Paperback, 109 pages
Published Sept. 11, 2019 by Tom Doherty Associates.
There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. Tobias, tethered to the forest, does not dwell on his past life, but he lives a perfectly unremarkable existence with his cottage, his cat, and his dryads.
When Greenhollow Hall acquires a handsome, intensely curious new owner in Henry Silver, everything changes. Old secrets better left buried are dug up, and Tobias is forced to reckon with his troubled past—both the green magic of the woods, and the dark things that rest in its heart.
story about a young man who gets stuck in an ancient wood as it's protector in tree form. if you like faeries and dryads and stories about them, this may be for you. like stories about gods, it's not my thing.
A lovely novella about The Green Man, who lives with his cat, mends clothes, hangs with dryads, and tends to the forest. Tesh does a lot of worldbuilding in a short number of pages, throwing in twists, a sweet queer romance, and a sense of danger for the characters we love. Part 1 of a duology, looking forward to the next.
Strengths
The world building and exploration of English folklore was generally fascinating, though not something I'm able to fact check. The use of folklore to drive the plot and characters was also skilfully accomplished, and I found myself invested in the various powers and magics of the wood. The protagonist, especially, was a fascinating man, whose sense of age and wisdom were well conveyed.
Weaknesses
The romance in this just felt hollow (get it, like a tree?). Most of the 'romance' in this book is just the protagonist remarking that the love interest has propositioned him a couple of times, or that he's cute. I found there to be far too little development of the actual relationship between the two, especially given the revelation that Silver had been using the protagonist mainly for research. This called any of their previously interesting/romantic interactions into question.
The pacing also felt a bit …
Strengths
The world building and exploration of English folklore was generally fascinating, though not something I'm able to fact check. The use of folklore to drive the plot and characters was also skilfully accomplished, and I found myself invested in the various powers and magics of the wood. The protagonist, especially, was a fascinating man, whose sense of age and wisdom were well conveyed.
Weaknesses
The romance in this just felt hollow (get it, like a tree?). Most of the 'romance' in this book is just the protagonist remarking that the love interest has propositioned him a couple of times, or that he's cute. I found there to be far too little development of the actual relationship between the two, especially given the revelation that Silver had been using the protagonist mainly for research. This called any of their previously interesting/romantic interactions into question.
The pacing also felt a bit odd. The pinnacle of this book seemed to be split into two parts, and not just in the sense of their being multiple climaxes as a plot device, but that the climax was literally put on pause because Silver felt like it, once again calling into question the supposed romantic relationship that had developed between the characters. .
In sum,
This story, as shown by my three star rating, was just okay. I wouldn't not recommend this book, but it certainly won't be hitting any of my most recommended or favourite books. For a short read, it is relatively worthwhile if you'd like to explore a bit of folklore
