4.5 stars!

Thank you so much to Net Galley and Simon and Schuster UK for this ARC.

I saw the word folklore and just HAD to request this book! I so do love anything to do with any kind of folklore, and this novel was absolutely no exception. The depiction of the Saints, the Untier, and the Hexe were just so wonderfully dark and fantastical that I couldn’t get enough. I adored how much depth we got into each species and their origins.

Ilse as a main character was fierce and so lovable. I especially liked that her flaws were portrayed in such a pure, human way, pun definitely intended, because that’s something I LOVE to see in novels. No one is perfect, even a Saint.

The concept of an un-fearing girl venturing out into the beckoning unknown with such bravery, all to save her sister, was heartwarming. The addition of her finding much more than she bargained for simply sweetened the deal for me, I must say.

What a fantastic book. The writing was phenomenal, the story dark in just the way I love, UGH, so so good! Highly recommend!

Season of Fear is a book that I picked up based on the (admittedly US version of the) cover. Well, that’s me schooled because this was one of those ones that’s “don’t judge a book by its cover” but for reasons that are reversed. It’s also a book that was published by a YA imprint in the US, but seems to have got an adult release in the UK and if I had known this, I would have worked out it wasn’t for me and I wouldn’t have tried it. Alas, this did not come to pass and so I read it.

Before I get into things, perhaps I need to add the caveat here that a lot of this is simply me being an awkward reader. Or rather, there is a reason I’ve stopped reading YA anymore and this book has not convinced me I’ve made a wrong decision. Feel free to blithely disregard this review and continue on.

Season of Fear is a horror-fantasy about a girl who can’t feel fear born into a village where the women there offer up their fear to a saint-slash-monster in return for protection against other monsters. Because our protagonist can’t feel fear, she’s forced to pretend that she can, and pray that one day she will be “normal” like everyone else. If this sounds to you like a thinly veiled allegory for being gay, it did to me too. (There was even a point where the protagonist’s lack of fear was described as “just a phase”.)

Let’s start with the main issue which is that none of this story was remotely scary. I wrote in my notes that “in retrospect, it’s probably quite hard to build a sense of fear/terror in a book where your first person POV protagonist is lacking fear”, which I still think is true to an extent. There’s a hard balance to draw between this horror book actually being horrifying and a protagonist who isn’t feeling that fear herself and I don’t think first person POV helps with that (especially not when you keep accidentally writing her as being “shaken” by events. If she can’t feel fear, how can she be shaken??). So there’s that. But it was also generally un-scary because everything about it felt incredibly bland. The worldbuilding was lacking, the dialogue was inane, there was no sense of urgency or complexity to the story: so of course it’s not going to be scary either.

The second issue was Ilse, our main character. There were so many notes I wrote about her that it’s hard to know where to start. She’s the one who doesn’t feel fear so is an outsider in the village, a cuckoo in the nest. Her mother doesn’t love her (of course) but her grandmother does, and so does her sister, and both of those women plus Hans, the man her sister marries, treat her kindly. But because Ilse is needlessly self-pitying and melodramatic, she claims she “doesn’t know kindness”. At this point, I had to take a deep breath because what is with books that present me with some information (that Ilse is not unloved!) and then go and tell me the opposite is true. I’m not being gaslit here! If you want me to think Ilse is unloved and alone in the world then you have to show that to be the case! She loves her grandmother back, she loves her sister back, she hates Hans for no discernible reason because apparently no one can be nice to her without an ulterior motive (sister? grandmother??), but there is absolutely no grounds for her believing this to be true, based on what I’m being shown in the narrative. It was infuriating! This is the kind of inconsistency that should be picked up by an editor, and yet!

There is, subsequently, a twist which reveals that she isn’t the biological child of her mother and therefore isn’t related to her sister. I’ll keep it vague even if the twist itself is stupid and annoying to me (hint: I feel like this story would have had much more impact if it had been about how ordinary people can defeat evil rather than her turning out to be some kind of special snowflake). Anyway, unsurprisingly, Ilse becomes self-pitying and melodramatic over this discovery, claiming two things that pissed me off. First, that because her sister is now no longer a blood relation, she (Ilse) is alone in the world. Second, that this explains why her mother doesn’t love her. Namely:

"She might not have known that was her child, but mothers have a special sense for their own blood, don’t they? She watched her own babe snapped in half while the cuckoo baby sat fearless beside her. No wonder she could not love me."

