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bigbookgeek's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. In typical Campbell fashion, it was very well written, but it went entirely too slow. I think for me Campbell is somebody I enjoy reading short stories from, but a novel is just too long and too slow and it just becomes tedious. The premise of the story was awesome and had some promise but it went so slow that it really just felt like a chore at times.
erineph's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
lamusadelils's review
3.0
Empezó muy bien, con ideas interesantes y mucho potencial. Pero los personajes son molestos y el libro se pone repetitivo. Da la impresión de llevar a algo, algo grande, pero realmente nunca llega.
Hay algunas partes bastante atmosféricas y que por si mismas me gustaron, pero los mismos elementos se repiten una y otra vez y pierden su efecto.
Hay algunas partes bastante atmosféricas y que por si mismas me gustaron, pero los mismos elementos se repiten una y otra vez y pierden su efecto.
arthurbdd's review
5.0
Excellent return to his early Cthulhu Mythos haunts. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2020/10/25/in-the-heart-of-the-wood-and-what-campbell-found-there/
macbean221b's review against another edition
2.0
The plot was ... okay. I live in an extremely rural area and my house is surrounded by woods, and I did most of my reading in the fading daylight hours, so I was effectively creeped the hell out. At one point, I was sitting near a window with frosted glass and a shadow passed it, causing me, quite frankly -- and pardon my French -- to nearly shit myself.
However, there were no characters that I liked, identified with, or remotely cared about, so it didn't matter very much that the book had an interesting premise.
However, there were no characters that I liked, identified with, or remotely cared about, so it didn't matter very much that the book had an interesting premise.
2kimi2furious's review against another edition
1.0
This book had the potential to be good. All of the elements were there. But it was soooooo sloooooow and all of the characters talked exactly the same (if I have to ever read the phrase "I'm sure I know/don't know" again, I'll rip my eyeballs out). Also, you could tell the author thinks he's so clever that every single metaphor or simile was about a tree. It was not subtle at all. Then you get to the end where everything happens, but then at the same time, nothing happens. I should have quit reading after the first 50 pages when I could tell I wasn't going to like the book, but I finished it out of some desperate hope that it would get better. Blah.
crowyhead's review against another edition
5.0
A very dark, atmospheric fantasy. If you like Robert Holdstock's stuff, you may enjoy this -- it explores some of the same themes. Basically, there's this small English wood called Goodmanswood where strange, supernatural things have always happened. The protagonist's father apparently traced these "supernatural" happenings to a kind of hallucinogenic lichen, only to apparently fall prey to the madness it causes. Now Heather (the protagonist) is beginning to suspect that her son, sister, and mother may be falling prey to the same madness, and other people from the village have been "seeing things" as well. It's marvelous, and probably not something to read before you go camping.
aksel_dadswell's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure how I feel about this book.
On a technical level it's something close to a masterpiece, the horror's slow ooze engulfing the reader with glacial deliberation. The prose is a kind of vernacular poetry unto itself; Campbell plays with sentence structure and character interaction in some really clever and illusive ways. This kept me on edge the whole way through, not necessarily because of the narrative's momentum, but because the prose has this delicate intricacy to it that punishes even the slightest lapse of attention. The way Campbell draws the woods as the novel's dynamic nucleus and builds the atmosphere is wonderful, and the hints of hallucinatory weirdness are deft and restrained.
On the other hand, I'm not sure how well this all works within the broader context of the book. The whole thing consists of characters talking in this beautiful rhythm to each other. Their world is so tiny, and I get that this insular, almost claustrophobic feel is kind of the point, but what I didn't so much enjoy was being stuck with this cast of characters, none of whom I ever really came to like or feel close to. Because they all mostly talk the same way, it felt like I was listening to a group of people sharing a private joke: it's fascinating and I want to know more, but they won't let me in. I felt held at arm's length the whole time.
The ending felt like both a letdown and a promise, a missed opportunity that didn't build the kind of character-breaking tension or stakes to the extent it could have, or even to the extend that just got my blood racing. Having said that, the last few lines are powerful and playful and just awesome, so it redeems itself there for sure.
There's no doubt I enjoyed The Darkest Part of the Woods. There's no doubt it's a well written and crafted book. This was my first Ramsey Campbell, and I'd definitely go back for more after this, but it felt to me like there was some small thing missing here, something flat that needed a little contouring, a jagged edge.
On a technical level it's something close to a masterpiece, the horror's slow ooze engulfing the reader with glacial deliberation. The prose is a kind of vernacular poetry unto itself; Campbell plays with sentence structure and character interaction in some really clever and illusive ways. This kept me on edge the whole way through, not necessarily because of the narrative's momentum, but because the prose has this delicate intricacy to it that punishes even the slightest lapse of attention. The way Campbell draws the woods as the novel's dynamic nucleus and builds the atmosphere is wonderful, and the hints of hallucinatory weirdness are deft and restrained.
On the other hand, I'm not sure how well this all works within the broader context of the book. The whole thing consists of characters talking in this beautiful rhythm to each other. Their world is so tiny, and I get that this insular, almost claustrophobic feel is kind of the point, but what I didn't so much enjoy was being stuck with this cast of characters, none of whom I ever really came to like or feel close to. Because they all mostly talk the same way, it felt like I was listening to a group of people sharing a private joke: it's fascinating and I want to know more, but they won't let me in. I felt held at arm's length the whole time.
The ending felt like both a letdown and a promise, a missed opportunity that didn't build the kind of character-breaking tension or stakes to the extent it could have, or even to the extend that just got my blood racing. Having said that, the last few lines are powerful and playful and just awesome, so it redeems itself there for sure.
There's no doubt I enjoyed The Darkest Part of the Woods. There's no doubt it's a well written and crafted book. This was my first Ramsey Campbell, and I'd definitely go back for more after this, but it felt to me like there was some small thing missing here, something flat that needed a little contouring, a jagged edge.
borrowedbooks's review against another edition
1.0
It's too long, which diminished the suspense and makes it a really slow read.