Genre: Fantasy, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: MM Romance (Bi, Gay)
Reviewer: Jay
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About The Book
To save my brother, I made a promise to the strange and powerful lord of the woods. I didn’t keep that promise, and now he’s taken my little nephew. I swear I’ll get him back, no matter how dangerous the forest between the worlds may be, or how angry its lord. I succeeded when I was only sixteen, after all, surely I can prevail again.
But as I stumble from one peril to another, I begin to think he was taking it easy on me last time. Maybe he doesn’t want me in his realm after all, even though he once offered me a home here. Maybe I waited too long. Well, he’ll have to tell me so to my face. I’m not giving up until I find the heart of the woods, or die trying.
I’ll save my family and escape again. I want to return to my normal life … don’t I?
The Review
This is a delightful novella that draws on a variety of fairytale sources ranging from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream to the modern Labyrinth, taking in myths about changelings, thin places in the world, and other traditions.
Thom needs to rescue his twin brother (for the second time) and his baby nephew. He also needs to keep a promise he made as a teenager. The world he enters is strange, with good friends and serious dangers.
The intriguing romance is hinted at throughout but I would have liked slightly more about the eventual relationship at the end.
The author has a good grasp of the world of fairy stories, their richness as well as their rules, and the writing is beautiful. Despite the shortness of the tale, the reader comes to love the friends who help Thom in his quest.
As with all good fairy tales there is a happy ending. Recommended for anyone who enjoys glimpses into that ‘other world’ beyond the ‘thin places’.
Four stars.
The Reviewer
I’ve been doing book reviews on my website, crossposted or linked to various social media, for a few years. I read a number of genres but I really enjoy all kinds of speculative fiction so thought I’d like to share my views with you. I love sci fi and other speculative fiction because of the way it can, at its best, make us see ourselves in a new light. Quite apart from the exciting stories, of course! I used to be an English teacher, and I’m a writer (fantasy) so I can be quite critical about style etc. but I hope I can also appreciate properly some books that don’t appeal to me personally but might be simply perfect for others. I have, obviously, read widely, and continue to do so.
