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A review by caitlinxmartin
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling
3.0
Terri Windling is one of the editors of the very cool Fairy Tale series of books and of the Bordertown series. I really like all of those books and when I saw she had a full-length novel I grabbed it up. I love this kind of fantastical reworking of old stories.
For me this book was just okay. Honestly, I think Charles de Lint has done a much better job with this kind of story (Forests of the Heart, for instance, and big chunks of Someplace to Be Flying). Ultimately he's a better writer than Windling.
I really like the desert setting, although I'm partial to New Mexico over Arizona, and Windling gives you a good sense of the feel of the place. Where I have quibbles are with the characters - they're all just a little bit too perfectly groovy for me to care and seem sort of surface magazine cover glossy with not much underneath. Even the fairies or pixies or spirits of the land or whatnot are sort of all surface shine, but not a lot of there there.
An okay read, just not the best ever.
For me this book was just okay. Honestly, I think Charles de Lint has done a much better job with this kind of story (Forests of the Heart, for instance, and big chunks of Someplace to Be Flying). Ultimately he's a better writer than Windling.
I really like the desert setting, although I'm partial to New Mexico over Arizona, and Windling gives you a good sense of the feel of the place. Where I have quibbles are with the characters - they're all just a little bit too perfectly groovy for me to care and seem sort of surface magazine cover glossy with not much underneath. Even the fairies or pixies or spirits of the land or whatnot are sort of all surface shine, but not a lot of there there.
An okay read, just not the best ever.