A Forest, Darkly

I have read most, if not all, the published books in A. G. Slatter’s Sourdough Universe, and A Forest, Darkly is my favorite so far.

As a cranky middle-aged lady with witchy tendencies of my own, I felt a kinship with Mehrab, and her honesty (with us, at least, through the first-person narration) about her negative as well as positive traits made her likable (probably against her will).

Mehrab hints at a dark, glorious past, but our time with her is spent in her small cottage on the edge of a forest near a small village where the townsfolk at once fear her and rely upon her for not only tinctures and teas but also serious healing as Mehrab can draw upon her power to actually knit together muscle, bone, and blood vessels.

Her relatively peaceful existence is interrupted by a myriad of events, some related and some seemingly coincidental, but all of which lead to upending her home and life, from a sinister something stalking her to a young refugee witch to a reunion with an old lover, nothing will be the same again.

There is so much in this book that I loved: Mehrab’s professed disdain for other people (balanced by her kindness - which she would never admit to - in healing and caring for them), myths around green men (and women) and other forest beings, changelings and doppelgängers, and, perhaps most importantly and the only slight spoiler I will spoil, the dog does not die.

I also like how Slatter slows down the pace sometimes and, in Mehrab’s voice, ponders big questions or shares stories and legends. She has done similar things in her previous works, to varying degrees of success, but it was a perfect balance in A Forest, Darkly.

She also left this wide open for us to hear not only the next chapter but perhaps some past chapters in Mehrab’s life, and I am ready for all of it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for the review copy for my unbiased opinion.