Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch may be perfect for you if you're looking for a funny MG fantasy adventure story. It took me a minute to get into the writing style (it's in present tense), but once you do you'll be hooked. I loved all of the fairy tale elements that the author managed to tie together so seamlessly from Hansel and Gretel, Snow, Jack and everyone. Even better is the sense of humor - it's very self aware, by the way, which completely works in its favor. I have a feeling if you're a fan of Shrek or Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you'll get a kick out of this series opener. I'm looking forward to continuing The Darkwood Series.

I didn’t realise this was a middle grade book, but I really enjoyed it, it was fun, well written and really entertaining.i think I need to read more like this now. All credit to gabby for converting me to middle grade books.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

A Terry Pratchett inspired middle grade fairy tale adventure featuring favourites like Jack ( of the Beanstalk fame) , Snow White, and our main protagonists Hansel and Gretel, this book was a sheer satirical delight from the very first page.
Hansel and Gretel live in the village of Nearby in the kingdom of Myrsina, a land where magic is forbidden along with abominations such as women who do sums, and where the Huntsmen scour the country looking for witches. Right beside the village is the Darkwood, a place where children are warned never to go, as it is full of monsters and evil magic. When an ogre attacks the village ,Gretel's quick thinking and clever inventions save the day, but they also attract the attention of the Huntsmen, and so her only option if she wants to avoid being burned as a witch is to flee into the Darkwood, where she meets several characters the readers will know very well.
Without spoiling too much of the ensuing adventure, there is plenty of drama and action as she tries to save her brother and the village from destruction.
This book is genuinely funny, the humour is sharp and liberally sprinkled over the whole thing, and I often found myself giggling at a particularly well crafted phrase. The characters are great, they feel very real, experiencing moments of doubt as well as determination, and this applies equally to the more secondary characters. While the book has a strong message about the dangers of seeing people as "other " or "less than" it is really well integrated into the story as a whole. The world building is clever and well done, and I look forward to reading more books set in the Darkwood and its surroundings.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

You mustn’t go into the Darkwood, Children...

As a keen follower of Gabby Hutchinson Crouch on Twitter, and a fan of all things witchy, when I saw Darkwood available to read I jumped at the chance. Set in the fictional land of Myrsina, this novel takes what you think you know of fairy tales and turns it on its head.

A very humorous retelling of Grimm stories, interwoven to build up a magical community, there are many laughs to be had along the journey of Gretel - accused of witchcraft due to the shocking crime of being a female who likes Maths. Crouch writes in a very informal style, a straightforward good vs bad tale that pits woodland Beasties against the true beasts who threaten all they hold dear.

I am unsure whether this is a YA novel or not, but works well as one if it isn’t. Not my usual style of reading, I like a thriller, suspense and a twist to make your head spin, but a very enjoyable bedtime accompaniment nevertheless.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

There's been a real trend for grimdark in fantasy fiction over the last few years, and it has produced some amazing work, but with the final Discworld novel published in 2015, it does leave one wondering where the lighter side of fantasy fiction is going to head next. Of course, to live up to Pratchett's name is a tall order indeed, but I feel that any author who looks to bring some humour to the genre should be encouraged - because, as with any genre, there's a lot of fun in lovingly pointing out the ridiculous. Farrago was mentioned in my blog post on commissioning last month, and they are a specialist humour publisher, including sections specifically for genre humour. Darkwood came up on Netgalley, and I am a sucker for a fairy tale retelling, so I requested it immediately.

Reading this book felt a little bit as if someone had taken a panto and turned it into a novel, but with a decent side of social and political allegory built in. Given as the author has written for The News Quiz and The Now Show, that's not entirely surprising, and neither is Hutchinson Crouch's talent for the ridiculous, delivered deadpan, and surprising a laugh out of you. Certainly towards the end of the book it's very clear there are some parallels to be drawn between today's jingoistic hate-based politics and how they can be both insidious and harmful, and also a strong message on how diversity should be celebrated and encouraged. There's even a little dig at fake news and propaganda, as well as the hypocrisy of politicians who decry things as evil for everyone, except where it inconveniences them personally.

