This book has a lot to love. It’s got an interesting main character, great side characters, and an excellent plot.
The protagonist is a man named Cahan, known more generally as the Forester. He is Clanless, which is analogous to being part of an Untouchable caste. He lives alone on his farm, tolerated but never welcomed, and has earned his nickname by being willing to venture into the nearby forest. And not just Woodedge, which the villages will chance, but the deep forest of the Harnwood and even deeper forest of the Wyrdwood. Cahan has a past about which the villagers know nothing. He was raised by the cult of one particular god to be the messiah, elevating their god above all others; unfortunately, the messiah of another god beat him to it.
For various reasons (only some of which are related to the fact that the successful messiah is determined to hunt down and kill all the also-rans) the village comes under threat, and Cahan finds himself in the position of working to help those who have always shunned him.
It’s a good setup for a Seven Samurai-type story, and Barker goes to some very interesting places with it. It was an engrossing read, and I’m looking forward to the sequel where Barker (whom I hope is reading this) can correct his single biggest mistake: not a single Monty Python’s Life of Brian reference. For shame, RJ, they practically write themselves.
But all of that is secondary to the big star of this book: the worldbuilding. It’s incredibly cool.
It’s subtle, because it’s what the characters consider normal and therefore they don’t think about it or remark on it. But the world of the Wyrdwood is damn near alien enough for a VanderMeer book. No one uses metal; everything is made of wood, or sap-treated wool. There aren’t any wheels; creatures called gasmaws, and plants called floatvine, make such things unnecessary. The Wood itself is amazing. I want to read the next book just to learn more about the world. And then I want a sandbox RPG set here to go and play in.
Comes out June 27