Thank you for saying that the fae magical woods is its own separate genre! Because it totally is; I love a good mystical woods setting, but am not here for the fae storylines, even though I know a ton of people love those. I think my love for it started with books like the Tamora Pierce Wild Magic series, Lord of the Rings, and definitely the Patricia C Wrede Enchanted Forest series.
Sadiya yes I almost included that but since it wasn’t really about the woods and more about the group doing the bad things, I thought it didn’t quite fit
Echo North has a magical forest where something's wrong. The Girl Who Drank the Moon has a definite forest vibe. And if you want to shake things up a bit with some nonfiction, but learn some rather interesting and vaguely disturbing things about the way an actual forest communicates with itself, The Hidden Life of Trees is a book that will make you wonder what the trees are telling each other about you when you walk through them. :)
I always wonder if mystical woods are the fantasy analogue of cyberspace. At least extra-dimensional exploitation. Like a point traveling to a line; the line traveling to the plane; the plane traveling to the cube; the cube traveling to the tesseract.
im reading ACOTAR for the first time, and nobody told me about the magical woods and creatures in the woods. All you hear about it is the smut. I would have read it way sooner had I known about. i was thoroughly surprised at how much has taken place in the woods (so far)
Pretty sure my love for magical woods began with the Hobbit's Mirkwood and LOTR Fangorn forest and the Old Forest. Hazel Wood was good but I felt like it did not have enough woods for me, certainly not for the book name. Magi'i of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt Jr has a pretty cool magically corrupted forest for a significant portion of the book.
This is in Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge! There's also some dark magic involved, so it sort of takes possession of people and turns them into mercenaries. I really enjoyed the way it sort of parallels a sick world, so not only do the characters have to venture into the forest; they have to solve the darkness that caused it to be this way. It was the very first book I thought of.
You will like We Hunt the Flame even more then because it is a Forest that is slowly growing larger and larger (because of magic) and is about to engulf the neighboring town. You don;t see much of it, which I wish there was more. But it is there and does play an important part in the decision making of the main character.
Mmmmm yes. Woods, even non sentient ones, like literally just a normal forest with nothing going on in it will significantly increase my enjoyment of any book I read. Oh my god i think this video just singlehandedly pulled me out of my reading slump haha
I think you'd love What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine. It's got the magical forest AND the beware the forest. And some other tropes I think you'd enjoy, but I don't want to spoil. Highly recommend the audio, my 2 favorite narrators perform it and their voices are honestly magic.
My first thought when I saw the title was The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth. It doesn’t have the dangerous/corrupted forest, but there is a world (that’s basically Narnia) called The Woodlands. The book is basically a retelling of Narnia and mostly takes place in our world focusing on mental health, but one of the characters is desperate to get back to The Woodlands. There are also beings that are basically made out of leaves, and each one’s life is tied to a particular tree. So it’s not /exactly/ this trope, but it’s one of my new favorite books and I had to mention it.
A Million Junes by Emily Henry sort of has a magical forest. It’s not the entire plot of the book but it’s definitely there. The rest of the book is a little more contemporary with some magical realism elements.
I am also a love of magical woods especially when there are dark things in there or they have a "mind" of their own. Also, your nails matched the Devouring Gray cover so much!
I just started reading Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge, which already has some creepy nature corruption going on that really reminded me of Uprooted, and it's Little Red Riding Hood inspired, so lots of spooky woods happening! I'm only a couple chapters in, but so far I would recommend it : )
Ugh love the woods. Also, I got that perfume (the commodity one) you mentioned I think it was in the facts about me. I am so I’m freakin love. Makes me think I need to go on a hike in the rainy wood area and find a mysterious creature 😂
I'm listening to you name several of these books and realize they are all my favorites. So obviously I'm going to read all the ones I haven't now!! This is such an awesome trope. Even the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter was one of my favorite parts of the story. It was full of interesting and scary stuff.
Same girl! Magical forests get me every time. I'm getting all the feels just watching this video. I kind of want to reread Uprooted now! For me, it comes from my deep love of fairy tales and folklore from an early childhood. I grew up in Romania, so Eastern Europe and as you said, it's something that features a lot in Easter European folklore. So I just feel like it's a part of my soul.
The Wild in The Deathless by Peter Newman is my favourite. I'm currently reading the second book, The Ruthless, and just love it even more. Also floating castles and armour made of crystals, what's not to love.
