister goes missing, she needs to find out what happened to her so she goes into the forbidden woods to search for her as she knows she hasn’t died. Whilst she is searching she realises she is not alone and maybe this is why her sister has gone missing!?

The book kept me hooked and wanting to know what happens next and the relationship the sisters and Violet have are wonderful and really heartfelt.
If you like mystery, magic and a bit of gore then this book is right up your street!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an advanced ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Saddest story ever told. I was pining for this book all year, I requested from the publishers only to be denied and then by a miracle they found a copy for me and I didn't wait to start reading it but ultimately couldn't get through it.


The writing style is not my cup of tea. You can tell it's supposed to be a character driven story but they all fell flat for me and I had trouble telling them apart probably because like 10 of them were thrown in my face in 3 pages.

Also, Frank, their "father figure" creeped me out so much idk why.

Ughhhhh should I give up on magical books?

THAT COVER THO

The best ways I could describe this book are "slow-burn," "claustrophobic," and "creepy." If you like your mystery with horror...if you like your X-Men to be on the Gothic (not goth), girl-power side...this is the book for you. From the moment I saw this cover on Twitter I knew I had to read it, and the book did not disappoint.

I have almost 300 YA fantasy books shelved on my GR so these days I’m looking for something different, and – sadly – fat girls in fantasy and on book covers are still rare enough to be different. But that means I didn’t overlook this book and instead eagerly snatched it up (from NetGalley) and read it in one day!

Derry is fat but it also absolutely doesn’t matter that she’s fat (except that it does to me). The story has nothing to do with her being fat – no ‘overcoming’ fatness or dealing with fatphobia. She’s just fat. So are three of her sisters. It’s no big deal – and therefore I love it.

In terms of representation we get a veritable smorgasbord. This is gradually becoming more common but so incrementally that it felt like a wonderful brush of fresh air. One of the sisters is trans, another is nonbinary, multiple sisters are queer (including asexuality and pansexuality). One sister is deaf and its made clear that the others sign to her (instead of some books where a character is deaf and then it’s never mentioned again!). Several of the sisters are Black, two are Mexican-American, and the others are white (I think). And then also there are fat girls! Oh, and mental health gets rep too!

The large cast means there’s scope for lots of representation, but having so many sisters also meant that it was a little harder to develop a really close connection with any of them. We’re told often how close Derry and Jane are close, but because Jane goes missing after the first chapter we never actually get to see that closeness and are told about it instead. I cared what happened because I cared about Derry, but it would have been nicer to develop deeper relationships with the sisters.

(Side note, but this is my third YA fantasy book with girls doing plant magic so clearly that’s very on trend right now!)

As much as I really enjoyed this book, I did want the creep-o-meter turned up a couple of notches. Considering one of the settings is a big spooky forest that feasts on magic/death, I thought I’d be a little more unnerved while reading. However, I’m glad I read this book and look forward to what the author writes next!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

thank you netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review. i didn’t know what to expect when i went into this book, and although it wasn’t perfect, i still thoroughly enjoyed reading it. because of this i am going to give it 4/5 stars.

"A Dark and Starless Forest" by Sarah Hollowell is one of the best books I've read in a while. I was so excited to read it and it was everything I imagined and more.

This story is about Derry who has eight siblings who all live together with Frank, the man who raised them after they were abandoned by their parents, in an isolated house near a forest. All of the siblings have magical powers and when some of them start disappearing, they have to make use of them to figure out what's happening to their family..

The representation in this book was so on point. Derry and several of her siblings are fat. There are several siblings who are queer, including a non-binary pansexual Mexican-American character and a trans girl. Several of the siblings are Black. One of them is Deaf. There's representation of anxiety, ADHD and depression.

None of the characters felt flat or reduced to stereoypes. I enjoyed getting to read about each sibling equally because they were all valuable to the story.

I loved that this is a book about family and mystery, there was no romance plot and it worked so well. Please, we need more of that.

The magic system was understandable, yet super intriguing and I would have loved to read even more about each siblings' individual powers.

The writing style captured the dark, enchanting and mysterious atmosphere beautifully.

This was the feminist urban fantasy book of my dreams and I hope I could convince you to put this on your TBR!


content warnings: murder, anxiety, depression, violence, emotional abuse, torture

I received an ARC from Netgalley and ClarionTeen in exchange for an honest opinion.

I cannot begin to express how much I love this book! Not only does it touch on magic but it is also, if I do say so myself a bit dark which I love! This book will have readers hooked from the first chapter

I wanted to like this, but there were several reasons I could not get into this. The first and most major for me was that I could not get into this world. I found the world building to be severely lacking and otherwise drab and boring. The author would spend a long time describing certain parts of the world that, to me, felt unnecessary whereas she would not give good detail for Derry's interactions and relations to the world. I wanted to enjoy this, but was left feeling wanting more than what I was given, and not in a good way.