The plot is simple enough - Gretel is driven out of the Darkwood after being mistaken for a witch, when in reality she's just very good at maths. There she meets a witch who accidentally turns things into cake and as such lives in a cake house, a talking spider, a boy who can grow plants like beanstalks, and a warrior in armour with a band of seven aggressive dwarves. Meanwhile her brother, Hansel, who is actually a witch, is left in the village to deal with the fallout. The Huntsmen aren't satisfied with just letting the witches live in the Darkwood, however, and start to make plans to attack it and all the creatures within it, meaning that war is on its way.

For me, where the book was strongest were the scenes set in the village of Nearby (which I pointedly pronounced as "Near-bee" like it was a village in rural Yorkshire because I thought that made it even funnier). There's a real sense of a small village, where everyone knows each other, and everyone has their own petty squabbles, right up until someone from elsewhere comes to sort things out, and then they all unite and turn on the outsider.

I've mentioned before how much I love scenes of group chaos when someone else is desperately trying to grasp control of the situation with no idea what is going on. The prime example of this was when the Huntsman first arrives in the village and finds everyone bickering over everything else instead of being appropriately cowed by his authority. I also particularly loved the introductory chapters, where we get a sense of how the village has received the orders about how to deal with witches, and followed them in letter if not entirely in spirit. "Witches" are routinely ducked, but the ducking stools are set up in a nice, warm bit of the river, and local women use it as an opportunity for a good scrub, pretending to talk to animals so they can have a good wash whilst villagers hold the soap for them, and shout to ask for repentance, and also if the water temperature is okay. I also cackled at the exchange between Gretel and her stepmother, when her stepmother asks how many times she's told her not to do maths and Gretel plaintively replies, "I don't know, you won't let me count!"

The Darkwood itself is ripe ground for more puns, although I wish perhaps we'd had more time to see Gretel exploring it and finding her feet. She stumbles through it in fear and then has a few excursions which bring her back, inevitably, to the village. I would have loved to have seen more of her getting to know the other magical creatures in the forest, building relationships and trust, and carving out her own niche. I don't necessarily think there's anything I would sacrifice in the existing narrative for that, but perhaps if the book had been a little longer then we could have enjoyed a more leisurely exploration of the forest denizens, and start to see the community there in the same way we did the villagers. As it was, we got a brief introduction to a unicorn, a couple of swamp mermaids and some pixies, but there is talk of wyverns and ogres and manticore in the trees, all able to talk and all with their own quirks and personalities and ongoing arguments. It could have been a delightful meeting of two chaotic tribes.

This is the first in a series, so I'm hoping we get more time developing that as the books progress - not least because two further areas of the wood have been set up as "no-go zones", one with a bear witch (Goldilocks?) and one with a wolf witch (Red Riding Hood, surely), as well as the Huntsmen whose egos have been terribly bruised. There's something a little bit Revolting Rhymes in the reimagining of these fairy tales, and a little bit Once Upon a Time in the bringing the characters together - only Hutchinson Crouch goes back to the stripped back core of the stories and then builds them up into something that fits together well and creates her own lore, instead of smashing together a load of Disney interpretations and trying to make sense of the garbled outcome (I don't like Once Upon A Time). I think my analogy of a panto is best - the plot and delivery are suitable for a huge variety of ages, and each age group will get something different out of it, whilst the whole thing is gleefully anarchic in its tone and it just feels like a great romp.

Briefly:

- A funny, enjoyable, easy-to-read romp through various fairy tales, which frankly would make an excellent panto, and as something for everyone.
- I'm ashamed that it took me until halfway through the book to get the pun on the spider who thinks he's a spy. A SPYder. Good grief @ me.
- I also love how, despite apparently playing against fairy tale expectations, Darkwood actually utilises older character tropes. Gretel is clever and bold, as she was in the original story and as many other fairy tale heroines were (The Snow Queen, for example, or The Seven Ravens), whilst Hansel's gentle and caring nature harks back to the tradition of the simple and kind nature shows him as the other kind of hero (Dick Whittington, or The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship). The perception can often be that fairy tales play into specific heteronormative gender roles, but whilst there are many that do (particularly those which have been adapted and sanitised and sold again and again), there are so many which promote the very traits shown here - the girls riding to the rescue using her wits, and the boys triumphing by being kind and gentle.

Rating: 4/5 - as this is the first in the series, I want to reserve my judgement for the full run, and I do wish there had been more time for Gretel to explore and build up the community in the Darkwood, but it's all round good fun as it is.

