Horror and Inner Bravery Are Found Among the Beasts and Briars

Balzer + Bray

It’s no secret that 2020 has been a wild year for all of us; for me, it’s been challenging in terms of motivation. There have been times when I’ve found it difficult to focus on the things I enjoy, with reading in particular taking a major hit as I’ve struggled to finish both books for review and for my own pleasure. There have been a few exceptions here and there, one of them being Ashely Poston’s new fantasy novel Among the Beasts and Briars, which somehow ended up being underwhelming and better than I expected at the same time.

Among the Beasts and Briars takes place in the fictional kingdom of Aloriya, bordered by the nefarious Wildwoods, which contain humanoid monsters called bone eaters—humans who have been transformed by a burrowing black seed called the wood curse. Aloriya is protected by the royal family, who possess a crown that keeps the monsters in the woods at bay. When the bone eaters attack on the night of the new queen’s coronation, the only one left unchanged by the curse is Cerys, the royal gardener’s daughter. Having survived an encounter in the woods years ago that has left her with the ability to grow plants with her blood, Cerys sets off into the woods with an enchanted fox and a mysterious bear as her companions to find the lost kingdom of Voryn, whose people are said to be under the protection of the Lady of the Wilds and who may know how to break the wood curse.

Poston does a fantastic job of making the bone eaters and the atmosphere of the Wildwoods incredibly creepy and unsettling. The wood curse transforms humans into tall, angular creatures with sharp teeth and red pinpricks in the middle of their dark, sunken eyes. Bringing to mind the appearance of Crypt TV’s Mordeo demons, it was all too easy for me to imagine their raspy voices and the gnarled horns growing out of their heads. Leading this group of monsters is Seren, a squire of the late king who went missing years ago, reanimated into a half-living corpse and a tangible reminder of what could have happened to Cerys had she lingered in the woods as a child. With a thick barrier of fog that is easily disorienting, and hardly any other wildlife present, the Wildwoods is just as formidable an enemy as the creatures that inhabit it.

That being said, the worldbuilding is sparse and the rest of Aloriya is hardly touched upon. The review copy I read did not include a map, but even the one included in the finished version does little to truly make Aloriya seem as vibrant and real as the Wildwoods. One component I found odd was that trains exist in a world that seems like most other fairy tale realms, and there’s no explanation or in-depth look as to why that is. The pacing, in turn, is inconsistent and choppy at times, with the journey to find Voryn being near uneventful and the introduction of most of the side characters falling flat. I would have loved to know more about Aloriya in itself, and Cerys’s home in Village-of-the-Valley, and the castle at Sundermount; that may have meant some info dumps here and there, but it would have made a big difference.

While the setting was a bit of a disappointment, Cerys and Fox came through as the true heart of the novel. Cerys is a girl who longs for adventure, but when faced with the prospect of it, she is reluctant in that she feels she does not deserve it. Being near invisible to the rest of the castle staff and asked not to attend the coronation, she has internalized the notion that she is unworthy of being a heroine of any sort, and she struggles with accepting her own self-worth. Similarly, Fox has an internal conflict of his own, all while dealing with an enchantment that has made him temporarily human. His new form has brought to light his selfishness and cowardice, and while he often hides his fears with sarcasm and banter, he can’t escape the guilt he feels when faced with real danger and he has to choose between helping his friends and his own safety. Cerys and Fox have great comedic chemistry and their somewhat slow-burn romance is sweet, but their emotional journey is ultimately the most satisfying.

There are a few twists included throughout, and while I can’t spoil anything, I will say they’re set up well and have satisfactory payoff. I figured out one of them near the beginning of the novel, but that may have been due to hints Poston was dropping on her social media. It’s very clear that this is a story she wrote for herself, a story that came from a difficult time in her life, and in that regard, I think that’s where it succeeds. It may not be a perfect fairy tale, but learning to be your own hero and allowing yourself to be happy are messages that I—and many others—definitely needed this year.

Among the Beasts and Briars is out now.