Reviews

In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey

starryeved's review against another edition

3.0

Every story is a ghost story.

What I Expected: A folktale or fable about a dissolved marriage, in which the intrepid couple enter the creepy Night Wood on a whirlwind fantastical adventure.
What I Actually Got: A winding rabbit hole of a tale. Charles and Erin Hayden's dissolved marriage, rent by infidelities and the death of their daughter Lissa. A creeping story of horned kings and dark fables, of sacrifices and ciphers lost in the depths of Shakespeare, Dante, De Quincey, and more. Conspiracy upon conspiracy through old tomes and ancient lost beings.

Quite clearly I did not know what to expect of this.

What followed for us all?
You didn't always find the things you'd lost. Sometimes the wood swallowed you whole.

In the Night Wood was far bleaker and grittier, much more grounded in reality and philosophical than its premise suggests. In that very way it calls to you, like shadows from the depths. Dale Bailey's writing is lyrical and hypnotic, lulling the senses, perfectly fitting as he carves cyclical, intricate character studies on Charles and Erin's marriage and on the ghosts that haunt their day-to-day existence, veiled by the darkly enchanting promises of the Night Wood around them and the creeping manor left by their predecessor Caedmon Hollow.

Time was cyclical, life perpetually blooming out of the lees of the past.

Frankly, there is no other way I can describe it. If you take this as it is, it will not be what you expected, but it will rivet you in an entirely different way, drawing you further and further into the darkness with whispering promises.

In the Night Wood is yet another phantasmagoric read that delves into the primordial, raw bases of the fairy tales and myths we have come to love—that tells us that we are all but stories within one another, intertwining and overlapping with once upon a times, and that happily ever afters are not as brilliant as they seem. For at the end of the day, we end with this:

Maybe if there weren't really any happily ever afters to our once upon a times, there could at least be hard-won accommodation to the vicious world, a compromise at tale's end with bitterness and suffering.
Maybe.

m_elissa_m's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

amylittleford's review

4.0

I am reviewing this book after receiving a free copy through netgalley.

When I started reading this book I knew that it wouldn't be like any I usually read. The whole way through I wanted to read on and see how this book would end. The whole book was surrounded by grief of a child and the break up of a marriage. I wanted to help Charles and Erin but nothing could help them. As for all the missing children and the Horned King, I'm still not sure if it were real. The past suggested so. Everything points towards it. I loved how it has that british dark fairy tale vibe. I shared the denial of the narrator, Charles, disbelieving that any of it could be real. Overall, it was a very good book. You can feel all the emotions and everything feels real.

Amy x

myadventurewithbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

whimsywack0o's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

gbrogan's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

tentenlibrarian's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book. It was beautifully written, and atmospheric. My biggest complaint is that I thought Charles was an irredeemable weeny, and I’m irritated by his redemption.

rachelunabridged's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Child death, Alcoholism, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Murder, and Kidnapping

Minor: Sexual content

driedfrogpills's review

2.0

I think the greatest thing this book has going for it is that it's really two stories in a way - Charles and Erin's story and the story "written" by Caedmon Hollow. I thought using excerpts from the fictional children's book was a very meta way to introduce sections of the book, and I almost wish I could read that book because Bailey's writing seemed strongest in those sections. Unfortunately, most of the book focuses on Charles and Erin, and it felt like it dragged in sections. The book isn't very long but it still felt too long to maintain the eerie atmosphere it was going for.

hcm221's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0