Silverweed by Dorlana Vann is a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t sure what to expect from reading the blurb. Subtitled a “Supernatural Fairy Tale,” the plot centers on a few characters and one principle setting. Seventeen-year-old Aiden and his mother are visiting their long-estranged grandmother after Aiden’s aunt has died. While there, they meet Aiden’s cousin Diesel and Scarlet, his girlfriend. When Aiden’s mother is called away, the fates of Aiden, his grandmother, Diesel, and Scarlet come together in a shocking way.
This novel is hard to review without giving too much away. It ingeniously hearkens back to the Red Riding Hood fairytale with its chapter titles and sequences. The inspired titles accurately describe the increasingly desperate situation of the four snowed-in characters. As the novel continues, alliances shift, people change, and the four, especially the teenagers, have to deal with the fallout.
Silverweed refers to an ingredient in the muffins Aiden bakes for his grandmother. The muffins are a clever device that I haven’t seen used before in the legends, and they make for an interesting, and satisfactory, plot device early in the story. In fact, despite the usual beats of being trapped by snow and stuck with people you hardly know, Silverweed has a lot of new ideas. The novel keeps leading the reader on and is gripping to the climax.
The three younger characters are all distinguishable and act and talk like teenagers. They all enter into this snowbound situation with emotional baggage. Aiden’s guilty over the way he broke up with his girlfriend, Diesel feels he let his family down, and Scarlet wants to escape this two-bit town. They all must face their demons at some point in the story.
Everything escalates to a certain point and ends in a satisfying conclusion. Despite one small instance of a character finding exactly what he needs when he needs it, Silverweed doesn’t take shortcuts. It unfolds realistically with great suspense.
When I started Silverweed, I thought I was getting one thing, but ended up with something far more interesting. After a few chapters, the story unfolds into something both wondrous and frightening. The book takes its readers on a dark journey set in the harsh season of winter, and twists its narrative to its fascinating conclusion.