Book Review of NIGHTWOOD by Elana Gomel

NIGHTWOOD by Elana Gomel (Crystal Lake Publishing, January 20, 2023 release date) Kindle edition

     I was looking for something a little different, with different themes than what I've been currently reading. Right off the bat, NIGHTWOOD met my intentions perfectly, a dark fantasy based on Russian and Ukrainian folklore. By the mid-point of Chapter One I was engaged. The beginning was a perfect foreshadowing of things to come, creating some apprehension right from the start. While the two characters featured are not the main subjects, there was enough characterization to feel sorry for their situation.

     Main character Ally moves to the United States from Ukraine and marries wealthy Californian Carl. They reside in a beautiful glass-walled mansion nestled against the redwood forest that just happens to border Nightwood. 

Part 1, Chapter 1: "The past was so much easier to live with when you could edit it at will."

     In Part 1 there is a lot of back-story to cover as well as multiple characters to introduce. Some of these characters will play a major role and others are merely set decorations. The weird only intrudes in short bits, and things get a bit slow. However, once events pick up near the end of Part 1 this gets wild. Everybody and everything is just a bit off-center, which adds to the enjoyment.

     When her elderly husband disappears, Ally finds within the house enough artifacts of Carl's mysteriously deceased first wife to learn how to enter the Nightwood and rescue him. Nightwood is populated by mythical beasts and animals from fairy tales. 

     Gomel's inventiveness is on full display here and the journey of Ally across this strange land makes up the bulk of the novel: Red, Black and White Horsemen; ghouls; ravenous wolves, shapeshifting deer and other animals, deformed human livestock; magical castles; a ruling Ogre; and special transformative waters.

     Gomel blends her fantasy world with reality, reinforcing the repetitive mantra that appears throughout the novel: All fairy tales were history once. Many of those trapped within the Nightwood come from different periods in time/history and Gomel creates fantasy tribulations for them that parallel their former existence in the normal world. Before the novel finishes with a realistic fairy-tale ending, the subjects of oppression, loyalty, responsibility, and trust are woven within.