What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra
On her eighteenth birthday, Hayden inherits her childhood home—on the condition that she uncover its dark secrets.
Hayden tried to put the past behind her, and it worked. She’s getting ready for college, living in a Brooklyn apartment, and hanging out with her best friend and roommate Del. But now it’s all catching up with her: her mother’s mysterious disappearance a decade before, her father’s outlandish theories about a lost supernatural race, and Hayden’s own dark dreams of strange symbols and rituals in the Colorado woods where she grew up.
As soon as Hayden arrives at her hometown, her friend Del in tow, it begins: Neighbors whisper secrets about Hayden’s mother; the boy next door is now all grown-up in a very distracting way; and Hayden feels the trees calling to her. And among them, deep in the woods, Hayden will discover something incredible—something that threatens reality itself.
Rating:
This is one of those I preordered and then just wasn’t in the mood to read (isn’t it just a gorgeous cover?). So it suddenly felt right to read it after a few other recent reads and it was mostly read in the bath or during my lunchtime.
What the Woods Keep is an easy read book in regards to writing style. It has some “insert” pages with notes and extra parts of information. Also, Hayden has a very scientifi and logical mind so she starts almost every chapter with some kind of knowledge to compare to what is either happening or to come. I found this confusing in the beginning but afterwards was looking forward to see what would come next as tidbit of info.
This is one of those books where you can’t question mcuh how true it can be, for example the financial/economical side of it because it just doesn’t make sense or even seem to matter.
But the setting of Promise, the odd research into Nibelungs, and Del do a good job to keep you reading. It was a fun read in a slightly weird magical realism but a bit more than that kind of way with lots of creepy added for good measure. But none too creepy to like make your skin crawl and go “too mcuh” (or it didn’t feel like it to me).
My biggest complaint was that I got to the final page and thought there was a sequel but there doesn’t seem to be one at all. I need to know more!
If you want a slightly germanic inspired YA fantasy/magical realism with some myths in it, but that isn’t too serious this is a nice quick read for an overwhelmed mind.