(The context here being that Ilse is swapped at birth with her mother’s biological daughter who is later killed.)

Now maybe this isn’t what was intended but I thought it was an awful message to send here, that mothers can’t love a child who isn’t their own blood and that they’ll always know when a child is their blood. Yes, this is from Ilse’s self-pitying POV, and then the narrative later turns around and says yes her mother knew and she tried so hard not to love Ilse because she knew. As if that sounds better? I mean, even contextually, I don’t think it’s great! I’m not 100% sure all of the implications of that were thought through.

Anyway, all of this to say, I did not enjoy this one. It just goes to show that I should really not get too drawn in by pretty covers.

Emily Cooper’s Season of Fear is a marvel; her prose is poetic and compelling, the imagery she plays with matching the dark intensity of the story she tells, the beating and bloody heart of her book is visceral, haunting and totally enthralling. From the prologue Cooper’s confidence in the story she wants to tell is emphatic - there’s not a line or word that feels careless, not a turn of phrase, or passage of description which doesn’t feel deliberate. The craft in her prose from that very first chapter is a promise of what is to come - a dark feminist fairytale that has teeth and claws and that rages and rages and rages, but that, above all else, radiates love.

There’s a foreboding sense of dread that seeps into the story and into your bones as you read; Ilse is all sharp edges and a bleak outlook, the perfect compliment to this community which trades in the fear of women as currency for the protection of its men. But what happens when one is fearless, when one refuses the societal contract, refuses to fear and sacrifice and chooses defiance and courage in its stead? Isle’s otherness - both in her sexuality, her nonconformity and her fearlessness - and her journey to acceptance is fraught with self doubt, intensely therapeutic and violently empowering. Her courage echoes beyond the page, her spirit unyielding, her scream one of rage not terror. In a world where subservience is cultivated, where women are complicit in their own exploitation, the best form of defiance is owning one’s truth, truly living it and guiding others towards that same liberation. An absolute triumph.

4.75 ⭐️

What a stunning debut. An incredibly emotive, visceral and unique story.

💀 inspired by Bavarian folklore
💀 tale of sisterly devotion
💀 sapphic love
💀 power in being different

Story: 4.75/5
Characters: 5/5
Spice: 🌶️(rating chart at bottom for ref)
Pacing: 4.5/5
Plot twists: 4.5/5
Magic system: 4/5

The first scene is harrowing and has you in a chokehold from the very beginning: A screaming circle of frantic women, eyes roll back into their skulls, blood red sky, death creeping from the forest.

The characters are deeply ingrained to the story, and well written. I truly cared and believed in the sisterhood between Ilse and Thea. And even Hans became so much more than the convenient support act. And the relationship that develops later in the story was really beautiful. Cooper really knows how to build a relationship and then use it to emotionally destroy you.

The story itself is unique and haunting, surrounding a small village who worships and offers up their women's terror to the grotesque Saint of Fear in return for its protection from the blood thirsty creatures of the Hexenwald. But the main character, Ilse, feels no fear herself, it is absent from her body. And when the Saint discovers her lacking she must journey deep into the Hexenwald to try and discover fear itself, or her sister will be devoured.

This book was truly masterful, it twisted and turned, it pulled me in, I gasped, I cried. I absolutely loved it. I only docked small amount because I felt like I was waiting for something more the end, but that is a very small critique.

A must read for lovers of dark, gothic fantasy with a good helping of horror.

Thank you so much to the publisher, author and NetGalley for this ARC, all views and opinions are my own ✨

Spice rating:
🫑- low to no spice, just kissing
🌶️ - Low spice foreplay, fade to black/closed door sex
🌶️🌶️ - One or two open door “soft” (not overly explicit) sex scenes and/or spicy foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Multiple open door explicit/detailed sex scenes and detailed spicy foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Lots of open door sex scenes and spicy detailed foreplay
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 🌶️- more sex than plot

Personally I couldn’t get on with this book, I did finish it but I couldn’t really get on with the story. I would recommend it to people but wasn’t my thing

season of fear was truly exquisite. hauntingly beautiful and terrifying - a story i did not put down and a stunning debut
this one is 100% for your spooky tbr, and it has everything you need, an unpredictable plot, the most stunning writing, and a story of self-discovery and growth. The horrors were creepy, but I couldn't stop reading?
this book is a stunning debut that kept haunting me. With our main character discovering herself and finding friendship and love in unexpected of places.

if you told me my friend, Emily was gonna be a published author when we grew up. I would have said yes, of course, and what an amazing debut that I can't wait for EVERYONE TO READ. thank you simon and schuster for the netgalley arc and to my friend Emily for the proof

Every twist and turn had me on the edge of my seat. I ate this up for sure, finished it in less than two days!

