{"id":494,"date":"2026-05-04T14:32:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T03:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/?p=494"},"modified":"2026-04-01T14:35:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T03:35:47","slug":"book-review-a-forest-darkly-by-ag-slatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/2026\/05\/04\/book-review-a-forest-darkly-by-ag-slatter\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: A Forest, Darkly by AG Slatter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AG Slatter\u2019s A Forest, Darkly<\/em> is a story of the complicated relationships of caregivers and those they care for, the pushing and pulling away of loved ones trying their best, and the mistakes they make and try to amend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mehrab is a witch living a secluded life deep in the forest, helping the nearby villagers as needed, but otherwise content with her solitary life and her various regrets. One day a young witch on the run arrives on her doorstep, and she unexpectedly finds herself with others to care for. But something terrible is stalking the forest, children from the village are going missing, and Mehrab must find a way to fight a force ancient and strange that plays by its own rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slatter has created a deeply complicated and endearing protagonist, one who is constantly battling her own demons, but also deeply empathetic. Mehrab is always trying to be a better person for those she loves and continually helps those who need it whether they deserve it or not. Set against the backdrop of a great, dark forest filled with malevolent gods and creatures, A Forest, Darkly<\/em> is about the shades around good and bad, the tensions and clashes between what we want, what we need, and what others need from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In classic Slatter style, this latest addition to her Sourdough universe is a deep, rich, complicated story that plays by the rules of fairytales and witches, of women driven to desperation and then banding together to keep body, soul and family as one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perfect for lovers of dark fairytales, morally grey heroines, and characters trying their best for the ones they love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This review first appeared in\u00a0Aurealis magazine<\/a>, issue #187.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AG Slatter\u2019s A Forest, Darkly is a story of the complicated relationships of caregivers and those they care for, the pushing and pulling away of … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[462,131,248,54,464,44],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","tag-ag-slatter","tag-angela-slatter","tag-aurealis","tag-australian-author","tag-dark-fairytale","tag-dark-fantasy","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions\/496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oddfeather.co\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}