The Dark Between the Trees was an interesting premise. I love dark, spooky legends based in the woods! A group of five women set out to investigate the Moresby Forest to see if they can find any evidence to support a 600-year-old legend of a creature in the wood. 300 years after the legend is first told, a platoon of Parliamentarian soldiers go into but never come out of the woods. The story is told in alternating timelines, switching between the modern-day researchers and the 17th-century soldiers. The women and soldiers experience strange things as they trek through the woods, each in a different way. Who will make it out? Will anyone? This novel tests your belief in superstition and makes you consider what is real and what isn't.

The mixed storylines did get confusing at times, and I wasn't sure what the deal was with the eyeball with deer antlers.

We follow two parties, three centuries apart. Captain Davies with his group of English soldiers and Dr Alice Christopher with her team of scientists, as they enter a British woodland that has been shrouded in tales of witchcraft and monsters. Moresby Wood is not all that it seems, who will escape it's grasp and tell the tale of what lies between the darkness of the trees.

This is an eerie, supernatural read, where as the reader you are plunged into the depths of the unknown. You experience what happens in the eyes of the characters, you see what they see though sometimes not the why or the how. I felt it was very much like the Blair Witch, where you felt the fear of the characters and understood they were running from something, but never quite knowing what it was they were running from.

I liked how the chapters flicked between the two different parties enabling you to start piecing things together. The two main characters were mirror opposites, Captain Davies who was brave but compassionate, looking out for his men and showed imence remorse for the situation he had but them in. Dr Alice Christopher on the other hand was head strong, determined and would stop at nothing for her research, even when that would put her party in jeopardy.

This story started off very promising, with the build up of intense supernatural eeriness that at times was spine chilling. I felt the ending left me wanting more, I had many questions that were left unanswered.

Oof, what a disappointment. On paper, this ticked all my boxes. Sadly, it never delivered. On anything. It wasn't scary, it wasn't engrossing, it wasn't even interesting, because, well, the story just never takes off. (At some point I found myself wondering just when things would finally get going and looking down to see that I was actually way past the 50% mark.) We get alternating chapters describing the experiences of the two groups entering Moresby Forest, three hundred years apart, but it's all quite dull really, especially the women's story. They enter the woods. They walk. They get lost. They walk some more. At least the men start going at each other's throats after a while, but with the women, there's only lots and lots of thinking, always on the same topics, without much in the way of variation (Alice and her eternal funding issues; Nuria and her blasted thesis, oh how she'd much rather be home, only six weeks to go etc. etc.), also some rather clunky backstory requisition to inject some badly needed but sadly nosediving scary into things, not once, but twice (first it's "Nuria wrote a whole chapter on this last year" so sure, let's hear it, followed six chapters later by "Maybe Nuria should tell the story with the witch in it", because that's what you do when you're stuck in the middle of a weird forest with a broken ankle). One female literally does nothing but stand to the side either moping or crying. All the way to the end. The final word of the final sentence is "weeps". I'm not joking.
This is especially annoying as there's no character development at all. Everyone stays the same, no matter what the forest throws at them. The women stay mopey, deranged, clueless or generic, just as they were when they started out. (The men are pretty much interchangeable anyway.) Also, yes, there's a monster, people (and a deer) turn up dead, things go bump in the night, but it's all just words on paper. I might have felt more involved if the characters had been more fleshed out, as it's hard to care about a cypher, but "Dark"'s prose is not exactly evocative, it felt pretty tell, don't show to me, so even with better personnel this would have been a hard sell. I mean, one of the main, if not THE super Big Deal(s) here is a tree that's there... and then it's not. It would have taken some pretty convincing prose to turn this into something menacing. What the author has to offer is this:
"The oak tree had gone. It was impossible to see how it could have happened, and yet there was no arguing with it." Ooh. Spooky. But of course something like this -- a vanished tree!! -- does something to a person, even much later:
"There was the oak tree to think of, after all -- and if Nuria did think of it in any detail, it threatened to root her to the spot." Ah, that sense of dread, of menace... it's just dripping off the page. Seriously, I was so over that stupid tree right after it was first mentioned, and the characters' hang-up on it drove me crazy. Simply telling me that it's driving those people off their rockers with fear won't do the same to me.
The end felt a bit like a cop-out to me, like the author had decided that this was enough, thanks a lot. The whole premise of Moresby Wood as some kind of time collective where "multiple forests exist at once" was 1. a bit too much for my disbelief to stay suspended, and 2. it just did not seem well thought out, or thought through, or whatever. Things just stayed unexplained, because, I don't know, it's deeper that way, more literary? To me it seemed like a weak, underdeveloped idea executed in a fairly amateurish manner, all "Because that's just how it is!" instead of internal logic and conviction.
Too bad, because the premise sounded truly interesting.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review; I'm afraid this book was not at all what I had hoped for or expected.

