Silver in the Wood
The Greenhollow duology, Book 1
Emily Tesh
Tor.com
Fiction, Fantasy
Themes: Curses, Diversity, Ghosts and Spirits, Locations with Character, Trees
****
Description
For centuries, Tobias has lived in the heart of Greenhollow, a woodland that may not be so large as it once stood, but which still holds ancient secrets and powers in its roots... along with ancient curses. Even the townsfolk who have long forgotten the old ways and reduced the stories to half-forgotten folk tales know there’s something unusual about the place. Most do their best to leave it be, until Henry Silver, new owner of Greenhollow Hall, takes a special interest in the wood’s history in general and Tobias in particular. The eccentric young man is a student of folklore, of old gods and fairy stories and superstitions, but in Greenhollow he may stumble into something far more dangerous than he understands - something even Tobias, strong and old as he is, may not be able to save him from...
Review
Another free Tor ebook novella, Silver in the Wood is a solid take on old woodland lore, hearkening back to tales of forest spirits and green men and “fairy kings” who snatch hapless innocents at the turning of seasons. Tobias has spent centuries bound to the forest, so long even he isn’t sure if it’s a curse or a blessing to be so entwined in the ways of root and bough, privy to the secret world of spirits and dryads and dark, harmful things. The arrival of Silver shakes him from his routine, a harbinger of change for a man who has grown too used to the endless unchanging cycle of green life... a harbinger that could bring either hope or horror, and ends up being a little of both. Silver, on the other hand, is excitable and eager and impatient to learn everything there is to know about Greenhollow, the very opposite of Tobias’s slow patience, yet sparks fly between them from their first meeting. Even by the end, there’s a little vagueness about the nature of Tobias’s “curse” and the one who trapped him there, but overall it’s a decent, somewhat dark story.