3.5 upped to 4
There's a lot of potential, a creepy atmosphere, a lot of questions. There's a dual timeline that made me turn pages as fast as I can and a lot of surprising twists.
The author delivers a growing sense of dread and i loved the forest and it's wild atmosphere.
It was great up to 90%, the final part was anticlimax and I was left with a lot of questions.
A good mix of folk horror and paranormal I would love to read another book to answer to the questions.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

My thanks to Rebellion Solaris for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Dark Between The Trees’ by Fiona Barnett.

I am always drawn to fiction that features trees and woods, especially when steeped in folklore. Fiona Barnett’s debut novel certainly made good use of the idea that woods are places where worlds can overlap. She also uses this motif to examine how close to the surface of consciousness primordial dread can reside.

In 1643 a small group of Parliamentarian soldiers are ambushed in an isolated area of Northern England and flee into Moresby Forest, believed by the locals to be an unnatural place, the realm of witchcraft and shadows, where the devil is said to go walking by moonlight.

Seventeen men enter and only two are seen again. They share alarming accounts of shifting landscapes, of trees that appear and disappear and something else that stalks the woods - something dark and hungry.

In the present five women are heading into the woods led by Dr Alice Christopher, a historian who has dedicated her academic career to uncovering the secrets of Moresby Forest. They are armed with the latest technology in order to discover once and for all what happened to the soldiers.

We learn that local superstitions have remained through the centuries and that the Army has fenced the majority of the forest off due to a ‘dangerous microclimate’. Even National Parks employees refuse to enter, dubbing it the Black Hole.

Still with all these modern gadgets and Dr Alice’s no nonsense attitude what could possibly go wrong? Given the folk horror genre, quite a lot actually. No further details to avoid spoilers.

The narrative switches between 1643 and the present as Fiona Barnett slowly builds up the tension and the otherness of the forest that inevitably leads to an increasing sense of its wrongness in both times.

Overall, I found ‘The Dark Between the Trees’ a genuinely creepy and claustrophobic work of folk horror. It is a novel that I may well reread in order to appreciate its multiple layers.

I certainly will be interested in looking out for Fiona Barnett’s future projects whether she returns to explore further mysteries of Moresby or other tales.

On a side note, the cover art was perfection.

In 1643 England, a group of soldiers is ambushed and takes cover in a forest infamous for tales of witchcraft and unexplained phenomena. Only two of the group make it out alive, bringing with them a strange and disturbing account of their lost comrades. In the present day, a research team of five women enters the wood to attempt to finally find answers to the fate of the missing soldiers, but when their GPS goes wonky and their maps are unexplainably incorrect, can they avoid becoming part of the legend?

Pros:
- It's an ancient monster in a primordial forest. Can't get much better than that in horror.
- It's told in shifting chapters between the present day and 1643, and some interesting things are done with time and the two groups of characters.
- It's a fairly quick read once it gets going.

Cons:
- Nothing is really given the time to settle in and unsettle. Things happen and then perspectives shift back and forth between characters and time periods, and they are forgotten or quickly moved on from.
- Too many vanilla or stock characters create a lack of empathy with them.

Three stars. The narrative here rushes towards the inevitable conclusion so quickly that the shifting character perspectives become blended together, as few of them are able to differentiate and stand out.

FFO: The Ritual, camping, time theories.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Rebellion and Netgalley*

I neither loved or hated A Dark Between the trees, the story left me with feelings of complete indifference.

This is a duel timeline story bouncing between the year 1643 and present day. You'll follow Dr. Alice Christopher and a team of four other women as they explore the infamous Moresby Forest. Intermingled with their exploration are chapters following the forests residents from 300 years in the past. Through both prospective you will come to learn that the forest has a sinister past, danger lurks around every tree.

If there's one thing that got me excited in these pages it was the atmosphere. The author does an incredible job making the forest an evocative location. The forest was painted vividly through words and you could feel an eerie sense of foreboding. That being said, I felt little to know connection with these characters and eventually the story became a slog.

I received a digital ARC from Rebellion Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

More 3.5 - I really enjoyed the mystery and history and folklore feel of the forest and the cross over of the time periods. Always a win for me when we can see how something that happens in the past has relevance to the present.

The characters didn't really have any growth, but the story isn't about the people it's about the Woods and the creature that may or may not live there.

The reason for the 3.5, I found it really slow at some parts and the flipping between the time periods a couple of the chapters felt like filler and didn't have much to move the story forward. Felt like we could have got to the point a bit quicker is what I am saying.

