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. There is a Wild Man who lives in the deep quiet of Greenhollow, and he listens to the wood. I enjoyed reading two of the three, but one was surprisingly boring. And the third is a middle-grade fantasy novel about the boyhood years of the famous wizard Merlin. The second, a paranormal, historical fiction romance with some steampunk influence that’s inspired by the fairytale Sleeping Beauty. The first is a Tor novella about a Wild Man of the woods whose life is upended when he receives a visit from an unassuming human.

It makes me feel as if I’m not progressing with my reading goals, even if I am.Īlthough the stories I’ll discuss in this post are all fantasy, they are quite different from each other. Not that it’s a big deal, but I like to post a review for every book I read so being this behind on reviews irks me. But things are getting ridiculous because it’s now November and there are books I read in August that I haven’t yet talked about on here. I prefer to dedicate a full post to each one. And I’d happily read a lot more about the adventures of Tobias and, solving supernatural mysteries and dealing with mythological threats - that part could’ve been a lot longer and a lot more detailed and I’d have been happy.I hardly ever post mini reviews of novels.

I enjoyed this both as a telling of a less-used myth and for the queer love story. Despite the atmosphere of quiet greenery, there’s a lot going on - which is true of all forests, really. There is also a badass older lady who takes down supernatural threats, the coming to life of some myths that would have been better left quiet, and an awesome Dryad called Bramble. The relationship between Tobias and Henry is a quiet centre of this story, along with Tobias’ own development and rejoining of the world outside the forest. Naturally, that isn’t the last they see of each other, though Tobias tries to protect Henry from his own interest in the myths of the forest - myths of wildness and sacrifice, to which Tobias also has links. One day the owner of the lands, Henry Silver, comes by, stays the night due to a rainstorm, and awkwardly flirts with Tobias. He’s a Green Man, a creature of mythology - not quite a male Dryad, but a man whose existence is nonetheless deeply entwined with that of a vast oak growing near his cottage. Tobias Finch has a quiet life within the forest, dealing with supernatural threats within its boundaries and protecting the forest. I’d call this a quiet story, but there is in fact plenty that happens once it kicks off.

Silver in the wood review