Synopsis: It is several months since Midge had her encounter with the Various and she is starting to question whether her summer adventure really happened. The Various remember her, however, and she is set a task by several of their leaders: to find and return the Orbis, given into the safekeeping of her great-great-aunt Celandine almost a century before. But how can she find the Orbis unless she first finds Celandine, and what chance does she have of finding a woman who must be dead, or over a hundred years old?

Review: The concluding volume of Steve Augarde’s Various trilogy draws together the stories of Midge, Celandine and the Various themselves. Many questions from the previous books are answered, and the story of Celandine’s life after the Various is unfolded across two times, paying off the twist of reversing the order of the first two volumes. 

 The Various are pretty rough and ready as far as fairies go, and Winter Wood has its fair share of nastiness, but there is a lot more to the story than just a gritty adventure yarn. The contrast between the epic and romantic quest to return home and the gritty reality of the day-to-day lives of the Various gives the narrative depth and texture. Midge’s growth since the first novel, and her sweet and affecting relationship with the fading Celandine brings new dimensions to both characters and gives the story a warm and human side. 

 Winter Wood is resolutely part of a trilogy; as a stand-alone novel it would be deeply baffling, as it refers to previous volumes in many places. In particular, the places where Midge’s journey touches Celandine’s across the gulf of time really require the reader to have read the flip-side of the encounter first. Moreover, the ending of the book is so solidly terminal that to go back from this to read the earlier volumes for the first time would be difficult. Younger readers might be able to dive in and out of a series like this, but younger readers would find little to appreciate in Winter Wood, which is a dark fairy tale for older and more mature young readers.

2008-01-29