“The Drowned Woods” by Emily Lloyd-Jones is an easy to read / listen novel with focus on the “magical heist” theme. The story follows Mererid ‘Mer’, a water diviner (read wielder) who is once again on the run from the Kingdom’s prince who wants her for her water-wielding powers. All Mer truly wants is a safe, quiet life, far from power and politics, but all that changes when her former spymaster and father-figure shows up with the proposal of a magical heist.

Starting from the legend of “Cantre'r Gwaelod”, a Welsh sunked kingdom, Emily Lloyd-Jones creates a high-fantasy novel enriched by stories of promised treasures, magical debts, and a lot of complicated adventure stories. To some extent, it is similar to Leigh Bardugo’s “Six of Crows” adventures, in a stand-alone format.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

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#TheDrownedWoods #NetGalley

Firstly, I would like to thank Netgalley for this ARC of The Drowned Woods.

All in all, i had a fun time reading this book for its magical world and beautiful writings. It has heist, it has lyrical wordings, and it has a cute corgi! There is also a bisexual rep and some said this book has connection to The Bone House which I haven't read yet.

However, i feel a bit dissatisfied at the characters' personality growth (except for Fane) cause they sounds a bit bland and too rigid. I could feel the normal human emotions like a main character should be able to carry to the reader. The romance was a bit pushed since I couldnt feel the tension between the pair. I feel like the romance should be expanded so that the chemistry between the pair would be plausible. But luckily, the beautiful writings, the corgi, and Fane's character arc made the book much more interesting.

So any book linked to Wales will likely pull me in - but one using folklore and mythology a bit is bound to grab me. This was a highly researched masterpiece and it was so beautiful. I highly recommend this book - and urge you to read and adore it!

I’m a huge fan of Emily’s books so I was eagerly awaiting this release. I wasn’t disappointed.

Magic, myths romance and heartbreak all in this wonderfully written book.

Based on welsh legends this dark fairy tale should definitely make it to the top of your TBR list.

Once upon a time, the kingdoms of Wales were rife with magic and conflict - and eighteen-year-old Mererid 'Mer' is well-acquainted with both. As the last living water diviner, she can manipulate water with magic - a unique elemental power many would kill to possess.

For years, Mer has been running from the prince who bound her into his service - and forced her to kill thousands with her magic. Now, all Mer truly wants is a safe, quiet life, far from power and politics.

But then Mer's old handler - the king's spymaster - returns with a proposition: use her powers to bring down the very prince that abused them both.

Perfect for fans of The Cruel Prince or Shadow and bone

The Drowned Woods is the story of a girl who can control water, who goes on a mission to stop the prince of the land from controlling the world. This is a heist story full of myths, fae, and elemental magic

I only issues i had with the work was that the side characters fell flat and so you didnt feel anything for them when things happen to them and there was not karma as such for the MC using their powers and when it is brought up its in a very brushed over way

Overall a good book with folklore vibes, LGBTQ+ repand and is a standalone

Firstly I will state I loved this book. There was such a pull to feel connected to the main character Mer that I just couldn’t resist it. I was pulled along this story with her and it was just great.

The world building was beautiful the whole story had this feel to it that I can’t describe. Part breezing coastal, yet magical woodland that I just felt like was there.

I loved the story from start to end. However I must say the last section hit me in so many feels I was a sobbing mess.

The basic premise is water diviner called Merereid gets sucked into a heist style plot to overthrow the Prince who once used her magic in questionable ways. She has been running from him ever since, so when her old mentor approaches her with a plot that would set her free as last from hiding and running she joins up with him and a group of other skilled people to but an end to the prince’s rule.

But this story is so much more than the plot. I really felt a strong connection to Mer and Fane, and the Corgi Trefor was a delight to read about.

I whole heartedly recommend this book. It was beautiful. I will definitely be reading the authors other book The Bone Houses!

Received an ebook via Netgalley for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a great book about Mer, a water diviner, a heist, with magic and wonderful Welsh mythology.

I like that the romance was secondary to the plot, it was incredibly brief and a very slow burn, which worked well here.

The plot was interesting with just enough twists to keep me guessing and wanting to find out more.

The corgi was obviously my favourite, and I loved everything he got up to.

I would have liked there to be a little more world building, but other than that I can't fault anything else and I really enjoyed this. Maybe The Bone Houses would address all things I thought this booked lacked - I didn't realise there was another book set in the same universe already out!

A big thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc!

This was amazing! A beautiful blend of welsh culture with a fantasy world, political intrigue and a group on a mission to end a tyrannical ruler!

I loved The Drowned Woods. It is beautifully written, but, most of all, it features a corgi, who may or may not be a spy, and that is just automatically a big tick in the 'YES THIS IS GOOD' category.

