Silver in the Wood

Interesting short story based on the Greenman lore, set in a world full of fae and cryptids and people that hunt them. It's seems barely mm - Silver is obviously interested but while Tobias seems to understand sex and homosexuality, he seems barely interested (this seems to change in the second novel but I'm currently reading that). 400 years of being alone will do that to you. The story gets a little dark and spooky towards the end with a somewhat HEA. If you're into paranormal romance, I'd definitely give it a shot.

Beautiful, warm, spooky and new. The story of Tobias Finch, the Wild Man of Greenhollow Wood, was not quite what I thought it would be and a lot more. When I read a sample of it I thought it a cottagecore excuse for a steamy queer romance. It was not. It was romantic and touching and a little sexy, but it also had some great drama and grit, and an ending that suited the overall faerie vibe. The prose is lush and grounded, the dialogue right on point, and the characters painted with skill and reverence. This might be the best novella I've read in the past few years.

Sometimes I want to tell developing writers “You can do whatever you want, you don't have to obey all these little rules. As long as you do it well.” This story does everything well.

4.5 stars. This was a beautiful read, a mix of magical realism, pastoral fantasy, and m/m romance. To top it all off, you have very smooth and beautiful writing that was just the right level of detail and eased me into this lush and richly mysterious world in a novella.

I love how you were kinda kept guessing as to who or what Tobias really was for the first half of the book. His mystery gave him a bit of a charm and you kinda appreciate him for the cinnamon roll that he really is.

But I'd also like to give a shout out to Mrs Silver who I might actually like as a character second to Tobias and before Henry Silver. Maybe it's because I'm a mom myself, but I could absolutely enter into her feelings. She was always mission-focused - she came, she planned, she executed. Frankly, she was a bit of a badass. She was smart, persevering in the face of adversity, compassionate, and most of all had a lot of love to give.

I received a copy of this in exchange for my open and honest review.

This is a slow burn of a story. I read one of the other reviewers describe this story as having its own music. It dances and sways to its own rhythm and prose. Much like the beat of the forest, you get the sense that there is a deep thrumming that exists from page to page. It adds a deep atmospheric quality to the narrative. The only issue is that it is a very specific type of story. It has an almost misty type quality to it that is like viewing a story through a keyhole.

Tesh wove a lovely and romantic but restrained love story around the green man myth. Instead of just a myth steeped in legend, Tesh humanizes the green man with backstory. Tesh explains how the green man experience time, yet tries to humanize himself and not get lost with the woods. And how he deals with dryads and his very fun cat, Pearl.

I don't think that this type of storytelling appeals to the masses. But, if you enjoy fae type quality in storytelling you will enjoy this story. It is beautifully done.

3.0 out of 5 stars

A compact folktale about a mysterious man living deep in a magical forest. Author Emily Tesh immediately immerses you in her vivid world full of fae and foliage. The story, the writing, and the characters are all solid and I mostly enjoyed my time spent in Greenhollow Wood...although I'm not sure I'd want to return there for future adventures.

This is deliciously what I want Naomi Novik's folklore tales to be, and I suspect the superiority of this one is the novella length. Not trying to stretch it out into a novel-length work made it a folklore-y (with the old-school, mean, fae, not the Disney kind) and romance-y and teasingly just-right-but-almost-not-enough story. Not without flaws: Mum was extremely deus ex machina, but satisfying all the same.

Ondanks de korte lengte werd ik er echt in gezogen. Omdat dit een novelle is, miste het natuurlijk een beetje diepgang en verkenning, maar toch slaagde het erin me naar dit magische bos te transporteren dat zowel betoverend als bedreigend is. Vergelijkbaar met dat onheilspellend woud, was dit verhaal zowel schattig en gezellig, als donker en mysterieus. Ik was meteen gehecht aan de personages en ben zeker en vast curieus naar het vervolg.

3½ stars for this debut novella!

The premise was interesting, the execution was on point, but the pacing was a bit off considering that it's such a short piece. I felt that apart for Tobias the characters weren't as developed nor properly introduced for me to get attached to them, especially Fabian and Silver. The romance was very light, which is fine, but the downside was that I didn't feel much for the relationship. There wasn't much buildup or tension between the two characters, and the resulting relationship felt a bit out of place (a sad result of the short number of pages and the nature of the novella).

