Fantasy Novella Review: Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Drowned Country by Emily Tesh

Drowned Country is the second half of the Greenhollow Duology by Emily Tesh, which began with last year's "Silver in the Wood" (which I reviewed here at the blog).  Silver on the Wood was a very enjoyable novella - another fantasy take on the classic "Green Man" myth, except that it featured the Green Man himself - a man named Tobias Finch - as the protagonist and that at the story's center was an M-M romance between Tobias and a man who wasn't quite as ignorant as he seemed (Silver).  The story subverted expectations in multiple ways, and while it wasn't one of my favorite novellas of last year, it certainly was enjoyable and I was interested to see where the sequel took the three named characters.

Drowned Country switches the point of view to Silver and takes place two years later, after a falling out between him and Tobias....when a new supernatural mystery requires him to rejoin Tobias and his mother on another adventure.  It's both kind of a success and a failure honestly.  It's a success at continuing the story between Tobias and Silver and giving them a clear unconditionally happy ending, and I really enjoyed that.  It's a failure in that  it introduces an incredibly likeable and interesting new character who I'd have loved to see more of...and then proceeds to use her mainly as a prop for Tobias and Silver.  More specifics after the jump:

Note: Spoilers for Silver in the Wood are inevitable, so be warned.



Quick Plot Summary:  It's been two years since Silver's actions drove Tobias away, and Silver has spent that time moping in the Wood.  But when his mother comes to Silver with a task that will reunite him with Tobias in a search for a 900 year old Vampire which is suspected to have kidnapped - or worse - a young woman from her parents, Silver cannot resist the urge to rejoin them for a short time.  But what Silver finds on the way will surprise both him and Tobias and force them all to face a reckoning....as they journey to the portion of the Wood drowned by the sea.....

Thoughts:  As with the first novella, it's kind of hard to summarize the plot of this one without spoiling it, since like its predecessor this novella heavily shifts gears from its first half to the second half in dramatic fashion.  Like the first novella, we're introduced after an early part with our original three characters - Silver, Silver's Mom, and Tobias - we meet a new female character (who I won't name because of Spoilers) who is an eager monster hunter of her own.  And like the first novella, she kind of steals the show for as long as she's on page, and I love her immensely, and would love to read another novella detailing her teaming up with Mrs. Silver.

Unfortunately, that character is essentially shafted in the final arc of the story, becoming a plot device solely for Silver and Tobias to save the day in a way that forces Silver to reexamine his own past actions, who he is and wants to be, and his relationship with Tobias.  And yeah, that works to resolve Silver and Tobias' relationship in a way that gives them a Happily Ever After, which is really sweet, but it's just such a waste of the other character.  Silver isn't nearly as compelling a character as Tobias was last time around because Tobias had depth whereas Silver is just kind of selfish and young, and it makes this focus a bit more annoying. 

In short, this is a perfectly fine novella with a pretty sweet ending, but the two side characters are so much more interesting than the main couple and it's hard to overlook that.