Helloooo! I'm back with another novel review for an advanced digital copy I received late last year or early this year. I'm reviewing THE STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS by Chuck Wendig today, which is out tomorrow at book retailers!
The Staircase In The Woods by Chuck Wendig is, at its core, a story
about friendship, found family, and the people in your life that, no
matter what, you equally love and hate. Overall, I found the experience
of this book to be enjoyable and I rather liked it, but I think the
execution of the inner themes revolving around abuse, love, and finding
yourself and others to be disappointing.
I think where this novel excels is the exploration of human emotion, and how that veers into resentment, anger, and even hatred toward people that, in the end, you do still love. Owen's bitterness toward his friends for their success, the grief of abuse becoming a vicious, inescapable cycle, and how friendships over time can degrade due to a variety of outside reasons are all explored in depth in this novel.
I think that is Chuck Wendig's strongest point in the novel. The ability to explore the darkest emotions we experience is often frowned upon or shamed in society, either toward people experiencing these emotions, or in online spaces, such as where fandom culture permeates. I found these explorations to be very real and very human, and at points, watching them degrade into more feral natures was a relief, because it showed that you could still be the "good guys" while feeling and acting on these "bad things."
The problem I had with Staircase in the Woods was how much a lot of the language came across as "preachy." I'm far left and somewhere complicated under the nonbinary label, and the way Lore's character was handled under the LGBTQ label was... odd. Lore is a lot like myself in many ways, so seeing her character, essentially, time and again, be re-labeled as "Woman-Lite" despite preachy language showing high support toward queer themes and lifestyles felt like an awkward, accidental parody rather than a character that existed to be representative of a marginalized, under represented group of the queer umbrella.
Alongside that, while I'm aware that the politics of Chuck Wendig mirrors the politics of his book in this case, the way's it was approach in text equally felt preachy, and came across as awkward. There were several scenes where Lore (IMO rightly) came after Hamish for certain opinions he has, but it felt awkward and hard to read in how it was approached rather than from sincerity.
All that aside, one aspect I really liked about this novel veers a touch into spoiler territory, so without saying much and leaving a lot of room to find out on your own, I loved how this novel got into the "guts" of the situation, both in a figurative as well as literal sense. Having to traverse physically into the evil entity that is holding you hostage is something that can be found in a lot of media, but in this case, it feels like a special nod that goes back to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream in particular, as well as movie by the name of The House That Jack Built.
In the later half of the book, right through to the end, it felt like this was a purposeful choice to compare the evil entity within the book to AM, Allied Mastercomputer, from Harlan Ellison's classic, and the visceral descriptions involving the group's journey into their own version of Hell left me wishing the rest of the book was exactly like this. A lot of content felt flat to me, shocking scenarios meant to break down the characters that were just that: shocking, flat scenarios. But the journey through the entity itself felt refreshing by comparison, and the strength of the novel lies within these sections of the last quarter of the novel.
Overall, The Staircase In the Woods was a fun read, but I feel like it won't be the best representative of Chuck Wendig's work as an author. A lot of parts left me wanting much more out of it. I thought it was rather inventive at times, but at others I was left feeling unimpressed.
Thank you to NetGalley, Chuck Wendig, Random House Worlds, and Del Rey for this early copy!
I think where this novel excels is the exploration of human emotion, and how that veers into resentment, anger, and even hatred toward people that, in the end, you do still love. Owen's bitterness toward his friends for their success, the grief of abuse becoming a vicious, inescapable cycle, and how friendships over time can degrade due to a variety of outside reasons are all explored in depth in this novel.
I think that is Chuck Wendig's strongest point in the novel. The ability to explore the darkest emotions we experience is often frowned upon or shamed in society, either toward people experiencing these emotions, or in online spaces, such as where fandom culture permeates. I found these explorations to be very real and very human, and at points, watching them degrade into more feral natures was a relief, because it showed that you could still be the "good guys" while feeling and acting on these "bad things."
The problem I had with Staircase in the Woods was how much a lot of the language came across as "preachy." I'm far left and somewhere complicated under the nonbinary label, and the way Lore's character was handled under the LGBTQ label was... odd. Lore is a lot like myself in many ways, so seeing her character, essentially, time and again, be re-labeled as "Woman-Lite" despite preachy language showing high support toward queer themes and lifestyles felt like an awkward, accidental parody rather than a character that existed to be representative of a marginalized, under represented group of the queer umbrella.
Alongside that, while I'm aware that the politics of Chuck Wendig mirrors the politics of his book in this case, the way's it was approach in text equally felt preachy, and came across as awkward. There were several scenes where Lore (IMO rightly) came after Hamish for certain opinions he has, but it felt awkward and hard to read in how it was approached rather than from sincerity.
All that aside, one aspect I really liked about this novel veers a touch into spoiler territory, so without saying much and leaving a lot of room to find out on your own, I loved how this novel got into the "guts" of the situation, both in a figurative as well as literal sense. Having to traverse physically into the evil entity that is holding you hostage is something that can be found in a lot of media, but in this case, it feels like a special nod that goes back to I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream in particular, as well as movie by the name of The House That Jack Built.
In the later half of the book, right through to the end, it felt like this was a purposeful choice to compare the evil entity within the book to AM, Allied Mastercomputer, from Harlan Ellison's classic, and the visceral descriptions involving the group's journey into their own version of Hell left me wishing the rest of the book was exactly like this. A lot of content felt flat to me, shocking scenarios meant to break down the characters that were just that: shocking, flat scenarios. But the journey through the entity itself felt refreshing by comparison, and the strength of the novel lies within these sections of the last quarter of the novel.
Overall, The Staircase In the Woods was a fun read, but I feel like it won't be the best representative of Chuck Wendig's work as an author. A lot of parts left me wanting much more out of it. I thought it was rather inventive at times, but at others I was left feeling unimpressed.
Thank you to NetGalley, Chuck Wendig, Random House Worlds, and Del Rey for this early copy!
Thanks for stopping by to read! I know it's been a hot minute since I posted a review. I've been predominantly reading manga, so I might do a small writeup soon about an indie press I'm vibing with!
Have a great one!
B.
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