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coboshimself_'s review against another edition
4.0
"Where do tales begin after all? Once upon a time.
Once upon a time. So tales begin, each alike in some desperate season. Yet many other crisis—starting points for altogether different tales— wait to unfold themselves on the rich loam of every story, like seeds germinating among the roots of a full-grown tree? How came that father to be so faithless? What made his wife cruel? What brought the witch to those woods and imparted to her appetites so so unsavory?
So many links in the chain of circumstance. So many stories inside stories, waiting to be told.
Once upon a time."
Once upon a time. So tales begin, each alike in some desperate season. Yet many other crisis—starting points for altogether different tales— wait to unfold themselves on the rich loam of every story, like seeds germinating among the roots of a full-grown tree? How came that father to be so faithless? What made his wife cruel? What brought the witch to those woods and imparted to her appetites so so unsavory?
So many links in the chain of circumstance. So many stories inside stories, waiting to be told.
Once upon a time."
thewordwitch's review against another edition
2.0
This book holds such promise. The writing is lush with descriptions that leave the mouth watering, wanting to consume more. The setting is incredibly well-crafted, atmospheric, and ripe for autumnal reading. Unfortunately, that is where the pleasure in reading this book ends. I can't tell if I actually have a problem with the plot - it seems like it could have been really good. Perhaps it was meant to be a novel, or perhaps more needed to happen for it to be the length it was. Or, maybe the plot suffered from my main critique of the book - the characters. Our main character is wholly unlikable, and as much as Bailey tries to give him redeeming qualities, he can't. He never truly feels remorse for what he has done, nor does he learn from his past mistakes. Charles just keeps repeating his past foibles to varying degrees, much to the detriment of those around him. Any other character in the book feels incredibly 2D, lacking the depth that would make me care.
I really did want to like this book. It ticks a lot of the boxes. But the shoddy character craft usurped any of the glory that this tale could have told.
I really did want to like this book. It ticks a lot of the boxes. But the shoddy character craft usurped any of the glory that this tale could have told.
rhodesee's review against another edition
3.0
In the Night Wood is a wonderfully atmospheric read. If you like contemporary stories with a bit of creepiness and a bit of fantasy, you should give this one a go.
saltedsnail's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
So much of this book is absolutely gorgeous. The setting and the writing are what managed to scrape up two stars for me... It’s all squandered on a relentlessly unlikeable main character. I was genuinely quite surprised by the ending of this book because Charles is so irredeemably unlikable, emotionally inept, and disgustingly not self aware for the entirety that we’re forced along the grueling length of this novel that I fully expected, in true fairy tale fashion, that he must meet some grisly end to make it all worth it. Sure, he spends most of his time moaning and groaning about his “guilt” but such guilt is also bizarrely barren of any legitimate self reflection or growth. I actually rolled my eyes during that ending paragraph about “hope”. Thank goodness Erin stole the killing blow from this self aggrandizing, self pitying loser…. If only she’d left him in the wood.
The most horrifying thing is that I feel Charles is an incredibly realistic character where as the many supporting female roles feel flat and one dimensional. I have absolutely met people like Charles, adult men with the emotional maturity of literal children. He’s a self absorbed professor who loves to cheat on his not-beautiful-but-striking wife and neglect his daughter. He knows he is the main character of this story - I can understand that. What I cannot understand is why none of the other characters in this story believe they are the main character.
So much potential. What a waste.
The most horrifying thing is that I feel Charles is an incredibly realistic character where as the many supporting female roles feel flat and one dimensional. I have absolutely met people like Charles, adult men with the emotional maturity of literal children. He’s a self absorbed professor who loves to cheat on his not-beautiful-but-striking wife and neglect his daughter. He knows he is the main character of this story - I can understand that. What I cannot understand is why none of the other characters in this story believe they are the main character.