The Karavans series by Jennifer Roberson has the creepy magical woods that is dangerous because it has it own magic that influences people who enter it. Along with creepy magical creatures.
This is one of my favorite (highly specific) tropes of all time. I read and loved all of the books you mentioned, except for Uprooted, but seeing it mentioned together with some of these others has me very interested in picking it up.
Yes!!! As soon as I saw this video, I thought of Uprooted - it’s so good! I’ll have to check out some of these other ones. The Hazel Wood sounds particularly interesting.
This is also my all time favourite trope/genre and I just realized that I too have not read that much of it?? This needs to be rectified immediately, the comments section of this video has been a big help. The only one I can think of that kind of fits this theme is And The Trees Crept In by by Dawn Kurtagich, which was a brilliant YA horror novel until the ending absolutely ruined it. But the first 80% is spooky, house set in the woods, evil forest goodness
The only book I can think of that you didn't mention is a middlegrade called The Thickety! It's very strange but the forest aka the Thickety with a capital T is a major character, hence the name.
Yessss I’ve been waiting for this! It’s one of the top things I associate you with. I’ve recently read two books that definitely fall more towards the beware side, and those are The Wilder Girls and Strange Grace. I think you might like Strange Grace, but I really loved the horror aspect of Wilder Girls myself
You should read The Darkest Part of the Forest, I loved it 😁. The forest is not alive but there's something about its wildness that was amazing, especially since the female character slays the monsters with her sword. I loved Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale too! Devouring Gray is on my tbr 🙈
I know you get The Queen of Blood recommended to you a lot for the malicious nature spirits in the woods stuff, but I'm going to say it here because it doesn't look like anyone else has yet. I'm personally very curious about Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh, which is a new Tor Dot Com novella that looks like it's all about the Green Man mythos. Hoping it turns out to be good whenever I get around to it!
Peternelle van Arsdale’s books both have dark forests. Especially ‘The Beast Is An Animal.’ Her books have a very unique vibe to them and I’m interested to read more from her. They’re like dark fairytales plus creepy forests and creatures plus Salem Witch hunt style oppressions that the female characters have to overcome.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames has a big ol spooky woods that plays a huge part of the book! The book itself is imperfect but by god does it have heart. Made me laugh and cry and I can’t recommend it enough.
You should check out Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski. It's more horror fantasy with the forest becoming dark and dangerous as night falls. It's one of my favorites!
If I'm remembering correctly, you don't usually fuck with horror, but you might still like And the Trees Crept in by Dawn Kurtagich. The trees literally move closer to this house that's isolated in the middle of the woods. I didn't find it straight up scary so much as unsettling, so you might be okay.
such a good trope omg. sentient forests are the best forests. the only book i can think of that you didn't mention is darkling by brooklyn ray, but that's only if you're open to paranormal new adult romance. it's about queer witches tho and i enjoyed it!
Okay so it's NOT the same thing but I have just finished reading Le Guin's 'The Word for World is Forest' and I am feeling this whole vibe. Luckily I have Uprooted on its way to me in the post already!
Hey Sam, thanks for the awesome video❤ have you tried the reckless series by Cornelia Funke? Although forests are not the main focus in the books, trees become more and more relevant throughout the story. Lots of love from Southern Germany 😘
The spellbook of the lost and found is a queer, mostly women centred book where the woods play a role in the magic and the creep factor. It isn’t horror so it shouldn’t be to scary, but there is mentions of assault but nothing explicit. It is fabulous
The green rider series has a magical corrupted wood that they are trying to sort out, but man that series is 6 books and counting and hasnt gotten anything resolved. I used to highly recommend but the series but the last 2 books went nowhere and we waited so long for them
Honestly I would willingly go hang out in the woods regardless of hazards, if not for most forested areas around being govt or private / corporate property. Also bugs.
If you like moss and rotten wood you should try It Lives in The Woods from book from the app called Choices. It has a lot of those kind of creatures in there.
I have weird tree phobia or something so that trope always manages to scare me, I had a hard time reading Uprooted because of it but I did read quite a few books with magical scary wood but even a middle grade Rick Riordan book that contained this trope scared me like it wasn't supposed to do that
Terah Stephens I didn’t feel it counted for this specific trope because it was more in line with the fae stories I didn’t include and was more about the Staryk Road than the woods.
I'm so sad there are no real Magical Woods. Maybe someday I'll stumble upon them and then keep them secret even though it would benefit my character to tell someone where I was, and then I'll inevitably get lost and transported to a magic realm. I mean, maybe one day.
*Me as soon as I saw the video title*
UPROOTED! UPROOTED!!!!! UPROOTED!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for saying that the fae magical woods is its own separate genre! Because it totally is; I love a good mystical woods setting, but am not here for the fae storylines, even though I know a ton of people love those. I think my love for it started with books like the Tamora Pierce Wild Magic series, Lord of the Rings, and definitely the Patricia C Wrede Enchanted Forest series.
The beware of the wood vibe was also in the beginning of The Name of the Wind...although we didn't get a lot of that
Sadiya yes I almost included that but since it wasn’t really about the woods and more about the group doing the bad things, I thought it didn’t quite fit
Echo North has a magical forest where something's wrong. The Girl Who Drank the Moon has a definite forest vibe. And if you want to shake things up a bit with some nonfiction, but learn some rather interesting and vaguely disturbing things about the way an actual forest communicates with itself, The Hidden Life of Trees is a book that will make you wonder what the trees are telling each other about you when you walk through them. :)
I always wonder if mystical woods are the fantasy analogue of cyberspace. At least extra-dimensional exploitation. Like a point traveling to a line; the line traveling to the plane; the plane traveling to the cube; the cube traveling to the tesseract.
I love that your end card coincidentally matched with your video theme
Ronja Aarebrot Grav forests are my whole aesthetic
im reading ACOTAR for the first time, and nobody told me about the magical woods and creatures in the woods. All you hear about it is the smut. I would have read it way sooner had I known about. i was thoroughly surprised at how much has taken place in the woods (so far)
Strange grace by Tessa Gratton has the dark magical forest
Pretty sure my love for magical woods began with the Hobbit's Mirkwood and LOTR Fangorn forest and the Old Forest.
Hazel Wood was good but I felt like it did not have enough woods for me, certainly not for the book name.
Magi'i of Cyador by L. E. Modesitt Jr has a pretty cool magically corrupted forest for a significant portion of the book.
Rebecca Carman oooh thanks for the recommendation!
There’s a bit of this in We Hunt the Flame but I wish it was more because it’s one of my favorite tropes too
Reads with Rachel ooooooh good to know!
The Bear and The Nightengale series is amazing! It's one of the few series that gets better as it goes on.
This is in Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge! There's also some dark magic involved, so it sort of takes possession of people and turns them into mercenaries. I really enjoyed the way it sort of parallels a sick world, so not only do the characters have to venture into the forest; they have to solve the darkness that caused it to be this way. It was the very first book I thought of.
Strange Grace and the Lost Coast both have magical/creepy woods. They are both amazing
I liked the wood by Chelsea Bobulski! It's about a magical wood and the family who patrols it. The MC's dad goes missing and the wood is poisoned.
You will like We Hunt the Flame even more then because it is a Forest that is slowly growing larger and larger (because of magic) and is about to engulf the neighboring town. You don;t see much of it, which I wish there was more. But it is there and does play an important part in the decision making of the main character.
Mmmmm yes. Woods, even non sentient ones, like literally just a normal forest with nothing going on in it will significantly increase my enjoyment of any book I read. Oh my god i think this video just singlehandedly pulled me out of my reading slump haha
I think you'd love What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine. It's got the magical forest AND the beware the forest. And some other tropes I think you'd enjoy, but I don't want to spoil. Highly recommend the audio, my 2 favorite narrators perform it and their voices are honestly magic.
My first thought when I saw the title was The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth. It doesn’t have the dangerous/corrupted forest, but there is a world (that’s basically Narnia) called The Woodlands. The book is basically a retelling of Narnia and mostly takes place in our world focusing on mental health, but one of the characters is desperate to get back to The Woodlands. There are also beings that are basically made out of leaves, and each one’s life is tied to a particular tree.
So it’s not /exactly/ this trope, but it’s one of my new favorite books and I had to mention it.
A Million Junes by Emily Henry sort of has a magical forest. It’s not the entire plot of the book but it’s definitely there. The rest of the book is a little more contemporary with some magical realism elements.
I am also a love of magical woods especially when there are dark things in there or they have a "mind" of their own. Also, your nails matched the Devouring Gray cover so much!