It felt very raw at times with how women are depicted. The sacrifices the women make to keep their village safe, whilst the men live normally. It's an excellent commentary on the role of women in society truly is

If I had a nickel for a horror YA book starring a queer, neurodivergent girl that's set in the woods and publishing in September 2025, I'd have two nickels. It isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.

(And yes, I will be recycling the same joke in both reviews)

Anyway, this was such a fantastic book.

The worldbuilding in this book is so simple yet so gruesomely effective. Lots of monsters and grotesque imagery that would the people sensitive to those subject matter squeamish instantly. I really loved how the Bavarian/German aspects of the story's inspiration were naturally woven into the story, too; you can see the respect and love Cooper gives to it naturally throughout the story.

Ilse is a very strong and compelling protagonist. To write a character, especially a woman, who's flaw is her lack of fear is very hard, but Cooper pulls it off flawlessly. She gets angry, she makes mistakes, she logics her way out of not doing wat she needs to because she believes she doesn't have the strength/powers to un-logic out of it, Ilse just had so much depth that the narrative takes all the time to explore. The side characters, who I didn't know would be a big factor in this book, were also an incredible cast. Ash, her love interest, was brimming with personality and made for such a wonderful compliment to her character. Hans, her brother-in-law, is a very lovable himbo who grows to become like a brother to her. Even Thea, the sister, is given the necessary time and exploration for the readers to develop the attachment needed to root for Ilse to save her. I don't know why, but I didn't think there would be a group of characters in this book, but I'm glad I was wrong.

All in all, incredible book. I love it dearly, and I hope it gets the attention it rightly deserves when it officially comes out!

A Bavarian folklore retelling that feels familiar and yet new.

Ilse is a woman born without fear in a village that worships the Saint of Fear, so of course this is going to cause problems. In order to find her fear, Ilse enters the magical forest that borders the village, where monsters are said to realm. What she finds there is so much more, all leading back to a secret that could unravel Ilse’s world and the very village she calls home.

The story is told from Ilse’s POV, which is a very interesting read. Since she cannot feel fear, we also don’t feel fear when we know we probably should. It was unnerving and very well written. But while Ilse cannot feel fear, she can feel rage, and this is very much a book about female empowerment and rage in a misogynistic society.

There were times I felt the book was a little too slow, but overall it drew me in. And the sapphic romance was a wonderful side plot.

Season of Fear was a book I bumped up my list for my spooky season reads – the blurb was so intriguing, and I was excited to get started!

In Ilse’s village fear is currency, the women use their fear to appease and strengthen the Saint of Fear who in return protects them from the monsters in the forest. But Ilse has a secret - she cannot feel fear, and with her Right coming up on her 18th birthday, it’s going to be a secret that is hard to keep…

This book is an incredibly assured debut, it has everything in it – a fantasy horror story with a standalone plot progression, detailed worldbuilding, characters you feel something for and a powerful message at its heart. You feel empathy for Ilse straight away – the love for her sister, her pain at not feeling fear like everyone else in the village and her determination to fix everything against all odds. Her relationship with Ash also builds nicely and is touching and felt realistic, even in the fantasy setting around them.

The setting and the world building are strong – the ever-changing woods of the Hexenwald which seems to have a life of its own at times kept me on my toes. The backstory of the village is also detailed, and we really feel the inequality of the women who are forced to stay fearful to protect the men who do not need to make such sacrifice. It is the power of these women that are at the forefront of the story, and Ilse’s rage at the system she has been born into is well-founded.

I enjoyed the twists and turns at the plot and the way that the Emily Cooper pulls no punches and is unafraid to make big changes. The epilogue was actually heartbreaking, and although most of the story is wrapped up, there is a small opening which could be used for a sequel if needed. If this is what Emily Cooper can write as a debut author, I’m very excited to see what she writes next!

Overall, Season of Fear is a fantastic debut which puts the strength of women at the front and centre of the plot – it’s a 2025 Kindig Gem for me! Thank you to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster UK for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I want to forget this book so I can read it again for the first time.

This is what I want from books with creepy forests, terrifying monsters and badass women. Every page was an utter joy - even when I was tense and crying. I genuinely didn't want to put this book down but also didn't want it to end.

