Clara’s Verdict
I listened to the first book, Anathema, on a wet October weekend, and by the time I reached the final chapter I had accepted that Keri Lake was building something with genuine ambition. This is not genre comfort food. The Eating Woods trilogy has a logic and a darkness that demands full attention, and Eldritch, the second volume, picks up immediately where its predecessor ended without offering the kindness of a recap. The reviewer who described it as tearing up the groundwork of Book One and planting something thornier and more rewarding in its place is not being hyperbolic. That is an accurate description of what happens here.
This is gothic dark fantasy with horror running visibly through its seams. Flesh-eating monsters, a spreading curse that has stripped Foxglove Parish of the last glimmer of humanity, and the slow dissolution of Zevander’s sanity as he is deprived of essential vivicantem make for a consistently unsettling atmosphere. What elevates it above standard dark fantasy fare is the emotional precision Lake brings to Zevander’s backstory. She peels back his history with care, revealing layers that reframe everything the first book established about him. One reviewer described the backstory surrounding Zevander and his friends as utterly fascinating, though deeply uncomfortable to read, and that is an accurate warning as much as a recommendation.
The romance thread, a slow burn between Maevyth and Zevander, deepens here in ways that feel earned by the accumulated context of two books rather than manufactured for narrative convenience. The quote one reviewer reproduced from the text, You are a fate I never dared to dream, moon witch, gives a sense of the register Lake is operating in: operatic, emotionally intense, and entirely comfortable with its own darkness.
About the Audiobook
Eldritch is the second book in The Eating Woods trilogy. Listeners must read Anathema first; the narrative picks up without recap and the emotional weight of Zevander’s history will not land as intended without that context. Published by Podium Audio on 31 March 2026, the audiobook runs for 23 hours and 12 minutes and carries a rating of 4.4 from 14 listeners on Audible UK. The narrator is James Cassidy, and the production is described as narrated in duet style, suggesting at least two voices handle distinct perspectives within the narrative.
The gothic atmosphere Lake constructs across the two published volumes of The Eating Woods trilogy is notably specific in its influences. The flesh-eating creatures of Foxglove Parish, the spreading darkness, and the boundary between the mortal lands of Mortasia and the otherworldly realm of Aethyria draw on a tradition of folk horror and old-world Gothic that feels distinct from the generic dark fantasy that the subgenre often defaults to. The magic system, which reviewers consistently describe as unique and carefully constructed, adds a layer of internal logic that prevents the darkness from feeling arbitrary. This is a world with rules, and the consequences that flow from breaking those rules are structural rather than melodramatic.
Both the synopsis and the available reviews carry explicit content warnings. Lake lists trigger warnings on her website, and listeners should consult those before proceeding. This is unambiguously adult content, and the coercive and psychologically harrowing elements are a deliberate feature of the narrative rather than incidental darkness.
The Narration
James Cassidy handles the duet-style narration across 23 hours of gothic fantasy. The 4.4 average rating from 14 listeners suggests the narration is not impeding the experience for the core readership, though the sample is small enough that individual variation may account for some of the spread. A psychological deterioration arc of the kind Zevander undergoes demands genuine range from a narrator, and the duet structure, which implies at least one additional voice, is well-suited to the split perspective that Lake builds through the second volume. Podium Audio’s productions maintain reliable technical standards, and the 23-hour runtime suggests a full-cast commitment to the material.
What Readers Say
The reviews available are passionate. One reader called Eldritch a powerful follow-up, noting Lake’s confidence, ambition, and emotional precision in expanding from a planned duology into a trilogy. Marisa gave four stars and praised it as darker, deeper, and more emotionally complex than its predecessor. The five-star response from luckylovesbooks was visceral: I am not okay. I am unwell. Another reviewer described the gothic atmosphere, the spiders, the flesh eaters, and the mystery of whether dragons will appear in the third book as eerie and fascinating, and called Maevyth one of the best female main characters in the genre. The lone Spanish-language review of a physical copy has been attached to the wrong listing and should be disregarded entirely.
Who Should Listen?
Start with Anathema. This is not an entry point, and arriving here without the first book will deprive you of both the narrative context and the emotional investment that makes the Zevander backstory revelations land as heavily as they should. If you enjoyed the first book and can manage the darker content territory, Eldritch rewards the commitment substantially. Those sensitive to non-consensual content, psychological horror, or graphic violence should review Lake’s content warnings carefully before proceeding. The 23-hour runtime is a serious investment, but listeners already invested in Maevyth and Zevander will not feel the length as a burden. Listen on Audible UK
