I really enjoyed how atmospheric this was. It had this slow, deep feeling that reminds me of what it feels like to be in an old forest, despite its very short length. The writing also had a kind of fairytale feeling to it. Emily Tesh did a good job of developing the characters enough for me to care about them, but I would have loved to see more of Henry and Tobias together or even just more of their daily lives before the action of this book starts. I'm fine with it being a novella and I'm impressed with the level of development achieved in such a short time, but I think even 20-30 more pages of development could have made it even better. I was still connected to the story, I just think it had the potential to be something I connected to on the level of some of my favorite books. This book explores the fine line between human and supernatural, what it means for a person to truly be rooted in a place, and how magic and nature can be beautiful and wonderful, but also cruel and dangerous and neither of those cancel out the others.

3.5 stars
This was solid, but ultimately, forgettable for me. I do see why people love it and I flew through it so I'm excited to read the net book in the series. I think I'll relate to the characters in that one more based on the synopsis.

I don't know if I didn't love this because of my mood or the book itself. It's beautifully written, I just couldn't get attached to any of the characters or care much about the plots. Maybe it's just how short the stories are? It was also less magical than I was expecting. I do want to reread it, though, and see if my opinion changes.