I just started reading Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge, which already has some creepy nature corruption going on that really reminded me of Uprooted, and it's Little Red Riding Hood inspired, so lots of spooky woods happening! I'm only a couple chapters in, but so far I would recommend it : )
This video speaks to me. I love love LOVE the magical forest trope.
Ugh love the woods. Also, I got that perfume (the commodity one) you mentioned I think it was in the facts about me. I am so I’m freakin love. Makes me think I need to go on a hike in the rainy wood area and find a mysterious creature 😂
keneath galyon OMG RIGHT ITS SO GOOD
I'm listening to you name several of these books and realize they are all my favorites. So obviously I'm going to read all the ones I haven't now!! This is such an awesome trope. Even the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter was one of my favorite parts of the story. It was full of interesting and scary stuff.
yes omg so classic why can't we have some more stories about what goes on in the Forbidden Forest??
My absolute favourite trope ugh 😍
Same girl! Magical forests get me every time. I'm getting all the feels just watching this video. I kind of want to reread Uprooted now!
For me, it comes from my deep love of fairy tales and folklore from an early childhood. I grew up in Romania, so Eastern Europe and as you said, it's something that features a lot in Easter European folklore. So I just feel like it's a part of my soul.
The Wild in The Deathless by Peter Newman is my favourite. I'm currently reading the second book, The Ruthless, and just love it even more. Also floating castles and armour made of crystals, what's not to love.
The Karavans series by Jennifer Roberson has the creepy magical woods that is dangerous because it has it own magic that influences people who enter it. Along with creepy magical creatures.
Have you read Strange Grace!? I think you’d like it, it has a forest trope.
This is one of my favorite (highly specific) tropes of all time. I read and loved all of the books you mentioned, except for Uprooted, but seeing it mentioned together with some of these others has me very interested in picking it up.
I feel like an ember in the ashes #3 and a crown of wishes seems like they fit this too
Yes!!! As soon as I saw this video, I thought of Uprooted - it’s so good! I’ll have to check out some of these other ones. The Hazel Wood sounds particularly interesting.
This is also my all time favourite trope/genre and I just realized that I too have not read that much of it?? This needs to be rectified immediately, the comments section of this video has been a big help.
The only one I can think of that kind of fits this theme is And The Trees Crept In by by Dawn Kurtagich, which was a brilliant YA horror novel until the ending absolutely ruined it. But the first 80% is spooky, house set in the woods, evil forest goodness
One of my favorite tropes ever as well--you've added several books to my TBR now! Uprooted was at the top of the books I read last year
Beast is an animal and Cold in her bones have very Uprooted vibe as well :)
A fantastic list! Uprooted is definitely top notch!!
The only book I can think of that you didn't mention is a middlegrade called The Thickety! It's very strange but the forest aka the Thickety with a capital T is a major character, hence the name.
Yessss I’ve been waiting for this! It’s one of the top things I associate you with. I’ve recently read two books that definitely fall more towards the beware side, and those are The Wilder Girls and Strange Grace. I think you might like Strange Grace, but I really loved the horror aspect of Wilder Girls myself
You should read The Darkest Part of the Forest, I loved it 😁. The forest is not alive but there's something about its wildness that was amazing, especially since the female character slays the monsters with her sword.
I loved Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale too! Devouring Gray is on my tbr 🙈
Then definitely read “The Devouring Gray” when you have a chance. It’s totally up your alley!
I know you get The Queen of Blood recommended to you a lot for the malicious nature spirits in the woods stuff, but I'm going to say it here because it doesn't look like anyone else has yet. I'm personally very curious about Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh, which is a new Tor Dot Com novella that looks like it's all about the Green Man mythos. Hoping it turns out to be good whenever I get around to it!
Silver in the Wood is high on my tbr too, Kelsey!
Peternelle van Arsdale’s books both have dark forests. Especially ‘The Beast Is An Animal.’ Her books have a very unique vibe to them and I’m interested to read more from her. They’re like dark fairytales plus creepy forests and creatures plus Salem Witch hunt style oppressions that the female characters have to overcome.
You might as well recommend The Devouring Grey because it's GOOD!😀
Queen of blood!!!!!!!
Tamar 1211 OMG SO GOOD TO KNOW! I’ve been wanting to read that.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames has a big ol spooky woods that plays a huge part of the book! The book itself is imperfect but by god does it have heart. Made me laugh and cry and I can’t recommend it enough.
