The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter is Forrest Gump for fairy tales. All the familiar tales you know from Grimm are reworked into a frame featuring a woodcutter whose axe has never tasted innocent sap from an unwilling tree. At times the reworked stories don't fit quite tightly in their new frame, although the overall story it has a pleasantly dark feel -- explicitly recognizing characters snapping into archetypal story roles, just enough of an element of danger and wildness to keep the reader guessing. Reminiscent of the atmosphere of the Child of Light video game. Enjoyable read, though not a story that will live with me.

*Review also posted at Briar Rose Reads This is a deeply enjoyable little story: not complex, but lovely and magical. My initial impression was that it would be a dark take on a traditional fairy tale. Instead, it turned out to be sweetness hidden beneath a thin layer of darkness, which is just fine with me. The characters are compelling, though drawn with simple strokes: I especially loved the deep, quiet, fierce love between the Woodcutter and his wife of twenty years. Is the story without flaws? Not at all. The pacing is somewhat uneven, and it sometimes felt as though the author were cramming in as many fairy tale characters and scenarios as possible. I had to roll my eyes and smile fondly at some of the fairy tale conventions that came into play (true love! at first sight! conquers all!). But for me, the likeable characters and simple, beautiful prose more than made up for the shortcomings. I am excited to see where the author will go from here.

I would have given this three and half, but goodreads doesn't let you do that. This book was great because it felt just like I was reading a fairytale. It had all the magical elements of reading a fairytale and it felt completely otherworldly. The pacing was slow, though. It took me about ten attempts to get past the first few chapters, but the book is short enough that I could power through the slow pacing and drift into the story. The story is pure magic, if you don't like magic and fairy tales you will not like this book. It is an amalgamation of every fairytale you can think mixed together into a mystery. It is beautiful. By the end I was crying, I felt for all the characters, my heart was with this story every step of the way. It will take you back to those stories you were read at bedtime of princes and princesses and true love. There are trials and tribulations, wicked stepmothers and princesses trying to claim that which is not theirs. There is greed and mischief. ANd there is true love. There is a story about a man trying to save everyone to get help them have their own happily ever after, even if that jeopardises him getting his own. It was truly a beautiful tale.

It took me a little while to get into but once it pulled me in it was a quick read that I didn't want to put down!

This is a beautifully dark novel that intricately weaves together dozens of fairy tales we’ve come to know and love. As you read, you cannot help but feel for the Woodcutter, worrying for his safety through every tale. The Woodcutter’s character is so in-depth and real, and it’s easy to become fully invested in his adventures.

If you like retellings of fairy tales, you will probably like this. I certainly enjoyed reading it, but by the time I was getting to the end I had some reservations. The main problem I had with the book was that there was no real causality. It was dreamlike in that way. If something bad happened, you didn't have to worry, because ~*~magic~*~ would set things right again in some unforeseen way. The characters were paper-thin, too, so it was impossible to get invested in the narrative. The saving grace was that it was easy to get swept along by the words.