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A review by esotericreason
The Drowned Woods by Emily Lloyd-Jones
4.0
3.5 ☆ / 3.5 stars
I, in all and complete honesty, began this book fully believing that I was going to despise it. This novel is everything that I am not well versed in, and encapsulates just about every concept that I would not righteously declare myself a fan of - fantasy, retellings of mythological tales, and, most urgently, romance. I trudged into this tale with quite a judgemental heart and mind, with many of my early thoughts being impervious and quite unfair to the actual expenditure of the novel within itself. I had seen plenty reviews praising this work, yet I could not seem t0 traverse past the previous settlements that I had so deeply implemented within myself. However, I attempted to push through the expositions of my doubt, and allowed the tides of time and my own grappling psyche to carry me on throughout the rest of what this work had to offer to my obnoxiously critical self.
Surprisingly, perhaps even shockingly, I gently pressed the book shut with a smile on my face. This was a nice read. Was it fantastic? - No, I don't believe so. Reading this novel didn't change my life or anything of the sort. However, it did provide a genuinely enjoyable couple days full of curious reading and minor annotating. I found the quest elements enjoyable, and the overall conceptuality of the story quite compelling; I'm aware it's a retelling of an olden tale, yet, one that I don't know and therefore have no prior context to dampen my comprehension of the contemporary version of the story being conveyed. A commonly lamented upon flaw in this novel is how unnervingly shallow the characters are - this is quite true. We never really learn anything about any of the characters, who they are, or what they serve for within their own philosophies. I felt quite apathetic watching characters suffer or die, but did have a singular pang of dissonant sadness during the conclusion. The cast is not built anywhere near enough for you to feel for them as people, but they do reach the plateau of you enjoying their counteractments and enabling a shift from stasis.
The pacing in this novel is nearly nonexistent - the novel is split up into what is seemingly three trifold sections, but doesn't really ever elaborate on how the openers for these is ever relevant and anything but redundant, extraneous storytelling. The actual pacing of the plotline is nearly egregious, with the less compelling parts containing elaborate imagery and literary devices, whilst the truthfully interesting parts suffer the exact opposite utilization. This was more of a minor irksome quality than a primary flaw, as I personally suffered only minute irritation from it; I'm certain there's others who would find this remarkably bothersome.
Overall, this novel was surprisingly decent. I'll refrain from using overly positive adjectives and structure, because this novel isn't fantastic or a work of literary genius - but it's good, and perhaps, when combined with proper circumstance, is all that is relevant. The characters have no liability to them and most of the plot is incongruent with itself, but the novel as a whole is a fun, mindless tale of heroic sacrifice that I do appreciate the creation of. There is indeed romance, but it's a primarily redundant portion of the novel that can be genuinely ignored if you don't wish to include it within your reading experience. I wouldn't say, and cannot say that this novel is a sincere literary gem that heightened my existence for the four days I spent reading this - However, The Drowned Woods is a genuinely enjoyable experience. Mindless and chaotic, but rather entertaining and enjoyable despite this. You won't pick up any philosophies or learn a new principle or prospect, but you'll likely have fun and be entertained for about 340 pages.
I, in all and complete honesty, began this book fully believing that I was going to despise it. This novel is everything that I am not well versed in, and encapsulates just about every concept that I would not righteously declare myself a fan of - fantasy, retellings of mythological tales, and, most urgently, romance. I trudged into this tale with quite a judgemental heart and mind, with many of my early thoughts being impervious and quite unfair to the actual expenditure of the novel within itself. I had seen plenty reviews praising this work, yet I could not seem t0 traverse past the previous settlements that I had so deeply implemented within myself. However, I attempted to push through the expositions of my doubt, and allowed the tides of time and my own grappling psyche to carry me on throughout the rest of what this work had to offer to my obnoxiously critical self.
Surprisingly, perhaps even shockingly, I gently pressed the book shut with a smile on my face. This was a nice read. Was it fantastic? - No, I don't believe so. Reading this novel didn't change my life or anything of the sort. However, it did provide a genuinely enjoyable couple days full of curious reading and minor annotating. I found the quest elements enjoyable, and the overall conceptuality of the story quite compelling; I'm aware it's a retelling of an olden tale, yet, one that I don't know and therefore have no prior context to dampen my comprehension of the contemporary version of the story being conveyed. A commonly lamented upon flaw in this novel is how unnervingly shallow the characters are - this is quite true. We never really learn anything about any of the characters, who they are, or what they serve for within their own philosophies. I felt quite apathetic watching characters suffer or die, but did have a singular pang of dissonant sadness during the conclusion. The cast is not built anywhere near enough for you to feel for them as people, but they do reach the plateau of you enjoying their counteractments and enabling a shift from stasis.
The pacing in this novel is nearly nonexistent - the novel is split up into what is seemingly three trifold sections, but doesn't really ever elaborate on how the openers for these is ever relevant and anything but redundant, extraneous storytelling. The actual pacing of the plotline is nearly egregious, with the less compelling parts containing elaborate imagery and literary devices, whilst the truthfully interesting parts suffer the exact opposite utilization. This was more of a minor irksome quality than a primary flaw, as I personally suffered only minute irritation from it; I'm certain there's others who would find this remarkably bothersome.
Overall, this novel was surprisingly decent. I'll refrain from using overly positive adjectives and structure, because this novel isn't fantastic or a work of literary genius - but it's good, and perhaps, when combined with proper circumstance, is all that is relevant. The characters have no liability to them and most of the plot is incongruent with itself, but the novel as a whole is a fun, mindless tale of heroic sacrifice that I do appreciate the creation of. There is indeed romance, but it's a primarily redundant portion of the novel that can be genuinely ignored if you don't wish to include it within your reading experience. I wouldn't say, and cannot say that this novel is a sincere literary gem that heightened my existence for the four days I spent reading this - However, The Drowned Woods is a genuinely enjoyable experience. Mindless and chaotic, but rather entertaining and enjoyable despite this. You won't pick up any philosophies or learn a new principle or prospect, but you'll likely have fun and be entertained for about 340 pages.