Woods that keeping changing, creature in the trees, and no escape. This book shifts back and forth between two time lines. A group of five women decide to explore Moresby Forest in hopes of finding artifacts on the battle ground of soldiers ambushed in the mid 1600. Moresby Forest is fabled as being haunted by a Beast called the Corrigal. Shifting back to the mid 1600’s, the storyline follows the surviving soldiers journey into the haunted Moresby Forest and their fight for their lives.

This is a character driven story filled with tension, dread, and hopelessness. This involves two groups of people in different timelines who experience the terrors in an "off limits" forest in the English countryside.

I absolutely loved the group of women who make up the "present " day group as they seek to discover the truth surrounding the legends of these woods and what has happened to the soldiers from the "past" that wandered in after an ambush.

Pas I stated, this is a character driven novel and this book isn't about the destination but the journey. Because the ending is ambiguous and things don't get resolved into a nicely wrapped bow, it may be off-putting to some. But I didn't mind at all. It leaves room for my imagination to wonder what has actually happened and what it means.

There is a terrifying creature in these woods as well. It can strike at any time, unseen and unheard, leaving it's bloody mark upon both parties involved. But I find the helplessness of being lost in this forest and having no way out to be the most frightening aspect of this book. I enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend it.

This one was a fun an interesting read. I love creature horror, and this definitely delivered on that promise. However I will say there were too many characters to follow and ending left too many loose ends.

I think this was a very atmospheric read. The description of the settings was amazing, and you can really feel the trees and the woods around you. I think that where the story sort of lost me was the repetitiveness of the narrative. The story is told through alternating timelines, past and present, but the protagonists are sort of just going in circles. It is pretty engaging and terrifying, kudos to the author, but I do think there was something missing in the plot. I would absolutely read more from this author, though. This was a pretty solid book, I just wanted a bit more from it.

I was really excited after reading the summary of this to dive into this book.
I was sad though because I struggled to stay interested in it. There were a lot of different character to keep track of and two different time times/time periods as well. I also think I expected it to be a whole lot creeper with everyone adventuring through these remote and creepy woods.
This book just didn’t do it for me. I had high hopes. It isn’t bad but just wasn’t enough to really hold my interest.

What could have been a tight study on hubris, isolation and misogyny becomes a somewhat lazy and underdeveloped amble through the woods.

The many attempts at building lore fall away as fast as they’re built and as each micro mystery becomes somewhat solved 50 more strands unfurl. This pattern continues to the rather confusing end. Is end even the right word?

I can’t tell whether there was a page count limit or a lack of ideas but there is no end to this book…

I originally had to put this book down about 40ish% of the way in because it wasn't doing it for me. Which isn't to say the book is bad, more that I wasn't feeling it at the time.

But after giving it another go, I will admit this is a pretty good thriller/mystery book! The setting is really nice too, as you don't always see a lot of these types of books set in the UK!

If you're a mystery/horror reader, you'd really like this I think!

About 70% of the way through The Dark Between the Trees, I was already recommending it to people; having now finished, I am very happy to report I will continue doing so.

