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Into the Bloodred Woods
This is Martha Brockenbrough's feminist twisting of the Brother Grimms' stories, Game of Thrones-style.
Once upon a time there was a kingdom and a forest that liked to eat men and a girl who would change everything, but not alone . . .
Except-
There's no such thing as once upon a time.
In a far away land, populated by were beasts and surrounded by a powerful forest, lies a kingdom about to be sent into chaos. On his deathbed, King Tyran divides his land, leaving half to each of his two children-so they'll rule together. However, his son, Albrecht, is not satisfied with half a kingdom. And even though his sister, Ursula, is the first born, he decides that as a girl and were bear, she is unfit to rule. So he invades her land, slaughtering her people and most of the were beasts, and claims it for himself. As King Albrecht builds his iron rule and an army of beasts to defend his reign, Ursula is gathering the survivors and making plans to take back the kingdom. Not just her half-the whole thing. Because Albrecht should have never been allowed to sit on the throne, and Ursula is going to take his crown. And if he's not careful, he might not get to keep his head either.
Once upon a time there was a kingdom and a forest that liked to eat men and a girl who would change everything, but not alone . . .
Except-
There's no such thing as once upon a time.
In a far away land, populated by were beasts and surrounded by a powerful forest, lies a kingdom about to be sent into chaos. On his deathbed, King Tyran divides his land, leaving half to each of his two children-so they'll rule together. However, his son, Albrecht, is not satisfied with half a kingdom. And even though his sister, Ursula, is the first born, he decides that as a girl and were bear, she is unfit to rule. So he invades her land, slaughtering her people and most of the were beasts, and claims it for himself. As King Albrecht builds his iron rule and an army of beasts to defend his reign, Ursula is gathering the survivors and making plans to take back the kingdom. Not just her half-the whole thing. Because Albrecht should have never been allowed to sit on the throne, and Ursula is going to take his crown. And if he's not careful, he might not get to keep his head either.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published November 2, 2021
33 people are currently reading
5075 people want to read
About the author
Martha Brockenbrough
36 books440 followersMartha Brockenbrough is author of The Game of Love and Death, Finding Bigfoot, The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy, and Devine Intervention, books for young readers. For adults, she has written Things That Make Us [Sic], a hilarious guide to things that can go wrong with English, and It Could Happen to You, a diary of her first pregnancy. She's the founder of National Grammar Day and SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews
August 15, 2021
This was unsettling, gut wrenching, and heartbreaking to read because it absolutely lives up to being a Brothers Grimm retelling mash up.
This book took me forever to read. It’s told from 4 perspectives and one of those perspectives is of a literal, actual psychopath prince. I’m not talking morally grey character we adore. I’m not talking murdering AI that somehow an entire fandom comes to stan (cough AIDAN cough.) I’m not talking about villains that somehow charm readers. I’m talking about a truly uncomfortable character mind to be inside of because, as with traditional folklores and fairytales that are social critiques and warnings, the prince is the epitome of the most terrifying toxic masculinity and patriarchal figure. This is a young man who believes he’s entitled to the world. This is a an unapologetic misogynist who takes pleasure in his power over women and his ability to cause pain and harm to others. This is someone who literally cuts up animals without second thought. This is someone who believes his attentions is a gift and views rejection of him as punishable by torture and death.
But oh my god is this story lush and beautifully written. If you’re a folklore and fairytale enthusiast you’ll recognize some of the tales woven into the story with Hansel and Gretel being one of the main ones.
The story overall is about twin brothers and sisters who vie to rule a kingdom. It’s a story of grief. Of love. Of pain and punishment.
Also a plus: sapphic rep!
I cannot list TW on this because there’s far too many but know there’s rape and violence without holding back.
This book took me forever to read. It’s told from 4 perspectives and one of those perspectives is of a literal, actual psychopath prince. I’m not talking morally grey character we adore. I’m not talking murdering AI that somehow an entire fandom comes to stan (cough AIDAN cough.) I’m not talking about villains that somehow charm readers. I’m talking about a truly uncomfortable character mind to be inside of because, as with traditional folklores and fairytales that are social critiques and warnings, the prince is the epitome of the most terrifying toxic masculinity and patriarchal figure. This is a young man who believes he’s entitled to the world. This is a an unapologetic misogynist who takes pleasure in his power over women and his ability to cause pain and harm to others. This is someone who literally cuts up animals without second thought. This is someone who believes his attentions is a gift and views rejection of him as punishable by torture and death.
