Book Review: A Walk in a Darker Wood
By Elizabeth Suggs
A Walk in a Darker Wood is a collection of folk horror stories, poetry, and art from new and emerging authors.
Each story has a picture associated with it, showing a deeper aspect of that tale. My favorite illustration was the double cat picture below. It opens me up for the intensity of the story “Therein Lies a Tail” by Duan Pesice. This cat story is very unlike the rest of the book. It didn’t really feel like horror to me, but I’m sure if I was a cat, I would have been more scared.
The stories were hit-or-miss with me. Some of the pacing was a little too slow and pulled me out, but I really enjoyed “Putting Down Roots.” It’s about mushrooms that are much too delicious. It’s like a critique on how humans get together and how easily they can succumb to their desires.
I also liked “There Came the Sun.” However, there was a lot of unnecessary dialogue, which was difficult to get through. Other than that, the story was great and well-written.
All the poems are good, but some didn’t have a consistent rhythm scale, which was jarring. Despite this, I enjoyed them. My all-time favorite poem is “Jenny Green-Teeth.” This lightens the terrifying aspect of a particular monster.
Here are my favorite quotes:
There is no certain horizon; the sky blood into the sea, indistinguishable; goals clustered on the for sure, a chatter of gray backs, cold yellow eyes.
You would think by now they’d figure out it’s not just village which is they should be afraid of.
A bride of Satan I’d be soon.
I wasn’t in love with this entire collection, but I think some of stories are well-worth checking out!
Elizabeth Suggs is the owner and founder of Editing Mee and co-owner of Collective Tales Publishing. When she’s not writing or editing, she loves to dive deep into books (the weirder, the better!), and she loves to take random long walks to unplanned destinations. Check out her recently released book Collective Darkness with eleven other authors. Buy your copy here: www.CollectiveDarkness.com