I enjoyed reading Mer's story, with all her anger, regret, guilt and hope for the future. I found her to be an interesting character, who I was rooting for, even if at times I was sort of yelling at the page for her to ask more questions, to not go along with it all so easily . . . but I guess there'd be no book then lol.

This book had a wonderful mix of magic, heists, banter, love, betrayal, and an ending that was both heartbreaking and hopeful all at once . . .

Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review

I was very excited to read this book because I'm interested in mythology and had never ready Welsh mythology before. After finishing this book, I immediately searched for the legend of Cantre'r Gwaelod to learn more. Fascinating!

It's a quick and enjoyable read with a good plot and writing style. I liked the characters, particularly Trefor, even if the author didn't develop them much during the book (we mainly learn about their past). Solid 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an enjoyable read, a fantasy heist inspired by Cantre'r Gwaelod, or the "Welsh Atlantis."

There is a small sort-of crew of six in the book, all with their own secrets and haunted pasts. I say "sort of" as the book only focuses on four of them (three of whom are POV narrators.) Mer has the most page time by quite a way, followed by Fain (?sp - sorry can't find the spelling online anywhere!) who is an Iron-Fetch, a young man who works for the Other Folk to remove iron from their lands in exchange for magic that can kill. The last POV is Ivana (?sp), Mer's ex-lover and princess of thieves.

I liked that we didn't focus on the whole group, but rather this core trio. We got to see the others through their eyes and spend more time on their pasts and how it haunted them. It's why I'd say this is a "sort-of heist" rather than a heist book - the focus of the book is not the mission to steal from the well, but rather these characters working out how to come to terms with what they've done and how to become the people they want to be.

Plus having more than one POV worked very well for the ending where they were split up trying to deal with the heist fall-out. I think the ending was what made this book work so well for me, the way it really challenged the characters and forced them to reckon with their past bargains and work out who they'd be up against the wall.

The narrator, Moira Quirk, was great - bringing the pacing the life with varying narration speeds, and also all the Welsh accents too. I was listening to this right around when I was very distracted (heat! so many chores! deadlines!) but I was still sucked in every time, despite it being a set of circumstances that should have made listening hard, and I attribute it to the narrator bringing it so vividly to life.

This is apparently set in the same world as the author's previous book, which doesn't currently have a UK publication. Hopefully this does well enough that the publisher for this book picks up the other book as I want to read it now!

The Drowned Woods is said to be a retelling of Cantre’r Gwaelod, known in Welsh mythology as the sunken kingdom. I am familiar with Welsh mythology (except maybe King Arthur and the knights of the round table), so I was not really sure what to expect and that kept me on my toes.

I would say the highlight of this book was: the world building, uncovering the magic system and meeting Trefor the Corgi. I found this book took me a few chapters to get into and I found that after half way, it kind of fell a bit flat for me. The characters were quite predictable and the love interest between Mererid and Fane to be a little cliché. They were bound to have some form of slow burn during this book but, there wasn’t much flirtatious banter or relationship building that lead to that point of romance? It just didn’t deliver what I was hoping for.

Don’t get me wrong there are some really great scenes in this book, it just takes a while to get there.

I definitely enjoyed reading ‘The Drowned Woods’ and would recommend to anyone looking for a light fantasy with an adorable doggie companion!

I was sent this book as an ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.

Rating: 3/5 stars ⭐️

The book has a good motif but unfortunately, the writing and the genre are just not for me. I might not be the target audience for young adult anymore, but I think other readers could appreciate this. I personally think that there are just too many special-talent main girl in YA, the story got easily forgotten in the sea of this trope and does not do the book justice, despite how good a writer Lloyd-Jones could be.

*3,5 stars*

The Drowned Woods is a retelling of the Welsh myth of Cantre’r Gwaelod. We follow Mer, who has been running from the prince who wants to use her magic as a water diviner to kill thousands of people. Her old mentor and royal spymaster recruits her for a mission to topple the prince’s kingdom, with the help of Fane, a fae-touched human.

This concept kept me hooked from the start. The characters were intriguing, the Welsh setting was magical and the magic system was interesting to me, although all of the above I would have loved to see more development of. Maybe this is because this is the first book in this universe I’ve read, I don’t know, but the world and especially the magic system did not seem very well-developed to me, which is too bad.

My biggest problem with this book was the pacing. In the middle part it slowed down a lot and the ending was incredibly rushed. The epilogue was cute, but I didn’t really appreciate it because I was confused by the many things that happened so quickly in the span of like 20 pages. In the end I just wanted more from everything in this book, but I did still enjoy reading it. I think I need to read the Bone Houses now.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this arc!