But oh my god is this story lush and beautifully written. If you’re a folklore and fairytale enthusiast you’ll recognize some of the tales woven into the story with Hansel and Gretel being one of the main ones.
The story overall is about twin brothers and sisters who vie to rule a kingdom. It’s a story of grief. Of love. Of pain and punishment.
Also a plus: sapphic rep!
I cannot list TW on this because there’s far too many but know there’s rape and violence without holding back.
November 27, 2021
Into the Bloodred Woods had a nice idea of blending a lot of fairytales together and giving out a bloody, adult-like story. And there were some points that the narrative got magical, old fairytale-like even, especially those filler chapters.
However, the story of the book was pretty fast-paced and with almost a basic epic story plot. The characters were lukewarm too. The two siblings were probably the worst ones, and not because the brother was bad to the core, and with no real reason actually as to why he was so evil. Sometimes it felt like he was so brutal just to appeal shockingly wicked.
The sister too was with no prospects, however. She said that she wanted to be queen, but she never showed that she did dream to be a leader. She never fought back and she was pretty self-centered.
The rest of the characters were enjoyable, especially Capella. Hans could have been better though. For a man who had gone through all those horrors, he was back to his normal self pretty fast.
The ending was, as was the rest of the book, too rushed.
However, the story of the book was pretty fast-paced and with almost a basic epic story plot. The characters were lukewarm too. The two siblings were probably the worst ones, and not because the brother was bad to the core, and with no real reason actually as to why he was so evil. Sometimes it felt like he was so brutal just to appeal shockingly wicked.
The sister too was with no prospects, however. She said that she wanted to be queen, but she never showed that she did dream to be a leader. She never fought back and she was pretty self-centered.
The rest of the characters were enjoyable, especially Capella. Hans could have been better though. For a man who had gone through all those horrors, he was back to his normal self pretty fast.
The ending was, as was the rest of the book, too rushed.
December 26, 2021
Wow. this was amazing but also so grotesque.
So many fairytales mashed into one, it was made beautifully so. I hated some of the ending, because of the death and non-death of characters. But this cover and blurb also matches the story.
So many fairytales mashed into one, it was made beautifully so. I hated some of the ending, because of the death and non-death of characters. But this cover and blurb also matches the story.
July 1, 2021
This book is a freaking masterpiece of grief & love & power & community & greed & hope & darkness & light & horror & magic. The kind to savor instead of rushing through. It's fantastic! The allusions to classic fairy tales, with a dark twisty path, and smashing the patriarchy- it's all there.
I want to pair it with Elana K. Arnold's Damsel (for older readers with flipping the fairy tale & feminist themes) & Anne Ursu's The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy (for younger readers with similar smash the patriarchy themes).
I want to pair it with Elana K. Arnold's Damsel (for older readers with flipping the fairy tale & feminist themes) & Anne Ursu's The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy (for younger readers with similar smash the patriarchy themes).
November 2, 2021
As soon as you crack Into the Bloodred Woods open, your attention will be grabbed by the throat and kept firmly held until the end. The prologue is confusing at first, but very intriguing, with a blind storyteller that attracts an audience through a clever device he's created, a clockwork monkey that collects the coins people in the audience give the blind man in exchange for his stories.
His stories open with the Once upon a time formula we all heard as wee babes, but as soon as these words uttered, we learn immediately that we're not in the charming world of fairy tales our parents sent us to every night before bed. No, this is a world with a lot of blood, a lot of violence, a lot of injustice. And we're not spared any of it.
I'm not a fan of the overused comparisons to Game of Thrones that have become a common publicity trick in recent years, especially not when it means there's excess of unflinching violence and no matching in scope, depth, themes, and complexity. So I'd have steered away from drawing parallels between this book and the GOT series, they're simply not similar. Do not come expecting a Martin clone, because you'll only be setting your hopes too high and not be fair to Into the Bloodred Woods on its own if it doesn't meet expectations.