So much potential. What a waste.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Infidelity, and Misogyny
amberdeexterous's review against another edition
3.0
I expected more from this one, based off of the reviews. It is well-written with well-researched and rich lore, but it takes an awfully long time to get anywhere where tales of the wood collide with the present in a meaningful way. But the time the fairy tales crossed paths, came alive, and revealed themselves, I had all but lost interest in the characters.
conspystery's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I really enjoyed this book. The best way I can think to describe it is intricate in every possible manner; from the writing itself in setting and characterization alike to the layers of thematic meaning in its various narratives, this book is painstakingly, delightfully detailed. Its depth is rich to the point of intoxication, which for me made the book impossible to put down.
The prose of In The Night Wood is, in my mind, its greatest quality. Everything about it is enchanting, verbose, and ornate. The voice it gives to the narrative is compelling: it conveys alluring verdant unease with its descriptions of the woods, emphasizes the suffocating presence of grief and the slip from reality that loss can drive a person to in how it voices Erin and Charles, and the tight-knit, familiar, and yet somehow hollow insularity of the town is intriguing. I loved how specific ideas, and sometimes even whole phrases, were repeated throughout the book, always growing more vines and roots and leaves of words as they echoed to match the sprawling theme and setting. I truly think the writing of this novel lends credence to its plot in an impossible-to-ignore manner; it complements the narrative gorgeously, suits the book so perfectly it’s unsettling. I adored it.
I also massively enjoyed how twisting and and interweaved this book is with itself-- all its different layers, and there are many, are interconnected like a narrative net, and that in itself aligns with the novel’s theme in a way that is immensely fascinating and deeply satisfying at once. There are a few planes of literary significance with this book: its existence as a contemporary fiction novel, the plot of the titular children’s book Charles is researching, and the relevance of that children’s book to the “real” reality the novel takes place in are the main ones, though the lines between them blur throughout it. This book is also preoccupied quite heavily with writing, storytelling, and literature itself-- there’s many references throughout to various works of literature that in turn shape its own narrative. My favorite of these is the continued referral to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; that one in particular lends a lot of depth to the setting, symbols, and events of the novel, and it is endlessly compelling to consider. The narrative thread of storytelling as a self-fulfilling prophecy and the inevitable circularity of fate ties all these realms for interpretation together, and it does so in accordance with its own ideas: self-fulfilling, self-compounding, and intertwining. It’s hard to describe. This book is entrenched in its own layers of existence, in every aspect. It’s beautifully fitting and intriguing to read.
I do agree there were issues with the narrative treatment of the women in this book-- they do at times seem to fall into unfortunate cliches, and of course Charles, as the protagonist, takes narrative priority over them. I found overall that as far as this story explored Charles’s own stumble into mystery and self-definition, his presiding over the plot was somewhat necessary for it to work-- and maybe that’s an issue in its own right. I understand completely the frustration with the women of this novel not being as relevant to the plot as one might hope. Specifically, I really enjoyed Erin, Helen, and Silva as characters, and while I do feel they had a functional amount of depth for the story to unfold as it did, I would have loved to see their characters given more priority. That’s the one area of In The Night Wood I wish had been a bit different.
Ultimately, though, I found this book utterly bewitching. It embodies its themes with the atmosphere it creates and draws the audience in; everything this book does serves its narrative and its narrative serves everything it does in turn. As tangled of a web as this book is, every string of it feels intentional and full of meaning, rife with opportunities for interpretation. There are parts of it that I feel could have been approached just a bit better, but they are few and far between. Overall, this story effectively communicates the pressing nature of grief and how we write the fate that surrounds us, unearthly and twisting and full in its presentation. I enjoyed it immensely, and I feel like it definitely merits a reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief
Moderate: Blood, Vomit, and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
drowsyreaper's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 rounded up to 4. An enjoyable traipse through stories and myths and the cyclical nature of mistakes and regret as manipulated by narrative. The cover has been haunting me since I first saw this book, and I finally got around to reading it, and what do you know, the story is haunting as well! There are a few things that at a glance I wish had been done differently, but when I think about them, I realize that any change I could list offhand would've altered and damaged the story. It's a good, sad little fable and the second book I've finished today about breaking damaging cycles, so take that as you will (Black Light by Liz Hand is another haunting book, though a bit longer and significantly more violent and depraved. I highly recommend it.). If I ever get a dedicated library, I'll buy a copy, but for now, I shall enjoy getting this one from the library.
brianharrison's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0