Review: The Girl in Red by Christina Henry @titanbooks

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Synopsis:

It’s not safe for anyone alone in the woods. There are predators that come out at night: critters and coyotes, snakes and wolves. But the woman in the red jacket has no choice. Not since the Crisis came, decimated the population, and sent those who survived fleeing into quarantine camps that serve as breeding grounds for death, destruction, and disease. She is just a woman trying not to get killed in a world that doesn’t look anything like the one she grew up in, the one that was perfectly sane and normal and boring until three months ago.

There are worse threats in the woods than the things that stalk their prey at night. Sometimes, there are men. Men with dark desires, weak wills, and evil intents. Men in uniform with classified information, deadly secrets, and unforgiving orders. And sometimes, just sometimes, there’s something worse than all of the horrible people and vicious beasts combined.

Red doesn’t like to think of herself as a killer, but she isn’t about to let herself get eaten up just because she is a woman alone in the woods…

Review:

I really enjoyed this fantasy retelling of Red Riding Hood where the big bad wolf was the human race. I don’t read many post-apocalyptic books, but I always enjoy them when I do and this one was no exception.

This novel starts out with a brilliant introduction scene. Lonely, I-take-no-fucks kinda girl, sleazy, disgusting man, violence and blood. Perfect. It really set up this book to be an exciting and fast-paced story! While this book is quick and an adventure to read, there are also very poignant and emotional scenes that break up the story nicely.

There was a whole lot of tension in this novel which I really enjoyed sitting through, though sometimes I wish things had ended in a little more blood and guts than they did. One thing that was great about this book was the variety of character and the diversity throughout. Sometimes it’s nice to read a diverse book that’s plot isn’t just the fact that it’s about diversity. Henry was inclusive while still writing a story all about survival and strong female characters.

I didn’t realise this was a fantasy book before going into it, I just thought it was going to be about the post-apocalyptic world so when some of the fantasy elements began popping up, I wasn’t so sure how I was going to feel about the story. Luckily, this didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the book! I did, however, think the ending as a whole was a bit… meh. To me, it felt a little rushed and not very well concluded. It almost felt as though there could have been a book 2, or at least a couple hundred more pages!

Overall, I liked this book and I am definitely interested in reading more of Henry’s work! Despite this being a horror/thriller, it still felt like a book slightly out of my comfort zone and I always find it fun to push myself to read something different!

Thanks to Titan Books for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.