That said, the story of rival twins Albrecht and Ursula vying for the throne that each believes legitimately belongs to them and them only, is an entertaining one told at breakneck speed, with plenty of twists, and a finale that, even though you could definitely see coming, has details that you didn't expect. I liked the atmosphere, dark but not overly oppressive, eerie but not depressingly gloomy, magic-infused but not otherworldly. Fairy tale-like, in other words. Brockenbrough took several of the Brothers Grimm's tales for her novel, so you can expect to find Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Hänsel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Handless Maiden, etc., all present here in various forms. Sometimes, they're used as in-world tales to test the royal twins' critical analysis abilities, and other times they're retold as part of the plot through a main or secondary character.
I also liked Brockenbrough's prose, she is able to convey the darker side and the unsettling aspects of fairy tales quite well, without resorting to linguistic affectations.
The issue, however, is that the pace is excessively quick. Characters jump from here to there without a pause to catch their breath. There are hardly any page breaks that allow for the passage of time, which is often handwaved with "X years passed" or "X time later" lines. One paragraph, the character is a child, and the next they're older. One paragraph, the character is doing something, and next it's years later and they're doing another thing that reads a direct continuation of what they were doing before, whilst we're asked to believe a lot of time has passed in-between both points. Characters are always in a hurry to do something, to arrive someplace. In short, they move at the speed of plot requirements. They are plot-tied, plot-enslaved. The ideal should've been that they drive the plot, not be slave-driven by a plotline with no emergency brakes.
Because of that, the characters are shallow and the worldbuilding is thin. I'd have appreciated to see explanations and causes for the magic system, why in twin pairs one can be a were/shapeshifter and the other not, and definitely more layers to the protagonists' personalities. Instead, things are like they are because they need to, it's all "just so." Albrecht could have had a drive and motives behind his villainy other than being a caricature of Joffrey from GOT, but he's simply like he is because he is a man and men good, women bad, and weres worse. Even Joffrey had a reason for being like he was! If the aim of feminist retellings is merely to show men as monsters for no other reason than because their world revolves around their manhood, then it hasn't hit its target. Motives matter, how they're created matters, how the social forces and circumstances shape them matters, and I wish it had been shown here. It'd have added nuance and complexity to this so very straightforward story.
Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
His stories open with the Once upon a time formula we all heard as wee babes, but as soon as these words uttered, we learn immediately that we're not in the charming world of fairy tales our parents sent us to every night before bed. No, this is a world with a lot of blood, a lot of violence, a lot of injustice. And we're not spared any of it.
I'm not a fan of the overused comparisons to Game of Thrones that have become a common publicity trick in recent years, especially not when it means there's excess of unflinching violence and no matching in scope, depth, themes, and complexity. So I'd have steered away from drawing parallels between this book and the GOT series, they're simply not similar. Do not come expecting a Martin clone, because you'll only be setting your hopes too high and not be fair to Into the Bloodred Woods on its own if it doesn't meet expectations.
That said, the story of rival twins Albrecht and Ursula vying for the throne that each believes legitimately belongs to them and them only, is an entertaining one told at breakneck speed, with plenty of twists, and a finale that, even though you could definitely see coming, has details that you didn't expect. I liked the atmosphere, dark but not overly oppressive, eerie but not depressingly gloomy, magic-infused but not otherworldly. Fairy tale-like, in other words. Brockenbrough took several of the Brothers Grimm's tales for her novel, so you can expect to find Snow White, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Hänsel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the Handless Maiden, etc., all present here in various forms. Sometimes, they're used as in-world tales to test the royal twins' critical analysis abilities, and other times they're retold as part of the plot through a main or secondary character.
I also liked Brockenbrough's prose, she is able to convey the darker side and the unsettling aspects of fairy tales quite well, without resorting to linguistic affectations.
