One-sentence summary: a young man arrives at Greenhollow, where Tobias has lived quietly for years, and will mess his peaceful existence when he mess with the curse of the wood Emily Tesh has written a captivating fantasy story that could be the local legend of any country village in England. I love when authors are inspired by folk and fairy tales, but manage to write a story that is both rooted in the tradition and original. I believe Emily Tesh handles the mystery well, no questions went unanswered I got to the last page with that sense of satisfaction that comes from knowing everything. Overall I’d say that although feeling like a fairy tale or a legend of a sort, this story could be easily categorized as magical realism.Īt the end of the book, the conflict is resolved and everything comes back to normal. I’ll just say that the second part of the book has less fairy tale atmosphere, it reminded me more of magical realism (or fabulism). I don’t want to give away anything, I fear it is too easy to spoil a story that relies on mystery and that is 100 pages long. Little by little, through both Finch’s thoughts and Silver’s studies, the picture gets cleareruntil that dreary night when no one should be outside in the wood. It starts off slowly: it’s easy to realize there is something otherworldly about Tobias Finch, though you can’t quite understand what. Silver starts off as the typical adorkable character, although I personally felt very differently about him at the end of the book. Their odd friendship is interesting to witness as it grows and the way Silver flirts on and off with Tobias is quite endearing. Finch cautious and Silver reckless like all youth are. I liked the way these two characters complement each other: Finch so quiet and reserved and Silver so chatty. He hunts and takes care of the forest, returning every evening to his hut. Henry Silver is a young, cheerful man who rents the estate of Greenhollow and in the woods that surround the manor, he meets Tobias Finch.Ī lonely, big man who has been named the Wild Man of Greenhollow, Finch enjoys his quiet life in the woods. The setting is a generic 19th century, the time when fairy tales were studied by scholars and laymen alike. Until, one horrible night, the curse of the forest returns to the land and make of Silver his prey. A chatty, breezy young man with a passion for folklore, Silver befriends the wild man of Greenhollow. He leads a quiet life hunting andtending to the forest, with the company of his cat and the dryads.īut on a rainy day, Henry Silver emerges from the depth of the forest.

Silver in the wood review