A review by juliajjshields
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

3.25

I am…perplexed. I was thoroughly enjoying this and here for the build up I thought was really going somewhere just to think ...that’s it? AH sorry I said it! I will stand by the fact that this was truly enthralling and Moore’s writing is so strong which made it enjoyable. Plus the setting, characters, and multiple povs were solid—though at times I had to go back and reorient myself. buT so so much build up for an ending I personally found dull? I don’t know I feel conflicted because did I expect it to be mummy ? Naur! I didn’t! It was heartbreaking considering how distraught and fucked up she had become…with everything she had been through and this new context? Oof. Horrible and tragic truly. 
 
However the Barbara plot and ending just let me down? Im glad she’s alive but Im just…confused. It felt like we were trying to see how these two stories came together just for one to end up taking precedent over the other (Bear) and the other (Barbara) being solved so quickly it lost me. Was that not the focus? Like I thought we were trying to find Barbara while unveiling these elements of Bear that were going to relate to one another? And they didn’t??? At all even in the slightest just full left field…sure you can claim the Hewitt’s are trying to save Barbara from her family when they couldn’t save Bear, the family being the true evil blah blah but again, not really a thriller. Finished this earlier today and spent my hours in the car thinking about it and still just as unsatisfactory to me.