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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Beautiful and endearing and magical! Oh this was so special!!
“You could cut a tree down to nothing and it'd still put out shoots in the springtime, if the roots went deep enough.”
“You could cut a tree down to nothing and it'd still put out shoots in the springtime, if the roots went deep enough.”
My actual rating might be closer to 3.5 stars because I wasn’t a huge fan of the writing style but the story is great (Green Man! (Practical) Folklorists! Myths! What else do I need?) and I will definitely read the next one which I’m even more excited about.
A delicious little story of a folklorist getting in over his head with the subject of his research. Glad I've got the sequel on hand to start immediately!
Lovely, short, and sweet. An original story with rich descriptions reminiscent of Tolkien.
"Tobias felt Bramble clear as day among them, young and strong—and then the small and necessary, the bracken and ferns, the mosses and mushrooms. Here were the songbirds and ravens and solemn wide-winged owls, shy deer and burrowing rabbits, fox and badger and snake, beetles and moths and midges, all the things that were the wood, that lived each in their own way under the shelter of the old oak."
"Tobias felt Bramble clear as day among them, young and strong—and then the small and necessary, the bracken and ferns, the mosses and mushrooms. Here were the songbirds and ravens and solemn wide-winged owls, shy deer and burrowing rabbits, fox and badger and snake, beetles and moths and midges, all the things that were the wood, that lived each in their own way under the shelter of the old oak."
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Absolutely lovely. I've never been one for such short books, as I had believed that there was no way to tell a full, satisfying story in such few pages. Tesh has proved me wrong. I look forward to reading the second book in this duology!
2.5 stars rounded up because I'm the problem : at some point I shall have to accept that fairytales never do it for me anymore, am I even a real bookworm then
For my 150th book this year I read Emily Tesh's English folktale-inspired Silver In The Wood. If you're a fan of the forest, green man mythology, historical fantasy, or badass women I think you'll love this novella.
Based in the (hand-wavey) 19th century it follows Tobias, a 'wild man of the wood', and the new lord of the manor and folklore collector Henry whose keen to discover the wood's ancient secrets. The writing is wonderfully atmospheric, and even on a sunny day I felt like I was in the shady woods, smelling the damp of the earth.
Though slight in length Silver In The Wood manages to deliver a rollicking and creepy story, and even manages to get a bit of m/m romance in there (though this is minimal so no matter if you're not a romance reader). I was a big fan of Tobias' dryad protector Bramble and Henry's mother, the type of no nonsense older woman I absolutely love in fiction.
Between this and KJ Charles' 1920s Green Man inspired Spectred Isle I think I have a new favourite microgenre - queer old English historical paranormal romance where there's a strong chance someone will get eaten by a tree? Please everyone write more of this.
Based in the (hand-wavey) 19th century it follows Tobias, a 'wild man of the wood', and the new lord of the manor and folklore collector Henry whose keen to discover the wood's ancient secrets. The writing is wonderfully atmospheric, and even on a sunny day I felt like I was in the shady woods, smelling the damp of the earth.
Though slight in length Silver In The Wood manages to deliver a rollicking and creepy story, and even manages to get a bit of m/m romance in there (though this is minimal so no matter if you're not a romance reader). I was a big fan of Tobias' dryad protector Bramble and Henry's mother, the type of no nonsense older woman I absolutely love in fiction.
Between this and KJ Charles' 1920s Green Man inspired Spectred Isle I think I have a new favourite microgenre - queer old English historical paranormal romance where there's a strong chance someone will get eaten by a tree? Please everyone write more of this.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated