Book Review: Wood Angel by Erin Bow

At some point I put this book down and didn’t pick it back up for weeks - and I think the main reason behind it was that the tone of the novel changed significantly half way through. How this is called ‘Wood Angel’ in the UK I will never know, because there’s nothing angelic about it. It’s full of grief and suffering, and talk of death and the dead and the horrible mentality and ignorance of people. In some respects it reminded me of the game <i>The Witcher</i> in that it uses the same tone to expose the prejudices of the population by openly showing you how mean they can be in the face of the unknown. It’s a dark story.

Kate is a wood carver, trained by her father, until he dies and she’s forced from her home. Lonely and afraid, she strikes up a trade with a witch that gives her with the most wonderful gift - a companion, but in return she must give up her shadow for a fate worse than death. In her journey to reclaim it, she joins a band of roamers and learns about their history, and the ultimate price she must pay in order to complete her journey.

The best character throughout this is Taggle, the talking cat. Any story that has a talking cat is a winner for me and Taggle is as narcissistic and preening as any talking cat should be. He’s also the anchor that holds Kate to her mission. In her darkest moments, he’s there to remind her of what she had to loose and what she could do is she took the easy way out. He’s also brave, tackling many a man in order to save Kate, and kind.

Kate is a little more temperamental in character. She’s often comes across as quite abrasive and unlikeable as she shies away from people in fear of rejection (or worse). She is, however, rather stoic too. She’s very set in her ways, and has a resilience for life and a yearning to live and do the right thing that jumps off the page. I enjoyed her relationship with Taggle, but also with Drina, as you could see it’s a relationship she craves in order to feel as though she belongs.

The final third of the book is perhaps the darkest, as were introduced to the rasalka and Linay’s ultimate plan. It takes a rather sudden turn into the deepest and darkest places of witchcraft and what it means to grieve for those we feel have been wronged. It’s a rather intense look at how different people deal with death and what’s right and wrong. It certainly wasn’t how I expected the tone of the story to go, but on reading the afterthoughts from the author and understanding that this book took 6 years to write, and included her sister’s death in the meantime, I can see perhaps her thought process behind it.

An interesting story, but one I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

 - 3 stars