5 YA Forests That Might Eat You Alive

Wilder Girls, by Rory Power
Annihilation meets Sawkill Girls in Rory Power’s terrifying debut. When highly contagious disease the Tox hits the Raxter School for Girls, the Navy puts them under quarantine—and eighteen months later, Hetty’s life is unrecognizable. The teachers are dead, the students are changing, and the survivors’ connection with the outside world is gone. When Hetty’s best friend, Byatt, goes missing, she’s willing to break the few rules left at school to get her back…even if it means entering the horror-filled woods beyond the school’s walls. Full of complicated and wonderful monster girls, this fast-paced sci-fi thriller releases July 9 and is absolutely unputdownable.

The Waking Forest, by Alyssa Wees
In every dark fairy tale, there’s a witch in the woods. But these woods have a mind of their own. When they appear at the edge of Rhea’s backyard, a brief vision of something more magical, she’s desperate to know more. But the Witch inside the woods, waiting on her throne of carved bone, does not want Rhea to enter the woods—for when their paths collide, it will change everything about the world as they understand it. Out this week, The Waking Forest is the sort of dark fairy tale that’s perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood.

Through the Woods, by Emily Carroll
Want a beautifully illustrated graphic novel that delves deep into fairy tales gone wrong? Then you want Through the Woods, Emily Carroll’s 2014 collection of creepy comics. Through the Woods includes five stories: “Our Neighbor’s House,” “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold,” “My Friend Janna,” “The Nesting Place,” and the original webcomic sensation “His Face All Red.” Each imagines a fairy tale gone wrong, and each setting—from spooky woods to terrifying houses, all with secrets of their own—will linger with you long after you put down the book.

Enchantment of Ravens, by Margaret Rogerson
The woods of the feylands will change you if you’re not careful. Isobel is a painter whose Craft is highly sought after by the feyfolk in the lands beyond—but when she paints mortal sorrow into the autumn prince’s eyes, she’s dragged into their world to be put on trial. But autumn prince Rook holds secrets of his own, and when they step into the feylands, his secrets—and Isobel’s painting prowess—could upend the entire magical world. The forest in Rogerson’s debut changes those who enter it, either by turning humans to fey or by morphing the creatures within it to deadly, terrifying beasts who will consume you whole—and, really, I’m not sure which fate is worse. The book, however, is an absolute delight, a must-read for any fan of fantasy YA.

The Beast is an Animal, by Peternelle van Arsdale
Soul eaters, Beasts, and a forest at the edge of a small town—if Peternelle van Arsdale’s debut sounds like a dark reimagining of fairy tales from Grimm, like something out of “Beauty and the Beast,” that’s because it’s heavily inspired by that kind of setting. This minimalistic worldbuilding means that your own mind fills in the gaps as to how the forest can and will change you. Alys thinks it will change her for the better. She thinks the forest, and the Beast living within it, will offer her freedom from her small village, which fears the soul eaters: two twin girls who grew into something not quite human. But when disaster strikes, Alys’s connection to the soul eaters—and her own secrets—call her to enter the darkest parts of the forest.