Humboldt Cut

There were a few times when this book branched in unexpected directions.

The creature feature was so unsettling at the beginning, and my shock was visceral when the first tree fell, it was described so well. This prologue alone made me think I had a new favourite on my hands.

But these opening scenes set my expectations a touch too high and while I enjoyed the book immensely, it lost some of that sharpness it held in the beginning.

The creatures, reminiscent of the aliens in Signs darting across the street, kind of lost their oomph as the book spent more time explaining how and why they existed. The Redwood forest was an immense, immortal figure and turning California into an eerie haunted wood was an element I really enjoyed.

I wish we spent more time in the woods with the siblings but I also can appreciate the significance of the historical aspect and the examination of generational trauma. And I must confess, I did not expect it to end quite the way it did.

It was an eco-horror that speaks aloud the revenge our world forest wish it could.