Scan barcode
A review by ghosthermione
Drowned Country by Emily Tesh
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I don't know what I was expecting as a follow-up to Silver in the Wood. I know I wanted more of that universe but it was also very self-contained.
This novella picks up 2 years later, Silver and Tobias have broken up (I was very confused by that at first) and have to work together to investigate the disappearance of a young lady, probably kidnapped by a vampire.
Turns out the young lady has much more agency than you'd expect, and quite frankly she was the highlight of the book for me. Young Gothic woman wearing pants and bossing magical men around? Yes please!
We discover more about Silver's character, in ways that surprised me - and I found myself actually disliking him, but still loving what I was reading. It's rare for me to dislike a protagonist and still love the book.
Silver in the Wood gave us a glimpse of a fantastic world, but Drowned Country goes so much further to extend that universe with subtle and not so subtle worldbuilding, a whole Fairy dimension and lore, vampires and ghouls... And yet it's not overwhelming, it's just enough to make the story work.
It's hard to talk about the ending without spoiling it, but I was pretty satisfied by it. I know it's a duology but if Emily Tesh writes more in that universe, I'll me giving her my money in a heartbeat!
This novella picks up 2 years later, Silver and Tobias have broken up (I was very confused by that at first) and have to work together to investigate the disappearance of a young lady, probably kidnapped by a vampire.
Turns out the young lady has much more agency than you'd expect, and quite frankly she was the highlight of the book for me. Young Gothic woman wearing pants and bossing magical men around? Yes please!
We discover more about Silver's character, in ways that surprised me - and I found myself actually disliking him, but still loving what I was reading. It's rare for me to dislike a protagonist and still love the book.
Silver in the Wood gave us a glimpse of a fantastic world, but Drowned Country goes so much further to extend that universe with subtle and not so subtle worldbuilding, a whole Fairy dimension and lore, vampires and ghouls... And yet it's not overwhelming, it's just enough to make the story work.
It's hard to talk about the ending without spoiling it, but I was pretty satisfied by it. I know it's a duology but if Emily Tesh writes more in that universe, I'll me giving her my money in a heartbeat!