The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Drowned Woods was one of my most anticipated releases of 2022. This YA Fantasy novel is a companion to Emily Lloyd-Jones 2019-release, The Bone Houses.
Full transparency, I hadn’t even read The Bone Houses until this month. The reason I was so excited for The Drowned Woods was based on its synopsis alone. It sounded absolutely captivating to me.
Spoiler Alert: It so totally was!!
Once I picked this up, it was all I could think about. I absolutely adore this story with my whole heart and soul. Lloyd-Jones swept me away into another world.
This story follows 18-year old Mererid, ‘Mer’, who is the last living water diviner. Her powers being known, she was wrenched from her family in order to go live in the castle of Prince Garanhir and be bound into his service.
She’s made to do terrible things, such as finding the wells of Garanhir’s enemies so that he can poison them. This results in the deaths of many, many innocent people.
Mer is devastated to have been a part of this. Luckily, she is able to slip out of the Prince’s grasp and flee. After that, avoiding recapture is her only focus.
Mer’s able to fly under the radar working as a barmaid. That is until the day her old handler, Renfrew, the Prince’s ex-Spy Master, approaches her with an opportunity to bring the Prince down.
He proposes a heist of sorts to steal an important magical artifact that in a sense secures the Prince’s control over their kingdom. Mer is intrigued and swayed by her old mentor. They can actually do this, make Garanhir pay for what he put so many innocent people through.
Together they assemble a team including a fae-cursed young man, the lady of thieves and an adorably-loyal corgi named Trefor. They were all brought onto the mission because of the special skills they each portrayed.
This crew, I loved watching them all come together and as they set off on their quest, I knew this story was going to be a slam dunk for me.
I loved everything about it. The world creation was fantastic, the magic system was easy to understand, yet intriguing, and the character interactions and motivations were so well done.
Mer, Fane, the fae-cursed young man, and Trefor in particular were so well developed. I loved watching their relationship build into what it ultimately becomes.
Mer’s character arc was so beautiful, heart-wrenching and ultimately satisfying. I adored her and her free will, determination and strength in face of set-backs.
As you get to the end, the truth behind the connection to The Bones Houses is revealed. I cannot even tell you what that moment was like, reading that reveal.
My heart swelled; insta-tears. It made me want to reread TBH knowing what I know now, even though I just read it! What a moment. It was so good.
Thank you to the publisher, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I appreciate it so much and have no doubt this is going to be on my Favorites list for 2022!!