Everything about it was perfection: Excellent pacing, stunning world-building, beautiful magic systems, characters I fell in love with and great development from the main character. The bittersweet journey that Ilse goes through had me hooked and wanted her to succeed so much.

The UK cover may look awful (in my opinion), but this book is well worth picking up as it is a stunning standalone fantasy about becoming who you were meant to be, chosen family and grief. I want more from this world but it doesn't need another book, so I'll have to settle for reading it again.

Season of Fear by Emily Cooper introduces readers to a Bavarian-inspired town overshadowed by a mysterious saint of fear, offering a compelling exploration of how religion and tradition are weaponized to control women. Atmospheric and conceptually ambitious, this debut brims with potential.

Cooper’s central premise is both original and thematically rich. Through subtle yet pointed commentary, she examines patriarchy, religious expectation, and the quiet violence of societal control. The result is a haunting and thought-provoking narrative that lingers well beyond the final page.

However, the execution occasionally falters. The plot, while conceptually strong, often lacks narrative cohesion. Key events unfold with a dreamlike quality that can feel untethered from the emotional stakes. Characters are intriguing but remain at a distance; their internal worlds are suggested rather than fully realized. With tighter pacing and greater emotional depth, the story’s impact could be significantly heightened.

That said, Cooper’s voice is distinctive and filled with promise. Her prose is evocative, and her ideas are bold. This is a debut that signals a writer worth watching—one whose future work, with greater refinement, could be truly exceptional.

This was a brilliant read, I am very happy to have found a Gothic fantasy read that has hit the marks for me. I have read a few recently who promised to deliver and missed. This one makes up for all of them, and I would very much love to see what more creepy reads Emily can create!

I wanted so much to like this book. I tried convincing myself that I just wasn’t in the mood for it and came back a few times to try again. After three attempts I haven’t gotten past 25% and I have decided that, at least for now, this book is a DNF for me.
The premise is fantastic, and the writing was very good. I loved the tie in with a Bavarian fairytale. There is something so exciting about learning about different beliefs while still getting a fantasy adventure.
I think the problem for me was the portrayal of women as fearful creatures. This is an unfair critique for me, as the whole point of the book is that the common man’s presumption of women constantly being filled with fear is wrong. Something which the main character, Ilse, who is born without fear, is attempting to challenge.
I definitely plan on trying this again in the future, but at least for now it’s a 1 star from me. I hope that this will be before its release in September and that I can then update my review.
Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book.

For the first half of this book I was convinced it was going to be 2 stars. The flowery prose, explaining the colour of the sky every other page, it was making me want to tear my hair out. Then we got to 50% and things started happening. The second half of this book was creepy, heartfelt with beautiful themes and imagery. I was also confused because when I reread the synopsis (trying to work out if I should DNF) I realised there was supposedly a sapphic love thread. There was... It just takes a bunch of time to actually meet her but she was my favourite character.

I think the Bavarian influence was intresting. My rudimentary German kept me entertained for a lot of this, especially in the slower moments. Still, I definitely struggled with the pacing. There's lyrical prose and then there was this, fine but too much a lot of the time.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

I have reviewed this title for book sales and recommendation site LoveReading.co.uk, please see link for full review. It’s been chosen as a LoveReading Star Book and Liz Pick of the Month.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc of Season of Fear.

Season of Fear is a horrific fairy tale full of atmosphere, tension, and emotional healing.

This book is absolutely for all the late-diagnosed autistics and people with complicated relationships with family members who weren't capable of loving them in the way they deserved. But even if that doesn't describe you, there is so much to love about this book.

***You can expect:*** a feminist horror story, emotional healing, high tension and strong atmosphere (I was gripped from the first page), German folklore come to life, a gently autistic-coded protagonist, the creepy forest being a major character, a sexy closed-door sapphic romance that helps the protagonist heal and grow, found family, sisterly love, and explorations of fear, courage, and the trauma of living in a world that feels hostile to you. The villain is difficult to defeat, and he's scary both because he's a powerful monster and because of how he thrives on and delights in women's fear.

***I would not recommend it if any of the following is a deal-breaker for you:*** books that are more horror stories than traditional fantasy, body horror, books where the romantic feelings develop perhaps a tad quicker than you'd expect.

