Book Review | Dark Woods, Deep Water

I’ll preface this by saying I truly wanted to love Dark Woods, Deep Water by Jelena Dunato. My family is Slovakian and rarely do I get to read fantasy featuring Slavic folklore—let alone the goddess Morana, so you can imagine how disappointed I was to find out how poorly structured the story was.

The story is so focused on establishing each of the main characters’ backstories that it bogs down the pacing and it takes half of the book to even get to the castle mentioned in the blurb. Then the second half proceeds to go at breakneck speed without taking the time to build up suspense and dread.

This felt like such a missed opportunity to me!

Maybe it’s because I’m so used to reading gothic fiction, but, for me, the story would have been more compelling if we had reached the castle within the first third before gradually learning more about the characters and the castle’s true sinister nature.

On top of that, the worldbuilding felt thread-bare to me—especially for a fantasy set in a secondary world. We get vague mentions of a university and that the character Elisya might be descended from rusalka, but, other than that, we don’t get a clear idea of the world, its history, or customs and I wish that had been fleshed out more in order to better immerse readers.

Overall, the story unfortunately suffers from serious pacing issues and could have spent longer in developmental editing.

Thank you, NetGalley and Ghost Orchid Press, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Details:

Publication Date : September 22, 2023

Publisher : Ghost Orchid Press

ISBN: 1739234839

Pages : 321

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