The Drowned Woods

The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones is a heist story set in a fantasy world based on Welsh mythology. A former spy master tries to form a group to topple the regime of the evil prince (and as a side effect getting very rich) through an impossible quest no one managed to do before. But he has someone who can defy those odds: the last water diviner left: Mer, who has been personally victimized by the evil prince and has gone into hiding. Forced out of hiding, she agrees to this quest, and so do a few others. We mostly have three POVs, those of Mer, Fane who has made an unfortunate deal with the Otherfolk and has this cute corgi which is the best character to be honest. And Ifanna, princess of thieves, who shares a history with Mer. There is bisexual rep and Ifanna’s mothers are a queer couple.

I absolutely loved the prologue, and was very intruiged in the beginning. However, after a while the pacing felt a bit off, the build up to the actual heist took way too long. And normally I wouldn’t mind if it meant more character development, but that wasn’t the case for me. Yes, there were some cool revelations and you get to know them a bit better – but only a bit, as they stayed one dimensional for me. And they could have been epic with those amazing back stories! The heist itself fell a bit flat for me, though the water horses are terrifying, it feels like it built up to something big but it didn’t deliver, it was too “easy”, even with the plot twist. The last part was a bit different from the original story, and for me it was really where the characters shone and showed how much they evolved during the book. The confrontation with the villain was underwhelming, but the rest of the last part I really liked and I loved the ending.

All in all, I liked the story, but for me it didn't really stand out. I wished there had been the decision to either flesh out the characters more or totally focus on the plot and action. There are some amazing aspects (again, the corgi), and I loved the character development, but I have to give this 3,5 stars. I think many people will absolutely love this book, I already know quite a few who I’m gonna recommend this one to. I know this sounds strange but I really think it has the vibes of The Aurora Cycle. To Best The Boys and Shatter the Sky feel a bit similar in my mind, too, though none of those has a heist.

I received a free e-arc from the publisher through Netgalley, but my opinions are my own.