Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful!!
Review: I have never read "urban fantasy" before, but the moment I picked this novel up, I fell in love. Windling's portrayal of the southwest and its desert painted a clear picture in my mind and now I have a yearning to go there. I always imagined this area to be dry, sandy, with cacti and rattlesnakes, but she made me feel that something spiritual can be found there. I recommend this novel to anyone interested in fantasy, mythology & southwest literature.
Rating: 
Summary: relearning how the rain falls
Review: I have read more books than I care to remember, 20 years worth of voracious gumbling up of all forms of literature. Where does it leave me? Jaded. It leaves me finding fewer and less that i read and then cannot leave be, and then read again. Books that remain with me, swilered on the back of my tongue. books wherein the plot is not what I wish to discuss, but the imagery, the poetry and the grace. The Wood Wife, if nothing else can be seen as an intro to good poetry, and on the outside a realization that perhaps the way that I have seen everything in my life could be just a little bit diffrent if I let it. There are books that can teach you a new way to look at the blue reflected ocean, and this is one. yes, the ending is not a strong point, that's why the four stars and not five. But I say that I never read anymore for plot--i know all the stories honey you ain't gonna shock me no more. I read now for the ideas, the surealism, the imarey--I read to change the why I see the rain, and this book offers a diffrent and very compelling, beautifully told vision of the American southwest as it is dissapearing. gorgeous. A book to savour and roll around on the tongue, tasting all of it's possiblities for flavors.
Rating:
Summary: The desert will never look the same.
Review: I held onto this book before reading it, not sure if it would satisfy the urge to "escape" fully into a good story, The story begins by subtly drawing the reader into the life of Maggie and what type of world she lives in. Divorce, submission to others, a rootless existence. Maggie is the epitome of a tumbleweed rolling through an endless desert. She, along with the reader, gets pulled into life in the Rincon mountains with each new discovery of magic under the mundane. True, some of the symbolism has been written about elsewhere, but the reader looking for an engrossing, imagination-provoking read will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Utterly fantastic!
Review: I loved the majic. This book brought the mystery of the desert to the reader. Windling writes flawlessly. I find myself wanting to visit the desert. I hope She writes another book along these lines... Please? Read it, you won't be disappointed!
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I wasn't familiar with Ms. Windling's work before this brilliant book. It was in the "Fantasy/Sci Fi" section of the bookstore--but it's really more like magic realism. I found out about it because American readers voted it one of the 100 Best Books of the 20th Century (the Modern Library 100 Best poll, check out their web site). I had to go out and buy a copy of the U.K. edition to find out why a writer I'd never heard of was on the list right next to William Faulkner. And I was gob smacked! What a book! It isn't like anything I've ever read before. I thought fantasy was all like hobbits and dragons but this is more like Alastair Grey or Angela Carter or Italo Calvino, in other words surrealistic, strange, intelligent. Filled with folkmore and mythology, some of it Native American, some of it Mexican, some of European and brought to life in a brilliant way. It's made me look at America in a whole new light. I'm recommending it to everyone I know and working my way slowly through the rest of Windling's books. This lass knows how to write!
Rating:
Summary: Magically enchanting
Review: In the Arizona desert, award-winning, gin-pickled English poet Davis Cooper drowns in a dry gully. He leaves his house near Tucson and his papers to tyro poet Maggie Black though they never met, but clicked through correspondence. Maggie leaves California and her talented musician husband to move into her new home.Maggie finds stanzas from unpublished poems and a gallery of paintings left by Cooper's lover, Anna Navarra. The paintings frighten and enchant her. Maggie learns from the natives that an unseen world of magic hides in plain sight of this mundane realm. Obsessing with a need to better appreciate Cooper and Navarra, Maggie begins digging deep inside her soul. The journey is mysterious and strange as she ventures beyond the time-space continuum into a magical orb where she will begin to comprehend how Cooper died among other enigmas. THE WOOD WIFE is an engaging fantasy that targets readers who like a little magic in their fiction. The story line beautifully yet seemingly effortlessly blends harsh realism of a remote part of the southwest with that of a reverie realm. Readers join the heroine on her journey of self discovery while exploring along side Maggie the magic endlessness of the unseen world seen through the heart. Terri Windling provides a triumphal tale that the audience will appreciate. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Magically enchanting
Review: In the Arizona desert, award-winning, gin-pickled English poet Davis Cooper drowns in a dry gully. He leaves his house near Tucson and his papers to tyro poet Maggie Black though they never met, but clicked through correspondence. Maggie leaves California and her talented musician husband to move into her new home. Maggie finds stanzas from unpublished poems and a gallery of paintings left by Cooper's lover, Anna Navarra. The paintings frighten and enchant her. Maggie learns from the natives that an unseen world of magic hides in plain sight of this mundane realm. Obsessing with a need to better appreciate Cooper and Navarra, Maggie begins digging deep inside her soul. The journey is mysterious and strange as she ventures beyond the time-space continuum into a magical orb where she will begin to comprehend how Cooper died among other enigmas. THE WOOD WIFE is an engaging fantasy that targets readers who like a little magic in their fiction. The story line beautifully yet seemingly effortlessly blends harsh realism of a remote part of the southwest with that of a reverie realm. Readers join the heroine on her journey of self discovery while exploring along side Maggie the magic endlessness of the unseen world seen through the heart. Terri Windling provides a triumphal tale that the audience will appreciate. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: magic realism in the southwest
Review: Our heroine, Maggie, is reeling from her divorce and drifting rather aimlessly through life--she considers herself a poet but hasn't written a poem in years. Then, her mentor dies mysteriously--drowned in a dry creekbed--and inexplicably leaves her his house in the Southwestern desert. She moves there, hoping to research a biography of him. At first, Maggie doesn't like the desert; it seems sterile, forbidding, devoid of charm. Then one night a pooka cuddles up to her in bed, and nothing is the same after that... Maggie soon discovers a world of magic in the desert (and we, the readers, discover it right along with her), and digs up some fascinating secrets about her mentor's life. And suddenly, all the pieces come together. Both a mystery and a fantasy, _The Wood Wife_ is gorgeously written and a good read. As a writer, I was especially moved by the discussions of whether or not Maggie was still a poet. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: A woman looks for answers and finds magic...
