I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh Published by Tor.com on June 18 2019
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 112
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
The nitty-gritty: An atmospheric, dreamy tale based on the Green Man myth that lacked a cohesive plot, but had some wonderful moments nonetheless.
This was an odd little tale that I enjoyed, although it didn’t completely capture me the way I was hoping, which is the reason for my middle-of-the-road rating.
Tobias Finch has lived in Greenhollow Wood for hundreds of years, a large burly man who is sometimes sighted by the townspeople nearby, and thus rumors have sprung up that he might be the Wild Man of legend. Tobias lives alone in a rundown cabin, keeping an eye on the woods and caring for the dryads who live there. One evening during a rainstorm, a stranger wanders into the woods and Tobias decides to rescue him from the rain and bring him into his cabin. The stranger is a man named Henry Silver, a scholar of mythology and history, young and handsome and full of youthful enthusiasm. Tobias is drawn to Henry, but sends him on his way.
But Henry cannot stay away from Tobias, despite his warnings to avoid the woods during the summer, when the legendary Fabian Rafela, or Red Fay as he’s called, searches for young, attractive men to entice back to his lair. Henry is caught by Fabian, even though Tobias tries to save him, and this event brings back painful memories of Tobias’s own youth, when Fabian stole him too.
I loved the idea of the Wild Man, a myth brought to life by Tobias. Tobias is literally part of the woods. He’s been their caretaker for years and has a simple routine he’s established over time, but the appearance of Henry Silver changes everything. Henry is obsessed with mythology and the stories that have sprung up over the years about the Wild Man, and at first he doesn’t realize he’s interacting with a living legend. About halfway through the story, we meet Henry’s mother, Mrs. Silver, who is much more than she appears, and it turns out she knows all about Tobias. When Fabian enters the story, it becomes a tale of the fae, with Fabian acting as a fae who steals (in this case) young men. I did love the blending of these two myths, both centered around a magical wood.
There is a sweet but subtle blossoming romance between Henry and Tobias, but the story is just too short to really develop it well, although I did get a sense at the end of the story that this relationship will progress off the page. In fact, I much preferred the relationship between Tobias and Bramble, the young dryad who watches over Tobias and keeps him safe and hidden from people who might wander into the woods. Bramble is a spirit who lives in a tree, and she and the other dryads move about the forest on their own. Tobias is like a father figure to these dryads, and there were some sweet and sad moments between him and Bramble, especially at the end.
What I loved most about this story were the atmospheric references to the wood and how Tobias and the dryads are intertwined with the tress and land around them. Tesh uses root imagery to describe Tobias’ connection to the earth and the forest, and even his physical descriptions take on a dreamy quality as the tendrils of his hair become metaphorical vines. There is one memorable scene where Tobias rams a wooden walking stick into the ground, which immediately grows roots and becomes a sapling. These magical touches added to the mythological, fairy tale quality of the story.
However, the story itself was a bit meandering for my taste. It’s full of interesting and touching vignettes, but there’s not a whole lot of plot to grab onto. For that reason I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to, although I did love Emily Tesh’s writing and her atmospheric descriptions. Despite the fact that I wasn’t blown away by this story, I’m interested in reading more from her in the future.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Sounds like of cool to bad it just didn’t quite go the distance to get that 4 stars. 🙂
It had its moments but overall it wasn’t quite there.
I’m reading this one right now and agree with your take on it. I find that sometimes I do enjoy a bit of a meandering tale as long as it’s not some 4oo pages.
I’d love to read your review, I’ll keep an eye out for it:-)
I’m glad you were able to enjoy this somewhat. I’m thinking it might not be the book for me. It does have an interesting cover.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Blitz and Giveaway ~ For The Hunt by Debbie Cassidy
The cover is actually perfect for the story:-)
I’m looking forward to this one!
Hope you enjoy it!
I was curious about this! But at 112 pages and with a plot that meanders while the time to tell a story is already so limited? I have a feeling I might have a hard time connecting to this one!
I know your general thoughts on novellas anyway, so I would predict this wouldn’t work for you:-)
Lovely review, Tammy! 🙂 The cover is gorgeous which is complemented by Tesh’s atmospheric writing. A tighter plot would have been better.
Debjani recently posted…The 4 Things That Earn 5-Star Book Reviews
Novellas are tricky, it’s hard to really get a good solid plot in such short space, but I would love to see what she does with a novel length work:-)
I’ve been curious about this one. I think I first saw it on your blog a month or two ago. The plot issues make it sound like it might not be for me, but it’s a great review!
Thanks Sarah, it’s definitely on the “quiet” side of storytelling, meaning there aren’t a lot of heavy action scenes. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break and read a quieter book.
This sounds like a delightful idea that however lacked some strong roots (sorry, pun unintended…) to gain more firmer ground.
Still, it’s a short tale and your review piqued my curiosity, together with that amazing cover 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…Short Story Review: THE THING ABOUT GHOST STORIES, by Naomi Kritzer
It’s definitely worth reading, and I’m glad I discovered this author:-)
I was really curious about this one too – but, I hadn’t realised it was a short story and they don’t tend to work for me tbh so I’ll probably avoid.
Lynn 😀
It’s definitely a length that doesn’t work for everyone, although let’s all just ooh and aahh at that cover!
I’ve seen a couple of reviews for this one, and I’m so curious – it sounds right up my woodland 😉
Hope you can read it, it’s such an intriguing concept:-)
I love the cover for this one. I didn’t realize it was a novella though. I don’t have the best luck with those and always seem to be left wanting more. The premise does sound really cool though.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Weekly Recap #109: Week of 6/16 – 6/22
Me too, often novellas are in the odd range of being either too long or too short. It seems to be a tough format to master!
I was sort of interested in this one (and not just because I love the cover, but yes, the cover is very pretty, too). It sounds like a really interesting novella, but it seems to suffer from what I think most novellas I’ve read suffer from: not enough words for not enough plot. Which is a shame. I might still check this one out, though. The way you describe the characters sounds so interesting! Great review.
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa
I think this would have made an excellent novel-length story. I really love her writing!
Cool, yours is the first review I’ve read for this and I’ve been intrigued about it since it appeared in my Instagram feed. It sounds exactly the sort of thing I’m going to love. Moving it over to the to-buy list. 😀
Hope you love it, Mayri!
I was excited for this book before I even knew everything it was about but now I’m even more excited about reading this! Great review, Tammy!
I loved Bramble and her relationship with Tobias! And I liked the atmosphere and magical woodsiness too. But yeah, I felt the same as you, basically.
I have this and I’m tentatively excited about reading it because a) magical woods and b) queer romance, but I do wish it were a full novel. 112 pages just seems too short for a relationship-driven story. But still, the forest metaphors sound wonderful! <3
Great review, and I am sorry this one wasn’t more of a homerun for you.
Kal @ Reader Voracious recently posted…Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2019
Das betrifft beide Versionen des Spiels (DE, INT).
Malorie recently posted…Malorie
I always find the “Green Man” sort of intrinsically creepy! I think I’d enjoy the book’s wonderful moments!
The cover is very cool. It sounds at least like the concept was good.
Required tto compose yyou a really little word to give thanks to
you yet again concerning the nice suggestions you’ve offered here.
Lionel recently posted…Lionel