Michael Barnes
Hazelthorn is C.G. Drews’ return to the horror genre, after 'Don’t Let the Forest In', which is on my TBR list but this one showed up available in my local library first and I has convinced me to make the effort to track down their earlier novel of the genre I think is called botanical horror (reminds me T. Kingfisher's 'What moves the dead', 'A House with Good Bones' by T. Kingfisher and 'Where the darkness blooms' by Andrea Hannah.
Esmay Rosalyne at Grimdark Magazine sums it thus "It’s a hauntingly tragic tale of an orphan teen with missing memories who inherits a crumbling gothic manor with a carnivorous garden and has to solve a murder mystery together with his ex-best friend who tried to murder him seven years ago".
But its C.G.Crews gorgeous writing style that sets this book apart, their voice comes through as atmospheric and dreamlike with hauntingly beautiful imagery. There are also illustrations of the plants that Evander reads about in the Hazelthorn field guide that are interwoven throughout the story.
But for me it was the focus of the young man (seventeen) Evander's autistic rage, and about being treated like a monster for acting autistic, and about being told that your view of the world is ‘wrong’. It includes anxiety and meltdowns and spirals and sensory issues, and a lot of the horror in the book doubles as a metaphor for what autistics go through. His intoxicating dynamic with Laurie, who is a beautifully complicated mess of a character in his own right. This inexplicable queer yearning is absolutely delicious, and the way that Drews captures Evander’s toxic obsession with Laurie is a highlight of the book.
Hazelthorn is C.G. Drews’ return to the horror genre, after 'Don’t Let the Forest In', which is on my TBR list but this one showed up available in my local library first and I has convinced me to make the effort to track down their earlier novel of the genre I think is called botanical horror (reminds me T. Kingfisher's 'What moves the dead', 'A House with Good Bones' by T. Kingfisher and 'Where the darkness blooms' by Andrea Hannah.
Esmay Rosalyne at Grimdark Magazine sums it thus "It’s a hauntingly tragic tale of an orphan teen with missing memories who inherits a crumbling gothic manor with a carnivorous garden and has to solve a murder mystery together with his ex-best friend who tried to murder him seven years ago".
But its C.G.Crews gorgeous writing style that sets this book apart, their voice comes through as atmospheric and dreamlike with hauntingly beautiful imagery. There are also illustrations of the plants that Evander reads about in the Hazelthorn field guide that are interwoven throughout the story.
But for me it was the focus of the young man (seventeen) Evander's autistic rage, and about being treated like a monster for acting autistic, and about being told that your view of the world is ‘wrong’. It includes anxiety and meltdowns and spirals and sensory issues, and a lot of the horror in the book doubles as a metaphor for what autistics go through. His intoxicating dynamic with Laurie, who is a beautifully complicated mess of a character in his own right. This inexplicable queer yearning is absolutely delicious, and the way that Drews captures Evander’s toxic obsession with Laurie is a highlight of the book.