Frecklemaid reviewed Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh
Review of 'Silver in the Wood' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
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