The issue, however, is that the pace is excessively quick. Characters jump from here to there without a pause to catch their breath. There are hardly any page breaks that allow for the passage of time, which is often handwaved with "X years passed" or "X time later" lines. One paragraph, the character is a child, and the next they're older. One paragraph, the character is doing something, and next it's years later and they're doing another thing that reads a direct continuation of what they were doing before, whilst we're asked to believe a lot of time has passed in-between both points. Characters are always in a hurry to do something, to arrive someplace. In short, they move at the speed of plot requirements. They are plot-tied, plot-enslaved. The ideal should've been that they drive the plot, not be slave-driven by a plotline with no emergency brakes.
Because of that, the characters are shallow and the worldbuilding is thin. I'd have appreciated to see explanations and causes for the magic system, why in twin pairs one can be a were/shapeshifter and the other not, and definitely more layers to the protagonists' personalities. Instead, things are like they are because they need to, it's all "just so." Albrecht could have had a drive and motives behind his villainy other than being a caricature of Joffrey from GOT, but he's simply like he is because he is a man and men good, women bad, and weres worse. Even Joffrey had a reason for being like he was! If the aim of feminist retellings is merely to show men as monsters for no other reason than because their world revolves around their manhood, then it hasn't hit its target. Motives matter, how they're created matters, how the social forces and circumstances shape them matters, and I wish it had been shown here. It'd have added nuance and complexity to this so very straightforward story.
Thank you to the publishers and Edelweiss for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 4, 2022
dnf at 70% -
WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK did I just read?
the cover of this book is GORGEOUS! I love it - but the content of the book just made no sense except to display psychotic behaviour where nothing really happens? I have no clue what is going on in this book. The cover is the only redeeming quality.
TW: sexual assault, torture, parental death, animal cruelty
WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK did I just read?
the cover of this book is GORGEOUS! I love it - but the content of the book just made no sense except to display psychotic behaviour where nothing really happens? I have no clue what is going on in this book. The cover is the only redeeming quality.
TW: sexual assault, torture, parental death, animal cruelty
January 2, 2022
For a book with such a gorgeous cover I was really disappointed in the actual storyline. I couldn’t get into it at all and there were some pretty uncomfortable things that made me almost dnf.
January 23, 2022
So, I enjoyed this so much at the beginning but towards the middle my interest faltered and fizzled out to nothing.
The characters were interesting and their stories combined seamlessly, but it was a little annoying when we constantly switched between their point of view. I'm okay with multi-pov books, but there were at least six different point of views, and it was hard to understand the timeline. Depending on where the previous chapter left off we'd pick up at different places and sometimes a certain event happened more than once because of the way the povs landed.
The plot sounded amazing, and even seemed amazing at the beginning, but soon it started falling apart. I love books that are fast and packed with a lot, but there was too much. Add that to the confusing timeline, I had no idea how old anyone was or who knew who or what was really important.
The way that many different classical fairytales were molded into their own thing and then combined was fantastic. The little easter eggs of the fairytales gave my heart joy and the way they merged reminded me of the Land of Stories and how everything was combined there. Land of Stories was my childhood, so that helped my enjoyment of this book.
Overall, it was okay. Not completely something I loved, but I didn't hate it.
The characters were interesting and their stories combined seamlessly, but it was a little annoying when we constantly switched between their point of view. I'm okay with multi-pov books, but there were at least six different point of views, and it was hard to understand the timeline. Depending on where the previous chapter left off we'd pick up at different places and sometimes a certain event happened more than once because of the way the povs landed.
The plot sounded amazing, and even seemed amazing at the beginning, but soon it started falling apart. I love books that are fast and packed with a lot, but there was too much. Add that to the confusing timeline, I had no idea how old anyone was or who knew who or what was really important.
The way that many different classical fairytales were molded into their own thing and then combined was fantastic. The little easter eggs of the fairytales gave my heart joy and the way they merged reminded me of the Land of Stories and how everything was combined there. Land of Stories was my childhood, so that helped my enjoyment of this book.
Overall, it was okay. Not completely something I loved, but I didn't hate it.
June 9, 2023
The concept of this book was very interesting, it was like fairy tales within a fairy tale. While I enjoyed the writing style, there were some unnecessary graphic details. The story was hard to follow at times because it jumped around from character to character. The cover art definitely drew me in. Overall, average, 3 stars.
dnf
February 14, 2023This book does not give me joy. Marie Kondo would be proud.