I read this alongside the audio in one sitting, and I don't regret it one bit! I enjoy reading along with the audio (which is an amazing audio experience so please do think about purchasing together if you get the chance) I find my reading comes to life listening and reading together and I often find I pay a lot more attention to the plot, world and characters this way. If you haven't done it before give it a try!

The plot is pretty non stop, if you love a heist and magical characters you will love this book. It's got twists and turns and the ending really is gripping and full of surprises. I feel like the author does a great job of moving the story on quickly enough to hold attention and understanding and not so quick that you get lost in an unnecessary battle or fight scene you didn't see coming at all which I find can often happen in YA plots. Each scene builds layers and makes you think about each character more and more.

As with other heist based books, the characters are quite varied and individual and the author does a great job of character building and development in this book, their experiences shape who they are and the decisions they make towards the story line lending to a fulfilling end.

The world is an interesting one but you may need to use some imagination to fill in the gaps here, if like me you enjoy a rich world for your fantasy reads. I enjoy world building possibly more than others though, so I would suggest that the level of detail is perfect for its intended young adult audience.

If you love characters, for better or worse and enjoy a plot twist or foreshadowing this could be a great experience for you too.

Massive thank you as always to Hodder and Stoughton who continue to approve me for their fantastic books, I love to read and review them all, to NetGalley for allowing that to happen and to author Emily Lloyd-Jones for allowing me into your world.

Such an addictive and lighthearted read. I binged this in one sitting!

I absolutely loved the characters, they were so well written and I was so invested in Mers journey from start to finish.

Would recommend to all fantasy lovers

I really enjoyed this Welsh-inspired story of a heist with a motley crew of characters trying to undermine a corrupt ruler in a fantastical world where the fae provide a mysterious dimension as well with their powerful but removed influence.

Mererid is an eighteen year old runaway from the service of her prince. But when I say service, I mean slavery. Taken from her home at a tender eight years old, Mer was raised and trained by the prince’s spymaster, for her water divining skills. Able to find and manipulate water, Mer is a dangerous and powerful asset to have and control. Which the prince did.
The story starts two years after Mer fled her enslavement, and she’s working in a tavern, trying to keep a low profile - made difficult by the brand beneath her eye, which marks her as one of the Prince’s own. But the arrival of her old mentor/father figure gives her the opportunity to take revenge on the man who wielded her as a weapon - even if that does mean confronting her ex. On the plus side, though, it does also mean she gets to meet a Corgi who may or may not be a spy for the fae.
I enjoyed this book, and read it over the course of two days - although I did spend several hours on a plane that day, which probably increased my reading time. I found it a bit hard to really connect with the characters at times - there were a lot of moving parts, and back story that made it feel a little like jumping in midway through the story.
Thoroughly enjoyed this overall, though, and will seek out The Bone Houses, which is set in the same world.

BOOK REVIEW: The Drowned Woods by @em_llojo

4 Stars

I didn't know what to expect from this book as it was my first read by this author. I will definitely now be reading her linked book The Bone Houses as this book was such a great read!

The Drowned Woods is a story about Mer, a young woman with rare water magic. As a young girl she is stolen from her home and taken to the prince where she grows up in the castle and is made to use her magic for his needs. She escapes and finds herself recruited for a heist with some interesting characters.
The story is so much fun with magic, an adventure, lots of action and a corgi who may or may not be a spy! It was gripping and enjoyable and I loved the characters. There is a very slow growing romance which I loved as well!
Mer is so incredibly brave. I love a strong female lead and she definitely brought that to this book. She has had a tough life but never gives up. She also has a great sense of humour which I loved. The side characters were also brilliant, I won't go into them as I don't want to give anything away but they all played such important roles. Also I love an animal companion in books and so the corgi was a wonderful addition!
The writing was fantastic and I felt really connected to the characters and story. There were a few moments when it got a little slow/boring but that was rare but has meant I cannot rate over 4 stars.

Overall a thoroughly interesting and magical story that I really recommend to fantasy lovers. Such a fun read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Please note that I was #gifted this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I hate the way this was written. The story doesn’t flow at all and it’s full of ramblings and it’s mostly all being told, not shown. If occurrences in the past are that important that they need to be retold while the ‘present’ story is happening, then just create a prologue or simply write a chapter about each character in the past (since it seems like that’s what the author is going for anyway).

I didn’t expect much going in and I’m sad to say I had to DNF at 16%. Not worth the time.

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

Fantasy! Fantasy and more fantasy!
Girl saving the day and the world. It was perfect to read and even more perfect to read again 💗
I've said it before and I'll say it again, " Who run the world?"
The story, the setting, the romance all woven together in a beautiful story.
I highly recommend this and it should totally be on everyone 's summer TBR