Into the Midnight Wood

Healing from unhealthy relationships is the central theme of McCollum’s slow-moving but gratifying debut, a queer romantasy that enticingly blends the magical with the mundane. David Carew has lived adjacent to the eponymous time-distorting, shape-shifting Midnight Wood with his quirky, gender-bending roommate Meredith Schwarzwelder for five years and he’s contemplating a change. Over the course of the book, he lists nearly 100 reasons to long for a more quiet future away from both the malevolent forces lurking in the Wood, which are growing increasingly menacing, and Meredith’s chaotic personality, which sees him leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. When David discovers that Meredith’s brother, Florian, is marrying Adalynn Cartier, the daughter of the owner of David’s company, he decides he must attend the wedding to achieve his career goals, despite Meredith’s odd reluctance to see his family. The men’s back-and-forth bickering becomes somewhat repetitious and may make readers doubt their compatibility. Even as their dynamic shifts, David remains an oblivious and unreliable narrator of his own life. Fortunately, once the supernatural threat converges with the unspoken familial threat, McCollum steers things to a thoroughly satisfying resolution. This has its charms. (Jan.)