November 22, 2021
The only clever thing about this book was the way all the classic fairytales we know and love got melded into this big grotesque melting pot of delicious evil; that's why it got a 2. Otherwise, this book was a gratuitous 1.
The fairytale retellings gave this book good bones; but similar to a house, the rest of the book was a COMPLETE gut job. The main issue was nothing actually happened in this book: there was no beginning, middle or end. There was a start, then a very muddled middle-ish part that lasted about 90% of the book, and then it just...finished. Not ended; just finished. The plot holes are too numerous to explain here, but the sheer amount of them as well as the choppy transitions between scenes really led to a confusing narrative that had me scratching my head and forcing me to reread passages several times so I could remember where I was.
This book was very definitely NOT Brothers Grimm meets Game of Thrones; it wasn't even remotely focused on what the synopsis said. I was promised a book about a girl whose throne is stolen and this was the story of how she won it back. But instead I got a book centered entirely around her sociopathic brother and his comically evil ways. Ursula was a side character in a book that was ostensibly all about her, which tells me the author 1) lost her own plot along the way and 2) had a shit editor who didn't catch that the author lost her plot along the way. So many levels of the writing system failed to catch that this book essentially spun us in circles to nowhere.
Again, the bones were here; melding all the fairytales was easily the best aspect of the book. But that could not save the rest of the house, unfortunately. Condemn the house.
The fairytale retellings gave this book good bones; but similar to a house, the rest of the book was a COMPLETE gut job. The main issue was nothing actually happened in this book: there was no beginning, middle or end. There was a start, then a very muddled middle-ish part that lasted about 90% of the book, and then it just...finished. Not ended; just finished. The plot holes are too numerous to explain here, but the sheer amount of them as well as the choppy transitions between scenes really led to a confusing narrative that had me scratching my head and forcing me to reread passages several times so I could remember where I was.
This book was very definitely NOT Brothers Grimm meets Game of Thrones; it wasn't even remotely focused on what the synopsis said. I was promised a book about a girl whose throne is stolen and this was the story of how she won it back. But instead I got a book centered entirely around her sociopathic brother and his comically evil ways. Ursula was a side character in a book that was ostensibly all about her, which tells me the author 1) lost her own plot along the way and 2) had a shit editor who didn't catch that the author lost her plot along the way. So many levels of the writing system failed to catch that this book essentially spun us in circles to nowhere.
Again, the bones were here; melding all the fairytales was easily the best aspect of the book. But that could not save the rest of the house, unfortunately. Condemn the house.
April 13, 2022
I found this book disappointing. The basic storyline would be great for the upper elementary grade age group. And we can always use more strong female heroes. But then the author introduced adult themes which really weren't necessary. Those themes really detract from the book as the basic storyline won't appeal to age groups where those themes are more appropriate.
April 8, 2022
I will keep this short and slightly bitter. It has never taken me this long to read such a short book. I could not make myself like it. The writing was short and choppy, the characters had no depth, and the girl living in the woods had to make everything about her.
I would not recommend this book to anyone. Might use it as kindling to stay warm in this snow but it’s a no from me.
I would not recommend this book to anyone. Might use it as kindling to stay warm in this snow but it’s a no from me.
January 31, 2022
This was marketed as a feminist Game of Thrones and that was NOT the vibe I got from this at all. There was just one psychopath and people that kept enabling him until it was too late.
February 23, 2025
Definitely a unique fantasy. Too gory for my taste, but I appreciate what it was doing and liked the fairy tale elements woven throughout.
Read
December 3, 2021Not for me; writing style skews strongly toward the younger end of the YA spectrum. Far too many short, choppy sentences with overly simplistic structure for my taste.
January 13, 2022
I wanted to like this more than I did. I think it will hit the right notes for fans of Damsel and other gritty fantasy/fairytale titles. Personally, I had a hard time with all of it and found the characters a bit too mean--it was just depressing to try and read right now, as timely as it may have been.
