3-3.5 ⭐️

Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the copy of this ALC!

After the Woods is the story of what life might have been like for Hansel and Gretel years after they encountered the witch. It also has elements from other fairytales, such as Snow White, and centers around dark magic in a forest and a witch’s grimoire that leads Greta to make magical gingerbread.

I struggled to get into this book for the first half. It has a slow pace and a LOT of details and characters. Given the familiarity of the fairytales, I didn’t expect to be asking myself who some characters were almost halfway through the book. The second half definitely picked up with some action and more plot points, and I did really enjoy that half, so I’m glad I didn’t DNF. Overall, it meets somewhere in the middle for me - I liked it and think there’s a good reader base for it.