By: Adam Nevill
“From the very core of each of them, their ancestors seemed to cry out in inarticulate voices. right then, they screamed in alarm from times before symbols and language could depict such things that hunted and meant murder.”
Adam Nevill, The Ritual
*This post contains spoilers for The Ritual
Overview:
Four old university friends reunite for a hiking trip in the Scandinavian wilderness of the Arctic Circle. No longer young men, they have little left in common, and tensions rise as they struggle to connect. Frustrated and tired, they take a shortcut that turns their hike into a nightmare that could cost them their lives.
The ritual
Lost, hungry and surrounded by forest untouched for millennia, they stumble across an isolated old house. Inside, they find the macabre remains of old rites and pagan sacrifices; ancient artefacts and unidentifiable bones. This place of dark ritual is home to a bestial predator that is still alive in the ancient forest. And now they’re the prey.
As the four friends struggle for salvation, they discover that death doesn’t come easy among these ancient trees…
Pacing
I appreciated the pacing and how it changes throughout the book.
The story starts immediately. Very little background as to who these characters are and how they relate to each other. The reader discovers this through the story unfolding. No need for a chapter of character introductions. The men’s actions and how they navigate the terror teaches the reader all they need to know about who they are.
After the first 25 pages the characters are already days into their hike, lost in the woods and discover the cabin. As a reader, I’m already uncomfortable and creeped out by their predicament.
Most stories would have built to this after much more time. When I got to this point and realized there was still almost 400 pages I was excited to see where else this was going.
The pace slows down dramatically when Luke is the only one left. His days being held captive by the young worshipers are long and drawn out. Excruciating detail is used to describe his time with them. I’d imagine that this is how time would feel for Luke. He is beaten and broken and minutes feel like hours when you are on the brink of death.
During this part of the book, the reader is trying to hurry the story along to finally see the creature and find out Luke’s fate. There is no rushing. Just like Luke, you never know when the end will come and how much longer you have.
Hutch’s Fate
For half of the book Hutch is set up to be the main character. He is the one that suggests they take a short cut through the untouched forest and has the regret that he led the party into peril. He is also the one that tries to make peace between the friends. When Luke gets angry at Dom and Phil he is the one to fill him in on the issues in their personal life. Hutch seems to be the one that has all the information in the group.
When Hutch unceremoniously disappears and is found to be seemingly sacrificed I was left trying to figure out who the actual main character was. That shift halfway through the story was disorienting and perhaps is set to give the reader the same feeling the friends have. We as the reader don’t know which way is up and are lost in the woods as well.
This is where Luke’s story really begins. He was seen as the adversary and liability up to this point. He quickly shifts to the sympathetic main character.
Disorientation
As I mentioned, Nevill writes in a way that disorients the reader. Just having four characters with four different POVs shifts everything around. Also, the “dreams’ that the men have make it hard to distinguish who is experiencing it at the time.
This is all done on purpose to make the reader just as disoriented as the friends wandering through the forest.
The description of their travels does this as well. Everything is described similarly and very few variations occur. All the growth in the forest is thick and decaying and the only time something breaks up the monotony is the seemingly man made structures they stumble upon. Unfortunately for them, every time they come across something that is not “natural” something terrifying happens to the group.
Overall,
I loved the forest setting and the folklore story.
Nevill never tries to trick the reader into thinking that the thing killing the men is anything but an ancient creature. It is fully embraced even when other humans are introduced who could have been hunting them in the name of something imaginary. The old Gods are real and they demand a sacrifice.
I have been wanting to read this book for quite some time and am so glad I was finally able to. 417 pages and I finished it all in one day.
My first 5 star book of 2026.
Rating: 5/5 stars
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