Sometimes you should just stay out of the woods.Lacking any other options after graduating college, Jeff reluctantly takes a job with his uncle’s logging business in the small town of Cayuga. He’s accompanied by his best friend Owen, the natural hero to Jeff’s inherent sidekick. Everything’s going fine until Jeff’s told to move his work crew into Sector G12.Jeff doesn’t know anything about trees or the logging industry, but he can tell that something is very wrong with Sector G12. Strange circumstances and unnaturally bad luck thwart their efforts to move into the area, even as mysterious otherworldly strangers emerge from the woods and warn him to stay away. Perhaps most unnerving of all is the ragged, abnormally large black bunny with lime-green eyes watching him from the trees.Before long, a woman nicknamed Coach rolls into town and claims she can solve Jeff’s problem, although her sanity is immediately called into question when she starts talking about fairies, elves, and pixies.When Jeff’s unrequited crush Ivy gives credence to Coach’s story by claiming that elves in the woods are after her for nefarious purposes, he and Owen decide to accept Coach’s crazy plan for a quest into Sector G12. Their trek into the forest reveals unimaginable perils, as they discover that Sector G12 is home to all manner of creatures.Jeff knew the logging industry was dangerous, but he assumed any blood or mayhem would be caused by an errant blade or falling tree, not by monsters in the woods. He was so very wrong.
When I began reading "A Dark Whimsy," I suspected that it might veer closer to the realm of magical realism than traditional dark fantasy. The tale starts off almost mundane, with some very "real world" scenarios centered around the life of an average "Jeff" working for a logging company, and only faint hints of anything supernatural.
As the story progresses, things take a turn toward the more fanciful and outlandish, which was somewhat of a concern for me as I'd been enjoying the more grounded initial tone. Thankfully, those over-the-top, "whimsical" elements ultimately didn't harm my enjoyment of the story, and managed to mesh nicely with the aforementioned "normalcy" that persisted throughout the experience. Consequently, the book's title seems all the more appropriate to me in retrospect.
The overall effect created a very unique tale that deftly walks a fine line between traditional speculative-fiction genres, which I always find compelling.
There were a few little, what I'd call, rough spots here and there but I didn't find them too distracting or plentiful. Ultimately, I'd say the effort as a whole was clever and well-executed enough that those minor "issues" would be easy for the vast majority of readers to overlook or ignore.
In short, I had a very good time with "A Dark Whimsy" and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to any fan of dark fantasy who enjoys an effective blend of the relatable and the fantastical.