The Girl in Red by Christina Henry – Review & Giveaway
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Description:
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:
The Girl in Red by Christina Henry is a Sci-Fi/Horror story that is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood in a Dystopian world. Henry has written a number of novels of dark retellings of various fairy tales
Three months ago life was normal for Cordelia (Red), and her family, until a terrible Plague has decimated the world’s population. When her mother starts getting sick, Red’s parents tell her to take her brother Adam and leave for a long trek to her grandmother’s house. The storyline is in two POV’s; Before and After. Red has a prosthetic leg (she lost her leg at 8 years old when hit by a car), which makes the walking slow; but she is tough and a survivor, not to mention she carries an ax with her. She also has to put up with her brother’s constant nagging that they should not be walking so far, instead to go to the quarantine camps, which Red refuses, since more than likely they would die there.
What follows in a dark and intense story, where we follow Red during her adventure to reach her grandmother’s cabin. Along the way there are many evils that might represent wolves, but in this world even darker; such as the cough which is the start of the plague and death; the evil men who look for woman and children; and the unknown horror (creature?) that is out there threatening the lives of others. For Red its all about survival, and she has no qualms to use her ax or whatever to save herself.
The Before covers the beginning before she left, with her mother, father, as well as her trek with Adam. The After is when she no longer has Adam, and takes upon the responsibility to help two very young children to come with her to her grandmother’s cabin. The daily gruesome trek is filled with horrible dangers, besides the normal dangers of the woods, such as snakes, coyotes, wolves, etc.
Christina Henry wrote an interesting and dark story that was intense, but well written. I did not really like the open ended way the story left off. Is there a 2nd book, I do not know, but I suspect there will not be, therefore leaving us a bit open. If you like Dystopian Sci-Fi Horror retellings of fairy tales, you should be reading The Girl In Red.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Christina Henry’s publisher is offering a paper copy THE GIRL IN RED to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.
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