For me 3 stars isn't bad it means it was in my opinion it was average or good. I was intrigued enough to finish the book and I enjoyed parts of it and other parts I felt lacked.

Disturbing and Shocking

The Dark Between the Trees is based on excellent and original ideas. There were a lot of scary moments throughout which kept me reading all the way to the end.

But, it wasn't a completely satisfying experience. Sadly, none of the characters were appealing enough to me as written to feel more about their fates except dull and hopeless grief. The multiple timelines, narrators, and threats were more hinted at than fully-realized and made it just too much to become invested in.

Sometimes, leaving the reader hanging has literary value. In this case, with too many things left unresolved (or possibly just misunderstood), I just wanted to kick myself for failing to toss the book aside early on as I was tempted to do.

Thank you very much to Fiona Barnett for the opportunity to read your book. You're a good writer and I believe this story has greater potential. Thank you to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free advance reader's copy. I've written this review without being under any obligation to do so.

Truly unnerving. One of the best horror books I've read in years. It melds the current trend for Folk Horror, were the trees ARE the monsters, time travel and Greek tragedy.
Claustrophobic and creepy, you'll feel every page or this disorientating terror.

*Thank you for this chance to review this book*


I found that this story was a very good Halloween read. It definitely had promise and I was expecting so much.

The ending wasn’t something that was my favorite, however I know that there will be many who enjoy this creepy little book.

It was a reminder of many of my favorite horror movies in book format.

Thanks to NetGalley and Rebellion for the early read. I was so close to giving this five stars and then I got to the last chapter... I am, for the most part, very picky about what I request on NetGalley because between life and work it can take some time to finish a read, and a pile of unfinished requests stresses me out. When I chose The Dark Between The Trees I was very specifically looking for archeological horror, as that's what I was in the mood for and this looked like it might satisfy that craving. This isn't quite that, but it was still a very good horror story.

With chapters alternating between past and present, The Dark Between The Trees tells the story of two specific groups who venture into Moresby Wood and (kind of) what befalls (some of) them. The description on NetGalley reads, "An unforgettable, surrealist gothic folk-thriller for fans of [book:The Ritual|10239382] and The Descent," and while the that first comparison is very (very, very) on-the-mark, the second is not. I would personally compare it more closely to The Blair Witch Project and, honestly, [book:Annihilation|17934530] - I don't want to spoil why Annihilation works as a comparison, but there are several similar story beats.

Fiona Barnett does a great job at setting the scene and building the atmosphere, occasionally going on almost stream-of-consciousness tangents in walls of text that really build on the wild, unknowing, confusing nature of what it happening to everyone in Moresby Wood. It goes and goes, rarely providing moments to breath, and then out of the blue it just stops. Just ends. I think she was going for something mysterious, maybe Lovecraftian, but after reading the whole book the ending just felt more like a copout than anything. It was so abrupt after what is essentially a descent into madness. Honestly, a better ending would have been the second to last chapter.

Overall though a very enjoyable spooky woods read, perfect for the autumn season.

An atmospheric and surrealistic tale about academia and a creature in the woods. I wanted to like this book more. From its description, it had everything going for it that I love in gothic horror and I will say that Barnett definitely delivered in terms of setting and tone. However, I didn't enjoy how the story was told from multiple perspectives finding it slowed the pace down and, in the long run, gave away enough plot points to make the ending disappointing. I will definitely try Fiona Barnett again, though, as there's a great deal about her writing that I did like.

An interesting dark read but I really struggled to get into it. It had some interesting ideas and some horrific elements but overall it fell a little short for me. However don't take my word for it! I could just be having an off week so please give it a try if you like your stories a little strange, with some gothic horror elements!

I love it when a book opens with immediacy, and 'The Dark between the Trees' by Fiona Barnett is snappy in its first words. The novel runs two parties’ narratives parallel in a dual timeline, as they enter Moresby Wood; one group of male characters in 1643, and one group of female characters in the present day.

Unfortunately, the relationships between the women at the opening of the novel lack clarity and in fact, well into the story, the five characters remain fairly obfuscated, which prevented me from carrying that immediacy through with me as the chapters began to shape the narrative. The same, sadly, can be said for Captain Davies' men in 1643. The two sets of characters that Barnett presents side-by-side in the novel ultimately, failed to engage me throughout. The two timeframes between which Barnett alternates rapidly didn’t give me long enough with either group to become absorbed in their storyline.