TheClockchan OH NICE I’ve wanted to read that one
You should check out Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski. It's more horror fantasy with the forest becoming dark and dangerous as night falls. It's one of my favorites!
Mmmmm primeval forests YESSSSSSSS 🖤
If I'm remembering correctly, you don't usually fuck with horror, but you might still like And the Trees Crept in by Dawn Kurtagich. The trees literally move closer to this house that's isolated in the middle of the woods. I didn't find it straight up scary so much as unsettling, so you might be okay.
Strange Grace By Tessa Gratton has some very spooky woods in it
Katie Foster I just scrolled through the comments to make sure this was recommended!!
such a good trope omg. sentient forests are the best forests.
the only book i can think of that you didn't mention is darkling by brooklyn ray, but that's only if you're open to paranormal new adult romance. it's about queer witches tho and i enjoyed it!
I haven’t read it yet, but I think We Hunt The Flame also features a magical forest 🤔
Just started reading We Hunt The Flame by Faizal and there is a scary taking over the region forest and beware the forest, no one comes out.
THANK YOU this is just what I've been wanting
Okay so it's NOT the same thing but I have just finished reading Le Guin's 'The Word for World is Forest' and I am feeling this whole vibe. Luckily I have Uprooted on its way to me in the post already!
'The Book of Lost Things' by John Connolly has some creepy AF woods.
Omg yes
Great video!! I’m currently reading malice by John Gwynn. So far I’m enjoying the book!
The Queen of Blood by Sara Beth Durst has a really cool forest setting. With like evil creature spirits. I’m currently reading it now
Jami Averette god bless
Hey Sam, thanks for the awesome video❤ have you tried the reckless series by Cornelia Funke? Although forests are not the main focus in the books, trees become more and more relevant throughout the story. Lots of love from Southern Germany 😘
The spellbook of the lost and found is a queer, mostly women centred book where the woods play a role in the magic and the creep factor. It isn’t horror so it shouldn’t be to scary, but there is mentions of assault but nothing explicit. It is fabulous
The green rider series has a magical corrupted wood that they are trying to sort out, but man that series is 6 books and counting and hasnt gotten anything resolved. I used to highly recommend but the series but the last 2 books went nowhere and we waited so long for them
Honestly I would willingly go hang out in the woods regardless of hazards, if not for most forested areas around being govt or private / corporate property. Also bugs.
If you like moss and rotten wood you should try It Lives in The Woods from book from the app called Choices. It has a lot of those kind of creatures in there.
I can only think of "Beware of the Wild" By Natalie C. Parker that fits this kind of trope
Maybe you’d like The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab? I think it’s the weakest of her books because it was her debut novel but it kinda has this element
I have weird tree phobia or something so that trope always manages to scare me, I had a hard time reading Uprooted because of it but I did read quite a few books with magical scary wood but even a middle grade Rick Riordan book that contained this trope scared me like it wasn't supposed to do that
If no has mentioned Crimson Bound by Rosamond Hodge, that entire world is comprised of magical evil woods
Yes I love SAWKILL girls so so much
What a creative idea!
I read and loved The Devouring Gray..., but I feel you wouldn't like it ?
It does have that vibe you mentioned, tho.
Omar Villaseñor really?!? I’ve been so excited for that one!
Also in the Ember Quartet
try blackspot on netflix its a feary woods thing in france
SAM YOU WOULD LOVE STRANGE GRACE BY TESSA GRATTON! Beware the corrupted woods is my SHIT!
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Terah Stephens I didn’t feel it counted for this specific trope because it was more in line with the fae stories I didn’t include and was more about the Staryk Road than the woods.
We hunt the flame also has a beware of the forest
Sara Djaroud BLESS
Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton is great one.
werk the haus down boots
I'm so sad there are no real Magical Woods. Maybe someday I'll stumble upon them and then keep them secret even though it would benefit my character to tell someone where I was, and then I'll inevitably get lost and transported to a magic realm. I mean, maybe one day.
Come to Washington State. We have them. I'm pretty sure the entire Olympic peninsula is one giant magical wood. :)
I really liked The Thickety by J.A. White
Did you see Princess Mononoke anime?
Юлия Гранина I was just thinking about that movie🤯
I have not but now I want to