I really liked The Ritual (the movie, not the book, as I haven't gotten to the book quite yet). I liked it mostly for Modor and the camera work. The characters I did not find memorable nor enjoy. I mention The Ritual because everything I was missing from that movie was present in this novel: stronger, more sympathetic characters, heavier use of landscape as horror, and overall far more weirdness. The Dark Between the Trees has, in the very broadest sense, a similar setup to The Ritual: a group of people get lost in a strange forest and try to find their way out, all while something stalks them. However, I found the cast of characters in The Dark Between the Trees to be far, far more enjoyable. The narrative follows two groups: a company of Parliamentarian soldiers who are ambushed in 1643, forcing them to flee into the woods, and five women embarking on an academic survey trying to discover what happened to that company. Unfortunately for both, things get real weird real fast. Tensions rise and people start dropping like flies.

I went into The Dark Between the Trees knowing very little about it and not knowing what to expect; I had read the blurb on Netgalley, of course, but by the time I managed to get to reading all that had long flown from my head. I was therefore very surprised by the narrative switch, but once I realized what was going on the narrative flowed well. Each chapter swaps between the groups, usually picking one person in the group to focus on. Though the close third person usually focuses on one person, the narration will occasionally shift focus to another character mid-scene. This is something I typically dislike, but it didn't bother me here because it was not constant and it did not interfere with the flow or comprehension of the narrative.

Around about the time that the surveyors discovered the charcoal burner's hut I was rooting for the two groups to meet. I had figured out that odd time things were happening almost immediately after the charcoal pit was mentioned but wasn't sure that the two would actually get to come together. Yet my wish was granted which made me very pleased. While I really wanted Nuria to meet the final few survivors of the platoon who didn't enter the cave on her way out, Dr. Alice and Harper's conversation scratched some of that itch (especially as Harper was my favorite of the platoon). I do wish we'd gotten more of the clash between the two groups from two times, but I was happy we got any of that.

On the time stuff, while that plot point was choreographed rather obviously, I didn't mind. It was believable that the characters did not catch onto it. In fact, it was the kind of reader realization that leads to more tension and dread for the reader precisely because they know something the characters do not. Part of that is, I think, because if something happens to or is realized by one group that thing or plot hook would be reflected in the other group. For example, because something quick, unseen, and lethal killed several members of the platoon, I was aware that *at any time the same could happen to any member of the research group*. When the research group found the burned-out hut with human remains, I was on the edge of my seat when the platoon found an untouched hut, wondering how it burned down and who the bones belonged to.

Further, the two forests realization was interesting. I love that sort of spacial horror, where reality begins to bend and twist in weird, unexplained ways. The ways in which the characters psychologically deal with that sort of thing is part of why I love it as well, and the differences in how characters handle it is so interesting. The platoon largely attempts to deal with it through religion and reliance upon social roles, with most members simply following whomever they view as the leader. Disagreements lead to violence and death is familiar to them; the characters (especially Harper) reflect on mortality, death, and God. Meanwhile, the research group largely try to stay democratic, with coping strategies which rely more on an appeal to reality, academia, and technology.

There are two things that keep this book from being a perfect five stars for me. The first is minor, and it is that the prose work did not blow me away. Don't get me wrong, it was good and did a fantastic job of doing things like heightening tension and conveying character emotion convincingly, but because it did nothing particularly interesting with things like character voice, it didn't quite reach the level of 'amazing' for me. The second has to do with the ending. Ultimately, my feelings on the ending come down to whether this book will have a sequel or not. If it will have a sequel, I think the ending works; if not, I am as a reader somewhat disappointed.

If this book does not have a sequel, the ending leaves a lot to be desired, as what happens to the characters is left up for debate. This works for me for Alice and Harper, because whether they die (or how they would die) and not knowing does leave a lingering sense of dread. However, whether or not Nuria manages to get out is left unclear. So much of her character arc and motivations surround her thesis, uncertainty over her presence there, and desire to escape that as a reader I was expecting her arc to be ended with her either escaping or not escaping. Her being left exhausted and hopeless after realizing she doesn't have the car keys was just a bit of an anticlimactic and disappointing final scene. I would almost rather have left off with Alice and Harper and the cave and not even being told that Nuria reached the fence.

If it does have a sequel, this very uncertain, open ending which leaves the fate of many characters unspoken and/or unclear works far better. It leaves a lot of plot threads for the author to work with.

