All this heady introspection and excellent character work is balanced with a solid narrative that relies on both taut sequences of action and the overarching mystery of the forest and its creatures, as well as its tendency to alter time and space as we know it. The Trees is a longish book, but it reads about as quickly as a novel half its size, thanks to the author's immersive plotting ... The Trees should definitely make him a household name.
Although this development has more than a tinge of the supernatural, Shaw’s descriptions are visceral and matter-of-fact ... The non-fiction nature writing in vogue in recent years seems to have migrated into fiction. Shaw’s climax is like nothing else, though, crescendoing with almost CGI levels of spectacle as Tarantino meets Middle Earth. The Trees is very odd indeed, but certainly compelling.
Maybe The Trees is as much Narnia as The Road, then, because the moral symbolism becomes increasingly explicit as the quest goes on ... Adrien’s inertia and despondency are the most interesting aspect of The Trees. He is an antihero, dependent on women for instruction, morale, food and shelter...The post-apocalyptic theme is familiar, and so is the eco-thriller, but both usually rely on the hero’s quest. What’s unusual here is that moral order is mystically reinstated by the apotheosis of a wimp.
At times, the suspense misses the mark. Punch lines don’t land, or a big reveal is included in a run-on sentence, taking the air out of the surprise. The magical realism is often overdone, describing in minute detail the same thing again and again each time the characters chance upon it, until I was left with little room for my own imagination ... Dialogue sometimes feels forced and awkward; the things each character has to say are interesting, but phrases end up coming out like narration rather than natural conversation ... The ending, though, proves Shaw is a gifted writer when at his best. Push through the frustrating passages, and you’ll be rewarded with some truly captivating prose.
Though Shaw’s premise feels at first a little thin, like it would have been better suited to the confines of a short story, eventually it is the depth of his characters’ interactions and their subsequent understanding of each other, as well as those characters’ understanding of what the trees?—?the event of their growth?—?means to each of them that elevates Shaw’s work beyond a simple journey through an unknown world to a complex and otherworldly meditation on nature.
