Status Updates From A Forest, Darkly

Slatter gives us an fmc who isn’t 19, fresh-faced and naive. She’s in her fifties, raging through menopausal hot flashes and none too pleased with the effects of gravity on her aging form. I love that Mehrab realistically shows us resentment of her own aging, jealousy of youthful beauty (Rhea), and pettiness. But she is self-aware and reminds herself (and readers) not to let these emotions rule her.

I love you, gothic fairytales. I love you, witch in the woods. I love you, menopausal fmc who is not even close to through with her adventure. I love you, female found family. I love you, complex nuanced characters with irredeemable human (and not-so-human) flaws. I love you, open ending.

“How boys grow into fathers who think they must tell their sons that softness is weakness, even though they miss it like a limb. Instead of saying, ‘I’ll not do what was done to me, I did not like it’ they repeat [..] that awful cutting of heart from soul on their own sons.”

Mehrab, girl, the blacksmith you’re fucking literally wandered into the village one night all busted with no memory of his previous life… cannot possibly be unrelated

I tried to read this to go to sleep last night but I got scared and had to unwind with dog videos on my phone

Y’all… shit is hitting the fan fr

I was wondering if Mehrab had considered that her pregnancies from Faolan miscarried, as well… so it may be a *her* thing, not a *tree baby* thing

“A child who became a murderer rather than a victim- and that’s a heavy burden, for women are taught to be victims first.”

“I offer no chains, I will take whatever crumb you’re prepared to give.”

“… a thing that’s as much a prayer as a spell (I’ve never been entirely sure of the difference between the two).”