There’s a monster in the woods that tears people’s hearts out

Rowan Rose lives in the little village of Nag’s End with her father. Like her father, an experienced scholar, Rowan enjoys assisting him with translations and is proud of her achievements. Five soldiers ride through the village on their way up the mountain, and some days later, are found horribly killed by the men of the village. In a journal left by one of the soldiers are the words: “It’s starting.”. The elders of Nag’s End declare the deaths the result of an animal attack, but not everyone is convinced. Among them is Rowan’s best friend, the innkeeper’s son Tom. He’s clearly affected by the dead men, and reluctant to tell her about what they found. He’s also clearly smitten with the new girl in the village, the distractingly beautiful Fiona Eira, who Rowan’s father has forbidden her to ever speak to. Rowan is sad to see her best friend drifting away from her, but also wants nothing more than for him to be happy.

Soon it’s obvious that whatever killed the soldiers in the mountain was not a wild animal, and the death toll in the village keeps going up. Rowan keeps having vivid nightmares that seem connected with the lurking horror spreading in the village. Tom is acting more and more strangely and together with his brother Jude, Rowan tries to investigate the cause.

The Glass Casket contains influences from a number of fairy tales, and much of it feels like it could have been written by the Brothers Grimm. Read the rest of my review on my blog.