The Wild Wood

The Wild Wood (1994) Charles de Lint

Eithnie feels like she has lost something in her paintings, and is wandering the woods near her home searching for the soul that used fill her paintings.

Originally published in ’94, Orb rereleased The Wild Wood in 2004. It’s a very short book, just 205 pages with wide margins and so it only took me about two hours to read.

This is an okay book (it is Charles de Lint after all) but it won’t become one of my favorites. The parts that I like about his work are all there–the characters, the story, the otherworld–but for some reason it never really quite comes together for me. I never get drawn into the story the way I normally do with his writing. I was interested in what was happening, but I wasn’t absorbed.

If you’re a de Lint fan you’ll want this book, but if you haven’t read any of his previous books, I don’t recommend this is a starting place. It’s not his strongest work, and feels more like it belongs in one of his short story collections than as a novel. If you’re looking to start reading Charles de Lint, I’d recommend Jack of Kinrowan or one of his short story collections like Dreams Underfoot or Moonlight and Vines.
Rating: 7/10

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