I didn't realize that this was a Middle-Grade book when I accepted the review request so you can pass the title along to your kids or neighbors as something they might like, or read it yourself. It was hilarious and inspired a bit by Terry Pratchett.



The kingdom of Myrsina has a lot of rules. No magic, no girls are doing math and science. This retelling of Hansel and Gretel (with some twists) explores more important themes like authoritarianism in a way that Middle Schoolers and Teens will enjoy and hopefully learn something from. I’m a big fan of fairytales and folklore, and I was disappointed that it was such a quick read.



Since this is just coming out, we'll have to wait for ages for a sequel which is a shame. It's in my top 5 for Summer kids titles for sure.

Darkwood is the first book in a presumptive series by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch. Due out 13th June 2019 from Prelude on their Farrago! imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats.

This is a very funny book and well written into the bargain. Ostensibly aimed at middle grade readers, it nevertheless has an awful lot to offer adults also. Written as a sort of 'fractured fairy tales' mash-up of Snow White and the huntsmen, there are cameos from an amazing array of well known fairy tale archetypes alongside some new faces original to this work.

The author has a very deft touch with humor (it's her day job), and her facility with the 'nuts and bolts' of plotting, pacing, narrative tension, dialogue etc are all superlative. This is an enjoyable read and I devoured it in one sitting. Despite being really truly funny, the themes of intolerance, dehumanising people who are different from ourselves, and personal responsibility and morality are presented unflinchingly and very honestly.

It should be noted for readers outside the British Isles that (most of?) the spelling and idiom are British, so Americans should be prepared to compensate.

Five stars, and I want to be a charter member of the Trevor fan club!

This title has been compared to Terry Pratchett a lot. It's not quite accurate; this is rather more manic and less subtle than Terry's work. But that's not a diss on Darkwood, which is a clever, funny story about prejudice and magic. The characters are mostly well drawn - poor Buttercup doesn't get much personality, being motherly and turning things into cake are her only two characteristics. But the others are well written, and with a clear sequel hook at the end Buttercup might gain some personality in the next one. I'll happily be there to read it, to see what happens next.


I received an ARC and chose to write an honest review.

A brother and sister live in a village where the mayor is the police station cat who wears a tiny tricorn hat. Self-righteous religious group scaremonger local villages with lies about witchcraft until sister flees to nearby woods haunted with menacing creatures. Shenanigans ensue.

I am a sucker for fractured fairy tales. Darkwood did not disappoint. It was a fresh twist on the fairy tale trope, was well written, great characters and also a lot of fun. A fantastic start to the series.

Recommended for readers who enjoy: Fablehaven, Sisters Grim series, Fables

It started very promising, I loved the way the author muddled up fairy tale characters and real life history.
But when the girl [Gretel] went into the woods and met the other characters, I thought that that they were introduced a bit too fast and had no time to develop properly.
I felt the story was too fast paced, which some readers might like but it led me to being confused at times, and I felt the dangers were too close together.
In summary, I loved the fantasy elements, but it felt rushed and I would have liked to have seen more character development.
Thank you.

What a romp of a read this was! Fabulously funny fairy tale mash up with lots of familiar names appearing, and some brilliant original characters - may have to start a fan club for Trevor the talking spider ❤
Witty, wise, and wonderfully weird. Will look forward to the next adventure into the Darkwood, as long as it's not on a Monday....

This is a reasonably grown up fairy tale, in a good way - think Shrek. The story was well plotted with enough funny bits to help things along. There is clearly a series planned as the ending left room for at least one sequel

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Do not go into the Darkwood, children. It's a cursed place, and so big and so dangerous that once you go in you'll never come out again. You'll become just another lost creature, aimlessly wandering amongst those black and twisted trees forever. Even the dead aren't safe in the Darkwood. Nobody is safe."

I adored this book and without a doubt, I can say this book is one of the favorite books I've read in 2019. This book was funny, witty, and very education all at the same time. The overarching message behind this story--witchhunts--is packaged to appeal to a younger audience without being overly graphic or informative.

This part contains spoilers!
The huntsmen, who are leading the witchhunts, are masked and 'just' characters who are trying to rid the world of the witches. However, these witchhunts are getting out of hand and every woman who is able to do basic maths or has a logical mind is considered to be a witch and send off to the Darkwood, a wood where scary and dangerous beings lurk between the trees. After Gretel is send off to the Darkwood as she is called out for being a witch, she meets four fellow witches: Jack Trott, Snow (or the White Knight), Trevor the talking spider, and Buttercup. They team up and with the help of the four witches, Gretel sets it upon herself to protect her village Nearby and her brother Hansel, who turned out to be the real Mudd Witch.