It's also worth noting that although this book is set in Germany and makes heavy use of German mythology, there was at least one mildly jarring change. In the book, Hexennacht celebrations have been moved from the 30th of April/1st of May to autumn, but a lot of the German vocabulary used to describe the celebration in the book still has May in its name — the Maibaum (May pole), Maibowle (May wine/punch), etc.

Season of Fear
Emily Cooper
August 28, 2025
Simon & Schuster UK

Season of Fear is Emily Cooper’s utterly engrossing, spine-tingling debut perfect for fans of Rachel Gillig & Ava Reid. Hauntingly beautiful and horrifying in equal measure, Season of Fear is a gothic feminist fairytale that explores the terror society inflicts on women and young girls, and the power of difference and self-acceptance.

BLOOD SPILLS FROM VEINS, SKIN STARTS TO CRACK,
IGNORE THE FOREST; TURN BACK, TURN BACK…

Born without the ability to feel fear, Ilse Odenwald dreams of being afraid. Because In the village of Heulensee, women’s fearfulness is holy, protective, and, above all, required. The Hexenwald, the monstrous forest that borders the village, attacks every time the sky turns blood-red. The townsfolk’s only defence is the women’s terror, which feeds the Saint of Fear who protects the village in exchange for their fear. But when Isle cannot bring forth the terror the Saint demands, it threatens to devour her sister. Unable to lose Thea, or produce the required fear, Ilse enters the Hexenwald, hoping that the monsters it harbours will finally scare her. But the forest is hiding a multitude of secrets and Ilse is about to discover that there’s much more than fear to be found within…

EYES BECOME SOCKETS, FLESH MELTS TO BONE.
THE FOREST IS HUNGRY; GO HOME, GO HOME.

Season of Fear is one of the most original, compelling debuts I’ve ever read. Full of monsters, horror, and Sapphic yearning, the beautifully-written book captured my attention from the first page to the last. I loved the gothic forest, the spine-tingling suspense, and the excruciating slow burn romance. Coupled with the found family, the book was equal parts dark horror and sweet sensuality - a rare and difficult combination to pull off!

THE HEXEN WON’T REST ‘TIL YOUR BLOOD IS SHED.
IGNORE THE WARNING, YOU’RE DEAD, YOU’RE DEAD.

The Hexenwald forest - full of flesh-eating trees, blood-sucking monsters, and terrifying illusions - was a highly effective and original use of the green world literary device. Where Shakespeare wrote green world comedy (to borrow Northrup Frye’s term), I would argue Emily Cooper employs green world horror. Cooper uses the monstrous forest not only as the setting for the journey of discovery the characters take in its bounds, but also to highlight the true horror facing girls is not the magical, carnivorous forest, but the world of man. Cooper deftly reveals the true monster terrorizing young girls is found much closer to home.

The book asks us what society asks of women and young girls, and at what cost.
Who is the real monster, the real cause of the terror?

Tropes & Comps:
Found Family
Enemies to Lovers
Slow Burn
Sapphic Romance
Gothic vibes
Monsters!
For fans of Rachel Gillig & Ava Reid

Season of Fear is out in the UK on August 28th. Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Season of Fear is one of those stories that sinks its claws into you from the first page and doesn’t let go. Atmospheric, emotional, and laced with horror, it’s a book that’s equal parts nightmare and fairytale, and I loved EVERY SINGLE minute of it.

Inspired by Bavarian folklore, this is a dark feminist fairytale full of horror, heart, and a sapphic romance that absolutely delivers.

Ilse lives in a village where fear is sacred and protection requires the women offering up their terror to an ancient Saint. But Ilse was born without fear. When her sister’s life is threatened, Ilse ventures into the monstrous forest that borders their town, hoping it can teach her to be afraid.

As a German speaker, I loved the use of German words throughout the story. It added so much atmosphere!
The forest is filled with nightmare fuel, and some scenes are horrifyingly descriptive. But beneath the horror is also a powerful story about being different, not fitting in, and learning to accept who you are.

Ilse is such a strong and compelling main character. I was completely rooting for her. And then there's the slow-burn sapphic romance, which is EVERYTHING. If you're looking for yearning and tension, look no further.
The side characters were so fun and charming, too. And the ending? What a beautiful conclusion. The final chapters had me on the edge of my seat, and the epilogue genuinely made me cry.

This was a haunting gothic fairytale I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

5 stars.

Hard hitting and very unsettling. I was hooked from the get go.
It was a story that kept me interested in the world and the characters without feeling dull and overly complicated for no reason.
If this is a debut I am very excited with what else Emily Cooper brings to the table