Early acceleration of tension and suspense is done with accomplished authorial skill; the book is well written, the language is crisp, the descriptions well-judged and the premise decently researched. Nonetheless, there just isn't enough to 'plump for' in ‘The Dark between the Trees’. There is attention to detail given in scene-setting sections but, regrettably, the novel dips with quite a sheer drop after the bright pace of the opening falls away. The middle languishes in a slump, and the only comment that I can make about the central two-quarters is that I began wondering whether the novel should have been a short story.

After the middle-section slump, Barnett works on a series of repeated motifs and signs across the two timelines, which is enchanting at the time, but ultimately unrewarding, as the repetition fails to amount to much. I was ready for this to be a gripping supernatural horror, but the plot and the narrative are as unresolved as the historical mystery. There is the promise of climax; there is a lot of suggestion and build-up, which was enjoyable to a certain extent, in itself.

I wanted to read either one, or the other, of the two storylines here. The novel doesn't sustain the same interest across both, and it is this puffing-up of the book by doubling the narrative that makes the middle section lacklustre through repetition and lack of action. The group of characters in the present is ostensibly trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the 1643 group, but I would have been happier just reading a short story or novella about the group of female researchers solving the historical mystery (or not!), without the distraction of a narrative from the viewpoint of the soldiers as their expedition unfolded.

I am sad to conclude that 'The Dark Between the Trees' would have been a brilliant, remarkable read, had it been half the length. As it is, it was too tame and drawn-out for me. There was very little satisfaction to be had here.

I had high hopes for The Dark Between the Trees, and for the most part, they were fulfilled. A gothic-folk thriller about a forest, Moresby Wood, which is known to be an unnatural place; the realm of witchcraft and shadows, where there are tales of the devil walking by moonlight. In 1643 seventeen men enter the wood and only two are ever seen again. Now, five women scholars are entering the wood to once and for all discover the truth of what happened.

This book was incredibly atmospheric, and I felt immersed in the creepy Blair Witch feel of the woods. There is suspense and tension with the mysteriously shifting landscape and talk of evil entities. The narrative switches between the soldiers in 1643 and the five women 300 years later, but I didn’t find it hard to follow. I enjoyed the creep factor and the slow buildup, and felt it was a great spooky read for October.

The ending may not have been conclusive or answer ever question, but in this case I didn’t mind it. It gives the story an overall feel of loneliness, confusion, and hopelessness. It may not be for everyone, but I quite enjoyed the folklore of the forest and the overall dread and fear felt by the characters in the book.

In 1643, a group of seventeen Parliamentarian soldiers enter Moresby Wood following an ambush, despite its reputation for witchcraft and sorcery. Only two survive, with disjointed tales of something hungry and landscapes that move. In the modern day, Dr. Alice Christopher leads five women to explore Moresby Wood with metal detectors, GPS units, mobile phones, and the most recent map of the area. They think they're ready to explore.

We have the two threads of this story, past and present, each in the forest and quickly losing track of where they are. If compasses don't work and the tree cover blocks GPS signal, why wouldn’t the women mark a trail? They're academics for the most part, telling stories about the Corrigal and the folk tales of the area, so they use an older map "to go by feel." As with any group of people lost in the woods, in both timelines the people's nerves fray, they snipe at each other and try to find someone to blame. Even though the two groups are very different, their reactions are very similar each step of the way.

The year is 1643 and Captain Davies and his right hand man Sergeant Harper lead seventeen men into the Moresby woods for cover from a surprise attack on the field. The locals say and fear that the woods hold legends of creatures and witches and disappearances of many so they never enter these woods but the captain will have none of this nonsense not knowing that only two men will leave these Cursed Woods.

Present day: Dr. Alice Christopher leads her team of five including herself into the infamous Moresby woods. Alice has waited almost her her entire life to be approved a grant that would allow her to investigate the disappearance of Captain Davies troop and hopefully her team will discover some relics left behind and more importantly bones from the departed soldiers. These women are invested in the science of archaeology and are fascinated by the spooky stories of the legends but they only believe in hard facts and these women are tough and haven't any fear of the dark or camping out in the unknown. Little do they know that their science based minds will be tested beyond belief and maybe one or more will start questioning some of these old legends as they all begin experiencing certain events that could not be explained by logic. Will these women live to tell their tales or will the Moresby woods swallow up all of them in ways that only nightmares are made of!