My favorite character out of all of the witches has to be Trevor, the talking spider. His dynamic with the group was honestly wholesome and adorable,

"'She definitely worked out I'm a spider, then, you reckon.' 'I think so,' says the woman with the broomstick kindly. 'Yes.' The spider sighs, disappointed. 'But I thought I'd disguised it really well. I was wearing a hat!'"

And in the end, the forgiving of Trott and the Giant was such a heartfelt ending. It shows how there are always two sides to a story; a mantra that is important to repeat at any given age.

This book was so much fun! I can’t wait for the sequel!

“Do not go into the Darkwood, children. It’s a cursed place, and so big and so dangerous that once you go in you’ll never come out again. You’ll become just another lost creature, aimlessly wandering amongst those black and twisted trees forever. Even the dead aren’t safe in the Darkwood. Nobody is safe.”

Gretel lives in Nearby Village with her twin, Hansel, and their stepparents. Unfortunately for Gretel, she’s female so she must be very careful how she behaves, lest she be branded as a witch. Worse still, she’s smart, using maths, physics and engineering to design marvellous defences that protect Nearby from the scary monsters who live across the river in the Darkwood. Yep, she’s got to be a witch if she knows maths!

Accused of the abomination of witchcraft by Huntsmen, Gretel winds up in the Darkwood, where she’s faced with the terrifying creatures she’s been warned about her entire life. Witches like Buttercup, who can turn inanimate objects into baked goods with her touch; sometimes even on purpose! People like Jack, who can make plants grow at will. There’s also a magical talking spider called Trevor, who is a master of disguise. They’re not exactly the villains she thought they were. Then there’s the White Knight who, well, can be kind of abrasive, actually.

It’s up to Gretel and this diverse bunch of magical outcasts to find a way to protect both the Darkwood and Nearby Village from the ruling Huntsmen, who may well be the true villains in this story.

With action, humour and some magical mayhem, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch reimagines some well known fairy tale characters and places them in situations where they need to use their combined talents, inventiveness and wit to challenge the roles they’ve been cast in by those in power.

The characters were well rounded, a wonderful blend of scared and courageous, damaged and determined, flawed and resilient. This wasn’t a tale with just one shining star; everyone was interesting in their own way, although I admit I was quite partial to Trevor, the talking spider. I mean, come on, he wears sunglasses as one of his disguises! How adorable is that?!

On the surface this is a highly entertaining tale that makes you want to cheer on the underdogs. Scratch the surface though and you’ll learn (or be reminded of) some valuable lessons in what it means to be human. Despite tackling themes of how we dehumanise those we categorise as ‘other’ and the corruption that can grow unchecked when those in power are not held accountable, I never felt I was being preached at.

There’s so much of the Darkwood and its surrounding towns and villages still to explore. I can’t wait to get to know the Swamp Mermaids more, finally meet the bear and wolf witches of the north, and visit the eastern woods.

‘What’s in the eastern woods?’
‘You don’t want to know.’

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Farrago, an imprint of Prelude Books, for the opportunity to read this book. Oh, and a final word of warning: if you follow these characters into the Darkwood, make sure you adhere to the usual Bin Night precautions!

Darkwood is a fun, quirky and occasionally laugh out loud book. A great take on old fables. I will certainly encourage the younger folk in my life to read this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free ARC of this book.

Darkwood is a sort of retelling of various fairytales, but it's also a somewhat satirical look at fairytales in general. With names like Darkwood and Nearby Village, how can we think otherwise. We are taken to a land controlled by the Citadel and the Huntsmen, a world extremely focused on rooting out witchcraft. To be fair, witches are real in this story and so are wyverns, fairies, unicorns and numerous other mythical creatures. But for the most part the witches aren't that evil, and the witch hunting that happens is very much like what happened in real life some centuries ago. Everything is witchcraft, particularly if it is done by a woman or girl. Even knowing 1+1 can get you in trouble for being a witch.