November 28, 2024
I rate this 1.5/5⭐️. I went into this really wanting to get into the story, but was honestly disappointed. I felt uncomfortable with some of the themes present in this book (including assault) and thought that the plot fell short of what I was expecting going into it. Overall, this book was not a favorite.
February 16, 2022
2 stars
Gorgeous cover. Strong beginning, lackluster follow through.
This book started off strongly. I was intrigued by the beginning of the story – but by the time we got a little further in, my interest started to wane. I felt this book was a bit of a muddled mess. There is nothing wrong with combining many Grimm stories, but I didn’t like how it was done in this book.
This book was all over the place. It didn’t sit still for long, there were so many characters that I didn’t feel like I cared about any of them. From the description it sounded like it was focused on one character, but it really isn’t. There are so many different POVS, which can work, but it didn’t work here.
None of the characters were fleshed out in this book, and it was just a letdown.
I feel there was a lot of setup and it didn’t quite get there. I wasn’t even sure what the plot was halfway through the book. Again, it was very much a mess.
In the end, I think those who like fairytales may like this one; but overall I feel it was lackluster and didn’t live up to the absolutely stunning cover that it was blessed with.
Gorgeous cover. Strong beginning, lackluster follow through.
This book started off strongly. I was intrigued by the beginning of the story – but by the time we got a little further in, my interest started to wane. I felt this book was a bit of a muddled mess. There is nothing wrong with combining many Grimm stories, but I didn’t like how it was done in this book.
This book was all over the place. It didn’t sit still for long, there were so many characters that I didn’t feel like I cared about any of them. From the description it sounded like it was focused on one character, but it really isn’t. There are so many different POVS, which can work, but it didn’t work here.
None of the characters were fleshed out in this book, and it was just a letdown.
I feel there was a lot of setup and it didn’t quite get there. I wasn’t even sure what the plot was halfway through the book. Again, it was very much a mess.
In the end, I think those who like fairytales may like this one; but overall I feel it was lackluster and didn’t live up to the absolutely stunning cover that it was blessed with.
April 4, 2022
I was so disappointed by this and it makes me so sad. This book had good points and then bad points. What I loved most about this book was how it took so many fairytales and wove them together to create this unique tale. It was cool seeing all these characters who represented classic fairytales interact with each other. On the other hand, I was not a fan of the execution of the overall plot. I felt like we got to see the conflict and issues between the prince and everyone else, but we didn't get to see the conflict between Ursula and him that much. I expected there to be a big rounding of the troops by Ursula and they go and fight her brother, but we didn't really get that. I just felt like the summary put such an emphasis on Ursula, but really another character took center stage.
March 12, 2022
At first I was like what the fuck is this, the fairytale vib completely threw me off but after awhile I started to understand it's suitability of relating hard truths via a old style of once upon a time. Very inventive, blended a number of stories into one good tale of twin nature of dark vs light of fear and love, of connection to nature and desire for power. Has great deal of depth to this simple story very cleverly written and well thought out I give it a very high four star rating. Nice story fun read quite unique and obviously well thought out effort by the author give it my full recommendation.
August 23, 2022
The two main characters were lackluster at best. And while the book had potential I think it got so focused on trying to be horrific like the brothers Grimm that the plot was kind of left as an afterthought. I did enjoy the fact that the story itself became the traditional fairy tales, in that all the minute details were pieces of the big famous stories. But that was really the only enjoyable part. Sadly.
August 20, 2021
This was really, really clever. Even until the last few pages, I loved seeing how Martha Brockenbrough wove faerie tale references throughout and in such different ways. This is also very, very dark, with one scene making me have to put the book down for a second. But it was terribly clever, even if I don't know that I need to read it ever again.
Read
October 29, 2021RTC!
November 16, 2021
I am deeply disturbed but also captivated
October 15, 2022
I absolutely love this writing style, and I adore the fairy tale vibes. I want Martha Brockenbrough to write my obituary.
September 6, 2023
DNF- definitely meant for a younger age group
June 19, 2025
*actual rating is 3.75 stars*
January 17, 2023
The idea and plot of this book is great- I like the magical aspects of it. My only issue was that we kept revisiting the same memories frequently and to me it messed up the flow.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 125 reviews