I loved this intensely, creepy book written by Fiona Barnett. The storytelling was deliciously tense and eerie although it would seem slow to some, I thought it was wonderfully paced. The book was written in dual timelines
and each chapter would leave you on a cliffhanger while swinging back and forth with the timelines. I truly appreciated the way this novel was written. The characters were solid and believable. The book was immersed with creepy atmosphere and tension. I would love to see this book made into a film in the future. I hope this author will continue to write books along this line since she has a special gift for writing horror.

I want to thank the publisher "Rebellion" Solaris and Net alley for the opportunity to read this special book and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I highly recommend this book to all horror readers and have given a rating of 4 1/2 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 SPOOKY AND STUNNING STARS!!

❤️Thank You NetGallery, Fiona Barnett and Solaris for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. ❤️

First off this cover is beautiful and gives me all the creepy vibes. The premise of this book intrigued me right away. I did like that the book was told from two separate points of views. I found the soldiers story line more interesting. I spent most of this book very bored and didn’t connect with any of the characters. The characters didn’t feel developed and I just couldn’t make myself care about them. I wanted to like this books so much and kept waiting and waiting to be creeped out, spooked anything unfortunately this book left me disappointed as I kept waiting for something to happen.

I just finished The dark between the trees by Fiona Barnett

A group of 17th century soldiers end up going into Moresby wood after being ambushed… A place teeming with witchcraft… A place the devil likes to walk.

17 men go in and none come out….

Present day and 5 women go into the woods to see if they can unveil the secrets the woods hold. They are armed with the latest tech and maps, they are ready for anything.

The problem is, they have no idea what they have just walked into.

Did that give you chills? It should have because the whole book has an undercurrent of creepiness that would set the devil himself at ill ease.

Firstly this book is more literary fiction than horror so bear that in mind before you crack it open. I loved the writing. Some serious talent went into these pages and each page delivered the kind of entertainment a serious reader needs.

The plot was fantastic, I actually quite enjoyed the 2 timelines and really felt it bought the whole thing together. Not much in the way of character development for me, but I find that horror reads don’t need that so much. The descriptions of the woods and whole vibe in general really hit the high notes for me.

Don’t get looking for an explanation of the supernatural because you won’t get one. That would usually bother me but as I read this from a literary perspective instead of horror, it worked really well to give the ambience of the unknown.

This book is rock solid so if you are a literary fiction fan who loves a dash of horror then this book is a winner!

4.5 stars!

Thank you #netgalley and #rebellion for my review copy! I thoroughly enjoyed it

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a galley of this title to read ahead of publication.

I'll be short and to the point: I misunderstood the premise if this book to be straightforward horror instead of literary fiction with a horror bent. Totally my fault.

I wanted to get answers to the horrifying thing haunting this book, but this simply is not a book about answers; it's about the journey, and the journey didn't really work for me. I'm not the target audience at all.

The title refers to Moresby Woods, which is a place of legend, stories and witches. This is a dual timeline novel with a modern day group of women who set about investigating Moresby Woods to follow in the footsteps of Parliamentarian soldiers who got lost there in 1643 never to return.

The women have all the latest tech and gadgets with them, but the Woods are a fearsome place, so have they taken on a challenge too far?

I found this mainly entertaining but would have liked a shorter novel as I felt the story was drawn out in parts.

Are you folks ready for another horror book review? No? Well too bad, I’m dragging you into the harrowing trees with me. This next book was marketed as a horror story for fans of The Descent and The Ritual, movies I particularly enjoy. I tried to avoid the high hopes, settling for a book that played to the same strengths as those movies, a psychological tale mixed with folk horror as a group of friends or comrades gets themselves lost in the wilderness. While the psychological aspects were lacking, The Dark Between The Trees, by Fiona Barnett, nails the spooky forest vibes I was looking for.

In 1643, a small group of parliamentarian soldiers escaped into Moresby wood after being ambushed by unseen soldiers. Only two of them are heard of again, while the other seventeen men are lost to history. Dr. Alice Christopher has been obsessed with this group since she learned about them. She has been waiting twenty years to get a chance to explore the Moresby Wood and trace the regiments’ steps and now she finally has it. Unfortunately, for Alice and the lost soldiers, Moresby wood has more secrets than one can shake all discarded branches in the wood at. But that won’t stop Alice, and the four other women she’s brought with her, from discovering truths that history has left in the mud. Equipped with as much survey equipment as they can carry, the women feel prepared for whatever myths the wood can throw their way. Not long after the women leave the outer edges of the forest do they begin to feel that they may have more trouble than they bargained for.

