Don't Let the Forest In [October 1, 2025]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Don't Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews starting on October 1, 2025.


Happy Reading!

[Nirkatze]

Thank you!
This is a Spooktober thread. Read any time in October!

Check out the list of other scheduled spooky reads in the Spooktober [buddy read] thread, or seek friends for a plan of your own in the [planning] thread!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Been reading this this morning, instead of Cuckoo...

Starts off like a typical queer Harry Potter vibes book, fighting monsters in the woods... similar to Carry On...

Then, towards the end (view spoiler)[it becomes a mind fuck, and potentially sad... with multiple characters telling the MC that other characters aren't real, and he's making them up in his head to avoid trauma and have friends...

So either his love interest is in jail and not at school and there are no monsters in the woods, or the other kids are figments of the monsters in the woods...

So, mental hospital plot vibes... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I finished... and damn... (view spoiler)[that was alot darker/different than I expected... real Romeo and Juliet vibes with everyone dying or being dead at the end...

I pulled up reddit, and they did a better job dissecting the book...

Their takeaway was (view spoiler)[Andrew killed his sister Dove, for getting in the way of his hoped relationship with Thomas... and then repressed the memories... this was hinted at by being unable to find him to tell him of her death right away, in the flashback...

Thomas figured this out, protected Andrew from it... and went on his own killing spree later on in response... killing his abusive parents, Andrews bully, etc etc etc...

Things spiral out of control, and end in double suicide...

Most of the injuries in the book were imagined and/or manifestations of their internal trauma, and this is just chock full of unreliable narration (which is what made it easy for me to miss some of the nuance without some reddit help)...

And of course, some of this could still be wrong, since it's all interpretation and me grabbing info from reddit readers... (hide spoiler)]

I also feel like I've read 3+ books in the past month or so, about dealing with grief... Neverending Story, A Monster Calls, and this... (hide spoiler)]

Apparently, there's an Afterword in the physical editions, that basically says if the book left you frowning at a wall at the end, then you get it... lol... I guess you could say that's why I did an immediate google :D

[Nirkatze]

Reading this today--it's interesting, this, and reading A Monster Calls yesterday, and then Neverending Story a few weeks ago... European school bullying feels really harsh.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Yea... you picked an interesting reading order... I think I read them close together too...

Just checked: I read A Monster Calls on the 5th and Let the Forest In on the 9th

[Nirkatze]

A lot of similarities between the two--(view spoiler)[both do a great job of using a metaphor to describe internal emotional states... feelings that are too big to be contained inside... too violent to be contained... to large and complicated to be represented by mere words... Only way out is... through, in the case of Monster Calls. Or... Out. Permanently, for this book.... (hide spoiler)]

It's interesting how we end up reading books with similar themes in spurts... this happens a few times a year, it seems...

[Nirkatze]

New release: Hazelthorn--for next year. :)

[Paula]

I read it and had no idea what to think. I was debating whether there was magic or not and what really happened so thanks Iain for the explanation from reddit! Unreliable narration is fun but it's so difficult to see what's happening sometimes

[Nirkatze]

Hear hear. An unreliable narrator done well can be wonderful mind-effery.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Agreed...

After She Wrote Him was one of the biggest mind fuck books I ever read... 3 stars... definitely worth the read, don't want to read other stuff like it, lol...

It's the story of an author writing a story about an author writing a story about her writing the story about him writing the story about her writing the story about him writing the story... (see what I did there)... it's very mindbendy... and there's a murder mystery... but it's also a psychological thriller basically...

[Virginie]

I read this earlier this year, and did the same as Iain when I finished... Went directly to reddit to see what others thought actually happened...

I saw a tiktok from the author at some point. They basically say that the book is meant to leave you frowning and unsettled, not knowing what to believe. That whatever interpretation you settle on (there was/wasn't any magic involved) is therefore the correct one.

There's a prequel short story available: https://www.cgdrews.com/blog/prequel-...

(haven't read it yet)

[Nirkatze]

Ooh, thank you for that link!

[Ann-Marie]

I read this and yeah, what was that? I also went looking for theories because I was all wrapped up in the story and not trying to pick apart what was happening as I was reading which is not typical for me and then I was like how did that end??? I did enjoy it and I agree with the generally accepted Reddit theory about the ending.

[Paula]

Thanks Virginie, will check out the short story