One morning Veris Thorn is summoned to the castle of the brutal tyrant who has conquered her land. His children have gone missing, suspected of running off into the forest during the night, and Veris is the only one who might be able to retrieve them. Why? As the locals know, the forest is cursed. Those who enter never return — except Veris, who managed to escape with her life years earlier.
I really loved this novella by an author unfamiliar to me. I picked it up by chance at the library, drawn by its intriguing title and cover art. While the setting in an enchanted forest is very familiar from some very old tales, this spin on it is tightly plotted, viscerally detailed, and harrowing. At just over 150 pages, with only a few named characters, the author manages to make every part of it three-dimensional: the protagonist’s history and motiviations, the brutality of the tyrant, the otherworldly forest and its creatures. Even the children who have been raised to become brutal rulers themselves are given sympathetic qualities.
Highly recommended. I’ll definitely be checking out more of this author’s work!