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Review: The Woodcutter

The Woodcutter by Kate Danley

I give this book a 5.

 

The Woodercutter is tasked with keeping the balance of the Fae World and the Human World while he, himself is something a little different. In efforts to keep the balance, The Woodcutter must now take on the mantle of detective in order to solve, and hopefully prevent, the murders of young people in his woods.

I am not familiar with the story of a woodcutter and for me, this was an entirely new look into the typical fairy tale world.  It was a little confusing and off-putting at times to see how the many old and new tales intermingled, but in the end I liked it. It can sometimes be risky to mix stories (especially fairy and folk tales) and genres, but I like the way Danley has done it.

The slow pace of the story, I feel, added to the suspense that would build up from time to time and capture my heart. The Woodcutter is reminiscent to an investigative noir character trying to solve a case but with sprinkles of magic all around him. That is, however, when he isn’t taking on the role of nurturer. It’s not unusual to see men as father figures, but nurturer is a little different. The way he is connected to the trees and the way he seeks to help the fairies and the children make him a very unique character that I’ve grown to love.

I think this is a good adult and teen read.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

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Books Videos

ToiBox Blog Weekly Recap: 11/15/14

weeklyrecap


Check out my Recent Posts links or visit the ToiBox Topics to see what I was up to this week, but first try…

Who Censored Roger Rabbit & A Discovery of Witches

This cool Pin.


Last Saturday I posted an Authors Insight after my Weekly recap. Over at You Tube I posted an episode of, Vinyl on My Mind: The Best of Benny Goodman.

I started out this week with Sample Sunday 58- It’s Like the Full Moon.

On Monday, I posted my Top 5 Marvel Heroes.

On Tuesday, I observed Veteran’s Day. Then I added to my Character files Teddy’s opinion on the Eternal Curse. I forgot to share my visit to the Blood and Ink blog, so please check it out now.

On Wednesday, I posted a Post from the Past breaking down Sinclair Manor.

On Thursday, I posted a Tea and Conversation about fathers.

And yesterday, I posted a special Friday Forecast which featured my 4th Mock Squid Soup Review: Space Battleship Yamato. Then I posted a review of The Once and Future King. Lastly I shared a post I contributed to on Daily Dose of Gratitude.

Thanks for hanging out with me this week. I hope to see you again next week.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Books

Review: The Once and Future King

The Once and Future King by T.H. White

I give this book a 4.

 

Everyone knows the story of King Arthur, or at least, some part of it. I thought about trying to read Mallory and decided to pass. Then I thought of the cute Disney film, The Sword in the Stone, and learned that much of it came from the first “book” in this story. Truth be told, I was always curious about this book, but never took the time to read it, so at last I had an opportunity to listen to the audio book and took it.

For the most part, I adore this book. This is everything the story of King Arthur should be, a combination of realism and fantasy, innocence and guilt, and as always an underlined lesson to be learned. I don’t know if this is supposed to be a children’s book, but I guess it could be, as long as an adult is around to do a lot of explaining. If you can get a teen to sit down and read (or listen to) a book of this length, I think they will enjoy it.

I must say there are a few long passages that seem to drag the story along, over describing or explaining things, but I’ve been guilty of that myself. I would have to say that my least favorite part of the book was the whole love triangle. It seemed really silly to me, but most love triangles are, so that wasn’t a big deal and it is actually part of the original mythology. There were also some very drawn out political discussions that I could have done without, but if you’re a fan of politics in general, you’ll be quite pleased. My favorite part was, of course, Arthur’s youth.

It’s a shame that it took me so long to getting around to this story. It’s clear how this story has inspired others of its kind and I’m glad that to have finally experienced it.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords