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A review by felifirefly
In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey
3.0
In the Night Wood by Dale Bailey was described as being a Dark Fantasy, sometimes as being Horror. For me, it isn't anything of this. There are some Fantasy aspects later on, but this isn't nearly enough to fit into this genre. But one thing is right indeed: the story is very dark.
It's more a story of a young family, of loss, death and grief. This coupled with an old Victorian house, a creepy wood nearby and some myths and legends could have been a great story.
The problem I had with this book is that it's unbelievably well written and full of literary allusions and intertextuality and I loved this (here's the reason for my rounding up to 3 stars), but on the other hand, it's outride boring. Nothing happens for a really long time and things start to progress way too late. The atmosphere is great but this can't make up for the plot which is just not there.
The few things which happen later on in the book were so obvious that you knew from the beginning what will happen, who did what and for what reasons: so no surprise there.
The characters were okay, but especially Erin, the wife, was knocked out most of the book and played here role way too late and just for a few pages.
We had some fantastic elements in it which were just unbelievable and can be described as tenuous at best.
Well, I guess if you aren't an avid reader of Fantasy, Horror or anything dark, this book can be for you. I saw a lot of good feedback from those readers. But if you happen to have read you share in those darker books, this one maybe isn't for you.
It's more a story of a young family, of loss, death and grief. This coupled with an old Victorian house, a creepy wood nearby and some myths and legends could have been a great story.
The problem I had with this book is that it's unbelievably well written and full of literary allusions and intertextuality and I loved this (here's the reason for my rounding up to 3 stars), but on the other hand, it's outride boring. Nothing happens for a really long time and things start to progress way too late. The atmosphere is great but this can't make up for the plot which is just not there.
The few things which happen later on in the book were so obvious that you knew from the beginning what will happen, who did what and for what reasons: so no surprise there.
The characters were okay, but especially Erin, the wife, was knocked out most of the book and played here role way too late and just for a few pages.
We had some fantastic elements in it which were just unbelievable and can be described as tenuous at best.
Well, I guess if you aren't an avid reader of Fantasy, Horror or anything dark, this book can be for you. I saw a lot of good feedback from those readers. But if you happen to have read you share in those darker books, this one maybe isn't for you.