My favourite part of this book is actually Nearby Village. Of course it has it's issues and problems, like any town would, like any group of people would, but that doesn't change the fact that the people of this village are fiercely loyal to each other, even if witchcraft does pop up for real. They obey the edicts of the Citadel but they do it in their own way, dunkings are more like fun baths in the river for the girls and some purposefully get dunked every week or two. When a Hunstman comes for our protagonist, Gretel Mudd, the villagers do everything in their power to distract him so she can run. They never actually turn against her, they might be defeated for a while every now and then and so can't help her, but they never truly turn against her. I wonder if any villages or towns in the real world ever tried to protect its citizens like the people in this book did... I loved Nearby Village and its crazy people.

The writing in this book is great. It's set in the present tense, "She walks to the stream" instead of past, "She walked to the stream" which can be a bit jarring sometimes if you are not used to it. But it wasn't bad, just something to note. It makes good use of sarcasm and at times I actually wondered if the book was me, using very specific phrases I use regularly. It's not all sarcasm though, the book makes good use of other forms of satire and humour. Unicorns are amusing that's for sure. Trevor and his numerous disguises is hilarious. I spent much of this book smiling, and I laughed quite a lot - so I think the humour was on point.

The characters were fun, though I suppose they weren't super deep or anything. I don't expect satirical characters to have too much depth or character growth or anything though, so the fact that they did have that to some degree is a plus for sure. Jacks backstory is an interesting one, I like how that was put together. At the same time I love the almost completely missing backstory for the Head Huntsman. Sometimes in life we will not know the true story or motivations of our "antagonists" and that has to be true for fiction as well. Our villains can't always have a backstory, they can't all have great meaning to their life, they can't all have something that makes us sympathise with them. Darkwood is right in how they flesh out our villain by not fleshing him out at all.

I could go on and on about how much I love this book and why. It might be easier and quicker then to focus on what I didn't like, which is.... nothing. I loved this book. I really loved it, I gave it 5 stars after all. I really look forward to the future sequel and will read it ASAP when it's released. I might even read this to or with my kids, or at least buy them a copy. Seems like the right thing to do.

The Darkwood by Gabby Hutchinson Crouch
4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis:

Magic is forbidden in Myrsina, along with various other abominations, such as girls doing maths. This is bad news for Gretel Mudd, who doesn't perform magic, but does know a lot of maths. When the sinister masked Huntsmen accuse Gretel of witchcraft, she is forced to flee into the neighbouring Darkwood, where witches and monsters dwell. There, she happens upon Buttercup, a witch who can't help turning things into gingerbread, Jack Trott, who can make plants grow at will, the White Knight with her band of dwarves and a talking spider called Trevor. These aren't the terrifying villains she's been warned about all her life. They're actually quite nice. Well... most of them. With the Huntsmen on the warpath, Gretel must act fast to save both the Darkwood and her home village, while unravelling the rhetoric and lies that have demonised magical beings for far too long.

My Thoughts:

Take a journey into the Darkwood in this modern fairy tale that will bewitch adults and younger readers alike!! A magical mix up of Fairytale characters that we all know and love!! Thats right there is Snow White, Jack for Jack and the Beanstalk, and our MC Gretel from Hansel and Gretel!!! And so so many more. Your gauranteed to fall in love with this comedy writers first novel in a series!! The characters are witty and the banter is hilarious!! Very adventurous and fun to read all the way through!!! Dont miss the release June 13th 2019!!

I LOVED Darkwood! I'm always a fan of middle grade books. I like to pepper them in between any serious nonfiction to lift my mood, and this did not disappoint. I'm always excited for a fun retelling, too so Darkwood was something I was really looking forward to reading. It was really funny and I highly recommend it to anyone!

This book was both humorous and pointedly satirical of current, rather dangerous, views and movements. I appreciated the unique magic system and the overall world building.

A decent reversal of traditional fairy tales. In the world of the Darkwood, the government's Inquisitor-like Huntsmen use a magic mirror to hunt down witches--people with magic powers. But the witches are often helpful and sometimes fairly useless in their powers--one turns everything she touches into baked goods, for example. When Gretel--who does math, something no girl in this world does--is branded a witch, she flees to the Darkwood, where she quickly finds comrades to help her fight back against the Huntsmen, who are intent on destroying her village, family, and friends. It's a cute read, although the constant use of "trousers!" as a swear word is grating after a few pages. Good for elementary school-age kids and family to read together.