The leading up to the action scene was much too long so that when we got to the climax of the story, it felt rushed. Although not a bad piece by any means, I think this novella could have been expanded into a full-length novel instead since it is clear that the author has wonderful ideas and very good writing skills. The descriptions of the forest were enchanting and really showed the author's strengths.

All things considered, I look forward to reading the second part to this story in the author's other novella “Drowned Country.”

Oh, this is something very special. I assumed this went more towards atmospheric horror, so I was surprised to find this had some very heartwarming moments. I cared for the characters and their relationship by the end (the book is like 100 pages in total so that's a feat!). There's just something about stoic characters learning to care that gets me. Really unique setting too.

I thought this novel would be an epic like fantasy regarding druids and nature. However, I was instead surprised with what seems like a romantic story involving two people and a jealous/abusive/weird ex. 

I thought to myself that the thing regarding silver hitting on tobias to be kinda silly. Like he seeked refuge and then it was apparently flirting idk. And then I questioned why the characters had to have this romance and why they were gay but then I read more and I realized tobias is the gayest guy ever prob. 

 But yeah in summary I didn't mind the novel but I came looking for some cool nature fantasy and instead was shown a BL novel. Which happens to always happen for some reason. Im still looking for some nature fantasy that isnt BL ig. 

I didn't give this a star rating when I first finished reading it, because I wanted to leave it sit with me for a bit. I was kind of conflicted about what to give. Ultimately I decided to went with a three, because that was my experience with it, but I can certainly appreciate the higher star ratings and enthusiastically positive reviews.

I'm not sure I went into it with the right expectations. I had found this story on a list of books inspired by the Green Man folklore, because it's something I'm quite interested in and is a far less common topic than the usual fantasy elements of witches, elves, etc.

Chapter I of the book was perfection for me. It was atmospheric, sombre, and mysterious, and I was all in. In fact, I'd accidentally switched my Kindle progress indicator to the chapter instead of the whole book, and when I finished the chapter, I thought it was the end. I was so totally satisfied and in love with it, I was ready to hug it and scramble to download the next book in the duology before I realized that there was more to it.

So, I read the rest of it, and I was a little bit disappointed to be honest. The tone of the book changed on a dime and became something else that I was not expected and was not seeking out.

The second half introduces another character, Mrs Silver, who is plucky and almost comedic in her dourness, and feels rather trope-y. I feel like I would probably have loved her in a different book, but she seemed largely at odds with the more introspective, meditative, isolated atmosphere of the first half.

The tone of the exquisite first half is also undermined as the second half sets out to answer questions and provide backstory that I didn't need or want to be answered. The added backstory exposition and the resolution felt unnecessary and more like an episode of a monster-of-the-week series like Buffy or Supernatural. Again, in another book, I would probably have found these aspects to be charming and fun, but after the restrained and atmospheric first half, it felt to me like a bait ‘n' switch.

I would absolutely read more of Emily Tesh's writing, because the highs where so high. The lows weren't low necessarily, but just not what I was looking for.

I was looking for literary fiction that was darker, ancient, and reflective, and I did get a taste of that before it switched to gears towards a paranormal fantasy romance. Ultimately, it wasn't what I was personally looking for, and I don't think that's a fault of the book. I think if you go into this expecting more of a lighthearted fantasy that is more charming than brooding, you might find Silver in the Wood to be something quite special.

A queer dark fantasy novella. i read because I recently read Tesh's Some Desperate Glory and liked it. This is a very different and much shorter story, something I can read in an hour sit, but the same detailed prose and deep world. In Silver in the Woods I can feel the dirt and wet and smell the moss and good rot (and also bad rot). A cute May-December romance hides in the fairy tale. Recommend if you like T Kingfisher's fairy tale novellas, it is in that similar way with darker vibes.

Audio review: This was a lovely novella that begins when Silver, a young man obsessed with legends and myth, walks into Tobias' woods. I often struggle with single-POVs, but being in Tobias' mind and following him care for trees, sit at the fire with his cat, sharpen his knives, and shift in his feelings towards the humans he meets was a soothing experience. I enjoyed the queer romance and slow journey to the end, though I wanted a bit more from the final conflict. I can see myself picking up the second book in this duology when I'm craving connection to the forest. As an urban dweller experiencing winter that might be sooner than later.