The Dark Between the Trees is an intriguing concept handled with rocky execution. That’s not to say this is a bad book, but I found myself teetering between mild frustration and captivated flow. I never felt the need to put the book down because of it, but I did find myself questioning the point of it all as I pushed myself to read further. Part of it was due to an unrealized sales pitch (that’s on me), part of it was due to the lack of character. When you’re trapped in the woods with two separate groups of people, it might help to have someone who is, if not relatable, at least able ground the narrative within their own perspective. Of the three major perspectives, none of them really felt compelling to me, forcing the book to be carried by the mystery of the forest. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a heavy lift that was managed unevenly for my tastes.

Let’s back up a little bit. Barnett’s novel takes place in two time periods. One follows the demoralized soldiers as they wander into Moresby wood. They have heard that this place is one of evil, after all it is the den of the dreaded Corrigal, a demon that predates England as a concept. The other involves Alice, her doctoral student Nuria Martins and the three women who are to help chart their way through the near mythological wood. The chapters dart back and forth between the time periods, offering a funhouse mirroring between their journeys. They both mapped the unsettling nature of the forest, without overshadowing each other. I initially thought I would dislike this tactic, but I found it to be one of the more fun aspects of the book. It built a nebulous tension you couldn’t quite grasp but you felt deep within your bones.

However, both of these periods are seen through characters blinded to their circumstances. Not inherently a bad thing, and can often serve quite well. But, in this case it felt underdeveloped. Dr. Alice Christopher is a woman possessed by the need to prove her value to the good ole boys of academia, to prove them wrong. She’s spent her whole life piecing together the evidence, and now she’s finally at the wood to bring it all together. It’s just a shame the reader doesn’t know this until the final pages of the book. Nuria is sort of along for the ride. She doesn’t really know what she’s doing there beyond trying to please one advisor over another. A chance to see history up close and personal instead of experiencing it third hand in a dusty library, or so Alice persuades her. Nuria herself is detached and unable to stand up against Alice and passively takes in her ordeal. While I found the dynamic between these two women interesting, it didn’t quite pull me through the book. Had Alice’s compulsions been examined through the book beyond “it’s our one chance to do this thing,” and her life story not served as an afterthought, she would have been far more compelling. I would have wanted to follow her deeper into the forest. Instead it was four people saying “we should turn around,” while Alice yells “no, we shouldn’t.”

The final perspective is that of Harper, a soldier and sort of right hand man to Captain Davies. Now Harper was not a man concerned with superstition. Like Davies, he was a soldier. Sometimes life, as with war, just deals you a bad hand and you have to push through. Obviously, he’s concerned with the fate of the men as they are slowly picked off by the madness of the wood, aided by the whispers of the word “Corrigal,” but he also feels powerless in stopping it. He waits for Davies’ orders and follows through. Most of his internal monologue questions the actions of his captain, or shuns his comrades as discipline erodes but that’s about it. It could have felt alien, being that he was from a different time and place, with a far different understanding of how the world works. But when placed next to Nuria they felt similar, in a way that reduced my immersion.

I have read several other reviews, and while most have felt let down by the ending, I will say I disagree. While it’s not as hard hitting as I had hoped, Barnett’s ending leaves many things open, teasing readers with many half answered questions. The horror lies in what the soldiers and the scholars don’t find within the wood. Every leaf that falls to the forest floor whispers its own question before emitting a final crunch as it’s stepped upon by an uncaring passerby. History marches on without concern for who it leaves in its wake. Whether it’s a mythical demon, a small cadre of soldiers, or brilliant women marginalized by the people they work with, history will grind them beneath its heel without even noticing. I just wish it was a little more apparent, a little more flavorful. Giving Alice more time to be herself in the front would have gone a long way for me, adding a bit more drive beyond “we just have to do this now.”

The Dark Between the Trees is fine. It’s enjoyable, especially when Barnett pulls you into their flow. Barnett plays extremely coy where ambiguity is concerned and while it works most of the time there are areas where it feels overplayed. The characters didn’t really do it for me, but they had the potential to be good shepherds for the reader. It’s a nice little tale if you are looking for some spooky lost in the forest story with a smattering of folk mythology.

Rating: The Dark Between The Trees 6.0/10
-Alex