Book Review - The Wood Wife by Terri Windling

Synopsis:  When prize-winning poet Davis Cooper died mysteriously in the canyons east of Tucson, Arizona, he left his estate to Maggie Black, a young writer who knew him only from his letters. There, in his desert home, Maggie be-gins a journey of self-discovery that changes her forever, encountering terrible danger and passionate love, coming face to face with the wild spirits that inhabit that strange and magical place.

First Line:  "On the night that Davis Cooper died, coyotes came down from the hills to the town in the desert valley below."

Random Quote:  "Inside the barn was spacious but the studio was crowded nonetheless, with tables, easels, shelves of fat art books, sketchbooks, pigments, sculpting tools, buckets of plaster and clay.  Raw linen canvas was draped over the rafters; the floor was covered with bright splashes of paint."

Review:  Terri Windling is one of the editors of the very cool Fairy Tale series of books and of the Bordertown series.  I really like all of those books and when I saw she had a full-length novel I grabbed it up.  I love this kind of fantastical reworking of old stories.

Arizona desert - Image via Wikipedia

For me this book was just okay.  Honestly, I think Charles de Lint has done a much better job with this kind of story (Forests of the Heart, for instance, and big chunks of Someplace to Be Flying).  Ultimately he's a better writer than Windling.

I really like the desert setting, although I'm partial to New Mexico over Arizona, and Windling gives you a good sense of the feel of the place.  Where I have quibbles are with the characters - they're all just a little bit too perfectly groovy for me to care and seem sort of surface magazine cover glossy with not much underneath.  Even the fairies or pixies or spirits of the land or whatnot are sort of all surface shine, but not a lot of there there.

An okay read, just not the best ever.

Reading Challenges:  Book Awards Reading Challenge, Once Upon a Time IV Reading Challenge, Speculative Fiction Challenge 2010, 2010 100+ Reading Challenge