A review by carol26388
The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

4.0

Enjoyed it very much. Mystical-based urban fantasy, or rater, rural fantasy, as it largely takes place in a remote area of Arizona. Although this book was enjoyable once I sat down and made some uninterrupted time for it, I found the writing occasionally sermonizing, such as when a character is making a point about wildlife being shot and poisoned under game laws, or bringing suburban housing values to rural settings. It's not that I don't agree with those values--I do--it's that it seemed to interrupt the story flow. I don't know, maybe it was appropriate in the guise of enlightening Maggie about the man-made troubles the desert faced. Aside from that, I savored a book that was clearly in love with artistic expression, chiefly painting, poetry and writing. I wish I knew more about some of the traditions that contextualize Anna's paintings, so I could have a better mental picture of her work. I love the southwest desert, and appreciated the time Windling spent describing it. I felt the structure of the story could have been a little stronger, as the narrative struggled with shifting perspectives (Maggie, Fox, Dora), shifting purposes (escaping an unhappy love, researching Cooper, building a desert life) and then shifting styles (omnipotent narrator, personal reflection, intercepted letters). Nonetheless, the language and imagery is enough to rate this space on a limited personal bookshelf.