I'll be honest, I didn't love Drowned Country nearly as much as its predecessor. Don't get me wrong Emily Tesh's writing is just as strong and atmospheric in this entry. But this entry struggled to live up to the marvel that was Silver in the Wood. I do think directly comparing Drowned Country to Silver in the Wood may be unfair. This novella has different goals from its predecessor. The different protagonist and narrative structure communicates that to the audience almost instantly. However, I couldn't help but be disappointed in some of the choices Tesh made for the story.

The biggest letdown of Drowned Country was Tesh's choice to break up Silver and Tobias. I'll admit that choice is ultimately justified by the narrative and as the story unfolded the breakup didn't feel like an arbitrary decision made to cause drama as second-book breakups often do. But, even at the novella's close, when the romantic tension was resolved, I couldn't quite shake my disappointment that we never truly got to see Silver and Tobias as a couple for a length of time.

However, Tesh made up for that sting of disappointment by crafting a well-done character arc in this novella. Drowned God explores through Henry Silver what it means to become immortal in the prime of your youth. While the weight of immortality was touched on in Silver in the Wood there was a distance to that portrayal because of the nature of Tobias' character. Silver's unsteady grip on his own humanity and clumsy fumblings as a newly made forest god were fascinating to explore. Tesh's best moments throughout Drowned God were her unpacking the all-consuming grief and anxiety of knowing you'll live forever and losing your sense of self to that immortality. While Silver's selfishness often made him a frustrating protagonist Tesh manages to explore the breadth of his character and illustrate both a believable downfall and well-realized growth in this slim volume.

This novella also sees Silver, Tobias and a new character, Maud Lindhurst, a brash, budding folklorist and monster hunter, seek out a fairyland. Here Tesh's ability to evoke atmosphere shines as she rendered the uncanny dead world of fairyland with its cold stillness and jagged moment of grotesque violence excellently.

In the end, I quite enjoyed Drowned Country. While it never lived up to the soaring heights of Silver in the Wood I could never complain about spending time in Emily Tech's beautifully rendered mythic world.