Silver in the Wood & Drowned Country

Listened to this. The narrator was absolutely trolling with the voices for all the unnatural creatures. Could barely make out wtf he was saying. Well done good sir, I will be wary of any books you read in the future.

More than halfway through the first book I went off to the interwebs to search for spoilers. Got nothing. Furiously returned to finish it.

With about an hour left for the second book, I discovered Optic had lost game 1 to fucking Legion. I checked in on the stream, saw them losing the second game, and furiously returned to this book.

All that to say, it dragged. My God, it dragged. The first one was better; I like Tobias more. Henry though, ugh. And I can't imagine why Tobias would want to date Henry again. Literally nothing changed? And how convenient was the ending? Like fucking lovely. This book is lucky Optic won game 2 with 10 mins left, or I would've given it a 0.25 rating with 0 explanation.

Henry is unlikeable. He is never sorry for deceiving Tobias, and he really doesn't care about his mother. She literally came to the wood to save his life but he barely reacted when he heard she'd hurt her hip.

Maud is unlikeable at first, as a person. As a character she's a cliche. The hotheaded young'un who will need saving.

And what a cliche all round. I read a review recently of this author's latest book and it had a checklist for sff in 2022, which included an mm relationship between a good giant and a little bitch. Paraphrased. Well this fits, doesn't it.

Henry's whole schtick is being sunshine. How lovely they make up for no reason.

Also I'm so fucking confused because why does Fabian make Tobias the Green Man? He does right?

Also my God, I know it's about right for the time period, but if I have to listen to hearing Henry's mind blowing at all Maud's “unladylike” behavior one more time, I will lose my fucking mind.