However, at this point in time as far as I can tell there is no sequel planned, meaning that I have to judge this ending as though there will never be one. Therefore, this ending is what for me really holds back this book from being a 4.5 or even a 5 star read for me. The ending is fine, yes, and works, but it's just not satisfying considering the excellence of what preceded it.

This story started out strong with the perfect plotline: a modern-day research team enters the legendarily spooky Moresby Wood in search of answers to what happened to the soldiers who disappeared there three hundred years ago. Led by Captain Davies, a squad of seventeen men went in but only two stumbled out, bearing tales of horror about their experiences and a creature known as The Corrigal. Dr. Alice Christopher, the leader of the university team tracking the centuries-old story, is obsessed with the mystery of what happened to the soldiers. For years she has submitted requests for funding to support her academic studies and now she and four other women are equipped with all the modern gadgetry needed to find the answers. Told from two different perspectives-that of the soldiers and that of the women-the tale of Moresby Wood is haunting and atmospheric but not as engaging as I thought it might be.

Ambushed by an unknown army squad, Captain Davies and his men escape into the woods where they are plagued with bizarre events, unusual visions and the tale of The Corrigal. Dr. Christopher and her team immediately lose battery power for their GPS and there is no phone service, forcing them to use a centuries-old map and a survey completed in the 1960's to track Davies' trail. The dual POV is clever because when the Wood affects one group, it leaves the reader guessing if the same will happen to the other. Both groups begin to doubt their leaders. Both groups begin to see things. It's really a mind bender.

While the idea of the dual narrative is skillfully told, there are still twenty-two players--some have bigger roles than others, many I couldn't remember who they were--so character development is minimal. The beginning is a slow burn that has a few creep-out moments but it does into turn into something more sinister and eerie and weird. And while Dr. Christopher and her team are meant to be the main focus, I found I was more engaged by Captain Davies' group. Their situation was more fright-filled and desperate as they tried to escape the Wood as opposed to the stubborn obsessiveness of Dr. Christopher driving her team further and further into it.

In the end, a lot of questions are brought up but left unanswered. It didn't ruin the story but it still felt halfway told.

(Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review)

I think this was a "it's not you, it's me" type of book. I went into this expecting to dive straight in and... I just lost interest. Which is a shame because the premise sounds incredible! But, instead of being invested or scared or even just plain creeped out, I found myself setting the book aside again and again. It doesn't help that I'm a mood reader and perhaps this just isn't the book for me right now. I might pick this book up again for a second read in a few months (around spooky season) to see if that helps. Still, I recommend other readers give this a chance to see for themselves!

A gothic-toned horror novel about a haunted woods, split between two groups of people across timelines - one a group of Parliamentarian soldiers in the 1600s, another a female-led group of scholars, both being stalked by the same beastly entity. I loved the story’s roots in folk horror and the author did an excellent job of establishing a dark, moody atmosphere. I was a bit frustrated at times with the present-day expedition; sometimes they would boldly venture into parts of the woods as if they weren’t experts in various aspects of this particular forest. A bit like “The Terror” and a bit like “Annihilation”, this book was at times horrifying and fascinating. I wish the ending was a bit more clear, but a story like this sometimes warrants a vague conclusion.

A group of women historians embark on a trek into a restricted area of woods know as Moresby Forest, to determine what might have happened to a small band of soldier’s centuries earlier. Once inside it quickly becomes apparent they aren’t alone and getting back out alive may not be an option. The story flows well with the chapters alternating between the two time periods. The author does a great job bringing the dismal feel of the forest and the despair the characters must endure. With plenty of suspense and violence this one will keep you reading late into the night.

Got this one for free as an ARC of Netgalley, thank you so much Solaris for the chance to review it.

I have been so desperately disappointed in all the books I’ve read lately. Even the ones that had a tinge of loveliness to them – I’m thinking about the arresting back two thirds of Laramie Dean’s Black Forest – were saddled with overwriting and rambling filler. So this was a pleasant surprise.

