Drowned Country

Format read: ebook (Libby)
Reading time: 1h20
Tags: fantasy, lgbt (m/m), light horror, adventure
Own a copy: no
Reread likelihood: 8/10

It's been well over a year since I read the first book in this duology, Silver in the Wood, so in all honesty, it took me a good 20 pages to situate myself in the story and remember what happened in the other book before truly enjoying this one. Obviously, this is a me problem, and should I reread this duology, I would read the two novellas back-to-back to fully appreciate them.

From what I remember of the first book (and after checking my reading notes to refresh my memory) my main issue I had with the first book was that the characters didn't have enough depth, and Tobias and Henry's relationship didn't have a very strong foundation.

In this book, however, it's quite the opposite. The focus of this story was more so on the characters' growth and development, which gave more depth to their relationships to one another. In this novella, we also meet a new character, Maud, who reveals herself to be an interesting catalyst for the plot, and we learn more about Henry's monster-hunting mother (who is a pretty cool lady when you think about it).

The use of flashbacks in part two “The Queen of Fairyland” added a lot of useful information on how and why things went wrong at the end of the first book. I found this a clever device to use in a novella.

Where the first book focused on Tobias' voice, and the emphasis was on the task of being (or becoming) the guardian of an ancient forest, this second book was from the perspective of Henry Silver, which was a welcome change in my opinion. I personally like Henry more out the two because of his more engaging personality, but Tobias in this book was very endearing too.

Drowned Country takes us on a magical adventure to a sunken forest and a lost fairy kingdom and, despite the length of the book (only 176 pages!) the scenes are compelling and action packed.

I feel that this second book is a significant improvement on the last, and the fact that it is so short and easy to consume in one sitting makes this duology a very likely reread in the future.