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

This one's creepy and atmospheric, shifting in time between a group of soldiers who entered the woods hundreds of years ago and didn't emerge and a group of modern day academics who are trying to make sense of two very old and inaccurate maps. It also shifts between forests -- the one they believe they're in and someplace else. Trees appear and disappear. They find buildings and artifacts that make no sense. They get lost. It's a slow burn that reminded me a lot of the Blair Witch Project

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-arc of this book. I thought that the characters were compelling, and the story was interesting. The ending felt rushed, but overall, it was a solid read.

This novel had a very promising premise, but it ultimately fell flat for me, in the way magical realism always does for me. Because, for me The Dark Between the Trees ended up feeling more like magical realism than horror. Sure there is a monster, but the monster is just a trapped soul in the forest like all the rest of them.
In the 17th century, a group of soldiers are ambushed on a hill and the survivors escape into Moresby forest, only to never be seen again. In the present day, a group of five women enter that same forest to attempt to uncover evidence of what happened to those missing shoulders. The novel is told in alternating chapters, from the point of view of the soldiers and then the point of view of the researchers.
The structure was really interesting, and created unique parallels between the two groups that I enjoyed. However, the story was so predictable, and while it felt ominous and intriguing early on, it got quite boring at the end. Overall, the writing was lovely, but the plot of this one just wasn't my cup of tea.

DNF

Unfortunately this just wasn't for me. It's much too slow to build any kind of suspense and I became too bored to even bother picking this back up again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Rebellion for my complimentary copy.

The premise of this book was great: a research team sets out to explore an ancient forest where hundreds of years ago an group of men disappeared, leaving behind one survivor with an unbelievable tale of am invisible monster and two forests which shift back and forth when you're not looking.

Creepy forest, ancient evil, rain and mist, technology that won't work... it all makes an interesting story, to be sure, but the writing drags the story back in ways that I'm afraid will make many readers stall halfway through. Things move at a snail's pace in this one, and the alternating chapters between the group of men long ago and the group of women today always seem to end just as something interesting happens. There are over a dozen characters to keep straight, none that truly stand out, and the head-hopping had me constantly trying to remember who was who and which character had which personality.

In the end, an OK story but nothing that really excited me.

The Dark Between The Trees by Fiona Barnett.
1643: A small group of Parliamentarian soldiers are ambushed in an isolated part of Northern England. Their only hope for survival is to flee into the nearby Moresby Wood... unwise though that may seem. For Moresby Wood is known to be an unnatural place, the realm of witchcraft and shadows, where the devil is said to go walking by moonlight... Seventeen men enter the wood. Only two are ever seen again, and the stories they tell of what happened make no sense. Stories of shifting landscapes, of trees that appear and disappear at will... and of something else. Something dark. Something hungry.
An OK read. Found this slow but readable. 3*.

Really creepy and haunting folk horror. Loved the historical aspect of this, though I don't think it was fully horror-just supernatural. The ending was a bit of a let down but it was fun nontheless.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book. I’m glad it is a book I got to read in October, as it was a great horror/thriller book to keep me a little nervous during this spooky season.

The story follows two groups, an army in the 1600s and researchers in the modern time trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the army, which is an interesting premise. The only complaint I have with this format is that very similar things kept happening to the groups in alternating chapters, so it felt like I read the same story twice with minor alterations in characters. This made it go quite slow to me, especially in the beginning.

Even despite its slow pace, I was hanging on the edge of my seat waiting to see exactly what the mystery was and what was causing it. For this, I really liked the book as it kept me hooked and plugging along trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, the ending left a little to be desired for me, and I was hoping for a bit more.

I occasionally love a good horror story and this one fit the bill. The horror is more cerebral than gory which is how I like a good horror story to be. I am also a fan of English history so was drawn to the dual time period set during the English Civil War.

The story alternates between the present with an expedition into Moresby Woods, led by Dr. Alice Christopher to investigate the disappearance of a group of soldiers who fled into the woods in 1643 and most were never seen again. Dr. Christopher has dreamt of solving this mystery for years. Local Folklore states the woods are haunted and those that enter may not come out again. Dr. Christopher and her expedition find themselves trapped in the woods where their technology does not work and their sense of time and space is compromised. Will they regretfully share the same fate as the missing soldiers?

I really enjoyed the dual time narrative and the unraveling of the creepy happenings. The ending was a bit ambigous but I did not mind that. This was a wonderful read for this time of year as night draws earlier and the air is chilled.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher Rebellion Solaris and the author for the chance to read and review this book

The Dark Between The Trees had a creepy folk type feel to it which I was really intrigued by. I liked the creepy forest England setting and the idea of ancient creatures lurking from within the trees. However, this book was very slow burning... and not really in a good way. I also had a hard time liking or connecting with any of the characters which made it a bit difficult to get through the story. I think horror fans with the patience for drawn out suspense and slow burn mystery will enjoy this one.

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This is a book for those steeped in academia who want the mystery to remain a mystery.

The telling alternates between the perspective of the five modern day women and the 17 soldiers in 1643. I liked how the journeys of the two groups paralleled each other while having enough different things occurring to remain engaging. But I never felt like I truly got to know any one character in a well-rounded way. They all felt like two-dimensional drawings. I don’t mind this in a traditional horror/thriller. The point isn’t the characters. But this story struck me as a less traditional mystery that remains unsolved. It’s not like Scream or Cabin in the Woods. It takes itself seriously and, thus, my standards for characterization are higher and remain unmet.

I like the monster in the woods. It has a cool name – the Corrigal. It’s deliciously creepy. But it’s essentially dropped in the last few chapters as a red herring. That would be fine if something scarier replaced it. But it doesn’t.

As someone who spent many years in academia, this book reads like a speculative wish fulfillment. The lead historian is a woman who others in her department think is wrongfully obsessed with the woods. She struggles to win awards when the man in her department does. It took her years to fund this trip. The narrative tells us this over and over again. The book tries to show us that the historian was right. If a bit cruel to her postdoc student. But I was left feeling like this was a speculative exploration of everything wrong with academia without the text being self-aware that this is what it was doing.

I’ve categorized it a mystery, because to me it wasn’t thrilling or horrific. It was a puzzle the women set out to solve and fail to do so in any satisfying way. The bit of chills that built in the beginning fizzle by the end.

If you enjoy 1640s history interspersed with watching a bunch of academics flail helplessly about in the woods and don’t mind an unresolved mystery then this will be a great match for you.

GoodReads:
This is a book for those steeped in academia who want the mystery to remain a mystery.

I liked the alternating perspective chapters. The monster in the woods.

I didn't like the characterization (2-dimensional). The fact that it wasn't thrilling or horrific (just a mystery that remains unsolved). That it reads like speculative academic wish fulfillment.

Check out my full review.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

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Five women head into Moresby Woods on a historian’s academic expedition to discover what happened to a unit of 17 Parliamentarian soldiers in 1643. Only 2 soldiers survived the wood. How many women will?
This is a book for those steeped in academia who want the mystery to remain a mystery. Loved the alternating 1640s and modern day chapters. Didn’t love the unresolved mystery or 2-dimensional characters.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

#bookalicious #booksinthewild #avidreader #bookaesthetic #whatimreading #bookrecs #booksinthewoods

3.5/5

The creepiness in the present narrative works beautifully here but the past narrative was just a tad boring and ruined it mostly for me. A mild recommend from me and it’s for sure worthy of your time.

Thank you for this opportunity!