Review: Our heroine, Maggie, is reeling from her divorce and drifting rather aimlessly through life--she considers herself a poet but hasn't written a poem in years. Then, her mentor dies mysteriously--drowned in a dry creekbed--and inexplicably leaves her his house in the Southwestern desert. She moves there, hoping to research a biography of him. At first, Maggie doesn't like the desert; it seems sterile, forbidding, devoid of charm. Then one night a pooka cuddles up to her in bed, and nothing is the same after that... Maggie soon discovers a world of magic in the desert (and we, the readers, discover it right along with her), and digs up some fascinating secrets about her mentor's life. And suddenly, all the pieces come together. Both a mystery and a fantasy, _The Wood Wife_ is gorgeously written and a good read. As a writer, I was especially moved by the discussions of whether or not Maggie was still a poet. Well done.
Rating:
Summary: Windling's novel is complex, brilliant and seamless.
Review: review by Cris Newport Terri Windling may not be well known as a novelist, but that will soon change. Her editorial skills have nurtured some of the best fantasy writers including Emma Bull, Charles de Lint and Sherri Tepper. Every year, Windling and Ellen Datlow produce what is probably the most definitive collection of fantasy and horror stories -- with an excellent synopsis of the year's best novels, films and music. Additionally, Windling writes a column for "Realms of Fantasy" called "Folkroots" which is a terrific resource for anyone interested in world mythology and legend. In "The Wood Wife" Windling brings all her various skills to bear and creates an engrossing tale set just outside Tucson, Arizona. Maggie Black, a poet whose marriage to a trendy and popular musician left her little time to pursue her own dreams, is given the opportunity to reclaim them. But in an unusual way. Her mentor, Davis Cooper, dies mysteriously and suddenly, leaving her his house. When she arrives, she's a bit of a curiosity with her all-black clothing motif and her strong connection with Cooper, a man she'd never met. But the locals, all of whom are connected in some way with Cooper, find her engaging and friendly, and soon Maggie begins to put down some tentative roots. From the novel's opening moments, readers know that this is more than just a story of one woman's reclaiming her muse. There are other forces at work, older forces of magic whose link with Cooper's life and death are still powerfully present. For some of these entities, the short human lives are interesting but only in terms of how they might be manipulated -- how their creative gifts might be used in exchange for some amusement. Anna Naverra, Cooper's long-time lover, was a painter whose work became increasingly strange and haunting. Her untimely death devastates Cooper and he spends the last years of his life searching for answers. Answers, we discover late in the novel, he finds, but not without personal cost. Like Naverra, local painter Juan del Rio seems to be moving in the same direction. He has become obsessive about his work, protective. His growing animosity toward his wife, Dora, confuses and angers her. She worries about him as he's taken to wandering in the desert at night, and yet she seems unable to reach him.
Dora's friendship with Maggie draws Maggie more deeply into some of the mysteries of this place and with the help of several others, including local musician Johnny Foxxe and the mechanic Tomas who is able to grow incredible vegetable gardens in the harsh climate, the friends embark on a journey more dangerous and more complicated than any of them imagine.
"The Wood Wife" is extremely well written. The prose is tight and flawless, and although told from many different points of view, the novel as a whole is virtually seamless. Even the sections narrated by creatures we cannot place until well into the novel are not without primary importance and Windling never leaves the reader in the dark. All of the pieces fit neatly together and astute readers will find many layers of meaning to uncover in the tale. Windling is an immensely talented storyteller and readers who have admired her editorial and non-fiction skills will find much to appreciate in this book.
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