The Dark Between The Trees is a fast-moving folk horror set in a woods in northern England. Dr. Alice Christopher has finally realized her life’s ambition of investigating the 1643 disappearance of a group of roundhead soldiers in the Moresby Wood. Accompanied by a group of rangers and graduate students, she presses into the forest, and the place very quickly throws them off kilter. The roundheads themselves, appearing in alternating chapters, march to their inevitable fate, just as leery and confused as the women following Dr. Christopher. Bullheadedness and fear run up against the terrifying reality of the wood, and the two threads clash into each other in the most remarkable way.

This book reminds me most of Adam Neville’s The Ritual, not least because it’s taken up with the very human squabbles that take place between the desperate. Unlike The Ritual it doesn’t stop midway through to introduce a new, slightly stupider plot thrust. It’s spacious and descriptive while still being narratively tight and frightening. The twist about the nature of the wood was fascinating; a little telegraphed, I will admit, but done well enough that I didn’t mind. The 1643 POV gave me the same sort of terrible hopeless optimism laced with unflinching reality that The Terror did so well, minus all the unnecessary descriptions of steamship anatomy.

I can’t really say enough about this, and I don’t want to say more about it in case I spoil any of it. Five stars. Absolutely wonderful read.

The dark between the trees is told from multiple perspectives. Spanning across two time periods.

A group of academics set out on the hunt to solve the mystery of Moresby wood where a group of soldiers found themselves lost in 1643. Two make it out alive claiming a creature called the corrigal captured their comrades.

The book has many twists throughout and ultimately draws many parallels between the spillers and the academics.

The author managed to maintain the same atmospheric mood across all points of view to maintain continuity of the story. The scene is set beautifully to create a wonderful horror story. One I feel would be better appreciated in the autumn months, on a cold dark night.

Overall I enjoyed the premise of the book, the plot had the opportunity to grip me to its core. However, it fell flat in parts for me and felt repetitive and slow. For the most part I gave it 3 stars as I know I probably would read this again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for allowing me to read this as an ARC!

I was really looking forward to this book but it just never got to where I hoped it would go. Too opened ended and too many left over questions at the end for me. I also am not sure I would consider this in the horror section, but maybe that's just me.

First of all, many thanks to Rebellion, Solaris and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC of Fiona Barnett's 'The Dark Between the Trees.'

As a devotee of folk horror, especially English folk horror, I really enjoyed this book.

It's a multiple timeline tale of people trapped in a single piece of sinister forest somewhere unspecified in the north of England. There's a medieval storyline (told through the modern storyline), an English Civil War narrative, and a 21st century story, as well as an overarching sense of the ancient - long predating all of those historical periods.

All three elements contain themes of conflict and otherness. The Moresbys, who gave their name to the wood, seek to set themselves apart from the rest of their community and move off to the forest, the Civil War soldiers are, obviously, involved in a war of division and the 'others' here could be seen as either the Papists/Catholics or the ones who either believe or don't believe the superstitions. The 21st century theme is one of academic infighting and division and it's so well done you'd have to wonder if the author has come through similar experiences!

There are constant time shifts and eventual melding that may confuse readers but I was able to fall into the rhythm and I think this also parallels one of the features of the forest which, itself and for the various captured parties, is constantly shifting between different periods of its existence.

Some readers might take issue with the ambiguity of the ending but I don't know how else you'd have finished this novel. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that I don't think there was ever going to be a happy ending to this one. It could potentially have set it up for a sequel, which I would happily read.

Throughout the novel I couldn't help but see hints of Dan Simmons' 'The Terror' as the protagonists are tracked by an unseen, ancient, and brutal horror. There were also even hints of the film 'Predator' as the creature shimmies in and out of view. Finally, if you like the novels of English writer James Brogden - 'Hekla's Children,' 'The Plague Stones,' or 'The Hollow Tree' - which similarly weave historical periods and fantastical elements together then you'll love this.

Fantastic first novel.

Alice wants to solve the mystery of Moresby Woods. People have disappeared in the woods and it is an area steeped in mystery. Nobody enters the woods, but Alice is planning an expedition to follow in the footsteps of others who have long disappeared into the woods.

The Dark between the trees was an ok read, I enjoyed the two different stories running parallel alongside each other, but I didn’t particularly care about the characters or what happened to them. The idea was good and I did want to finish the book.