Monday, December 21, 2015

Book Review: The Wild Wood

Charles De Lint's 1994 novel The Wild Wood, was part of a series called Brian Froud's Faerielands, wherein four different authors based short stories on four paintings presented by Froud.

The version I read was a recent reprint, and did not include the illustrations that appeared in the first edition (which I'm now eager to hunt down), but the novel still stood quite well on it's own.

The book follows Eithnie, a Canadian artist who has been living alone in the northern Ontario woods for a few years after a personal tragedy. After she begins to see strange creatures in the woods, she visits friends in Arizona, and after finding her inner balance returns to her home and the creatures that surround it.

The novel moves on two levels, a mythical one, wherein Eithnie finds she has become part of a strange prophecy, and a very human one, focusing on the healing process after grief.
I was really impressed by the book, and although it was shorter than I had hoped, it was still a great read and left me wanting more.

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