The Nilwere

by Tim Boiteau

Today the monster in the woods is slain, the damsel rescued, and she and her knight live happily ever after.
Tomorrow it will happen again, and again, and again....

In their attempt to escape their plague-ridden hometown, Constance Dunn and her friend Amity Lancaster become trapped within the mechanisms of a strange fairy-tale clockwork, but every contraption has its flaws, and this one is about to reach its breaking point.

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 15, 2024

About the author

Tim Boiteau lives in Michigan with his family. He is the award-winning author of several novels, including The Nilwere. You can find his short fiction has in many ezines, magazines, podcasts, and anthologies, notably Daily Science Fiction, Kaleidotrope, and The NoSleep Podcast. He is also Editor at Every Day Fiction.

Reviews

[Moonburst · Rating 5 out of 5]

When her town is struck down with the dreaded Cinder plague, Constance is sent to the neighboring town in search for a doctor. In order to travel as quickly as possible, she braves the dangerous Forest Road, despite the reports of a dangerous creature attacking travelers. Constance loses her way, and is soon attacked by the dread Nilwere. She saved by the mysterious Count Erlwine, but it quickly becomes clear that something more sinister underlying the respite in his isolated manor. Can Constance break the cycle and free her village from the cursed plague?

The Nilwere is a wonderfully atmospheric fairy tale with a somewhat gothic feel. It explores themes of cost of survival, consequences, and the continued diminishment of women. It's an unsettling fever-dream of a book that is impossible to put down.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Kari Blocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. It was a type of horror I haven’t really read before. A great blend of suspense and psychological horror, with a dash of body horror to spice things up. Throw in a unique monster and just the right amount of moments that make you wonder if maybe it isn’t as bad as you think, only to find out it’s worse, and you have a great book.
I received an ARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving this review.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed the overall feel of the world. The characters worked well in this universe and was hooked from the first page of this. The plot has that fairy tale element that I was hoping for and uses the horror element perfectly. Tim Boiteau wrote this well and was hooked in the way the story was weaved together.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Dahlia Dominguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love dark and gothic reads, so I gave this one a try. It reads like a bad dream sequence, which definitely makes the book feel even spookier. There are a couple of inconsistencies, but they add to the feeling that you are in a bad dream.

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received the ebook version of this for free from Booksprout for review purposes.

Rating: 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It reads like a nightmare, where scenes and plotlines converge in twisty and sometimes murky ways. I felt the opening was strong, focused on Constance and the town of the Canton and their struggle with the plague, called the Cinder, striking people indiscriminately. When Constance's mother is afflicted, her father presses her to travel to a neighboring town to retrieve a new doctor and to escape from the plague's clutches before it's too late.

Constance's journey down the forest road is uneventful, but she quickly discovers she's seeing the same landscapes and markers. Even after running into and traveling with her friend, Amity, their adventure quickly turns to terror as rain ravages through the forest and they are stalked by a malevolent creature known locally as the Nilwere. And, after another nightly attack, Constance and Amity are separated for good, and Constance is rescued inexplicably by a handsome stranger named Count Erlwine who claims to be hunting the Nilwere.

The majority of the book, then, takes place in this stranger's manor, an estate tucked away with a cast of grotesque caretakers. Constance is at first lulled into the false safety of the grounds and its residents, who only claim to want to help her recover from the illness now coursing through her, and the Count who seems to be wooing her. However, her suspicions surrounding the estate grow, and she realizes all might not be right in the Erlwine estate.

Boiteau maintains a dark, gloomy, mysterious, and tense atmosphere throughout. The forest is dangerous, and while the manor at first seems like a welcome respite, that sense of unease is infused in every page. As this is gothic horror, you know that something bad is just lurking out of sight, and Boiteau will not let you forget that fact. It reminded me a bit of Crimson Peak in atmosphere, with the earnest and naive Constance willing to accept the cold and unwelcoming nature of the manor because the Count is charming, the food is plentiful, and the bed is warm. Once the terrors begin, Constance's tenacity keeps her from fully succumbing to fear, and she is a very capable young woman in the face of it all.

However, not all the worldbuilding and setting felt fully realized. There are brief mentions throughout about the People's Uprising and execution of the nobility, some talk of magic, but these topics are not fully discussed even as they become more relevant to the plot and the secrets of the manor. The clock ticking motif present while Constance was in the woods is abandoned.

These are minor to heavy spoilers, and I will spoiler tag them here. CW: child rape, sexual violence
This book has a consistent, disturbingly specific obsession with body horror as it relates to women's bodies. When Constance comes across Amity in the woods, she recalls the reason why her and her friend fell out: Amity's father, the mayor, rapes Constance when they're left alone together. While an exact age is not provided, the narrative makes it pretty clear that Constance is a young adult in the present day, meaning she was a preteen at best when this rape occurred. I usually drop a book once rape comes up in the plot - I do not want to read about it. But I pushed through. Later on, when Constance is drugged and brought down to Thingkley's playroom, he cuts away her clothing and starts touching her. I think to myself, surely this girl who was raped would recall that moment. And to my surprise, she didn't. Which means that that early rape scene was completely unnecessary. There are 100 reasons why two young girls would stop talking to one another and grow apart. It felt like it was added purely for the edginess and shock value, and I hate that so much. Boiteau also seems to relish using specific language, describing snakes crawling out of Constance's "vagina and rectum" when more vague language would've been just as effective and come across as less obsessive with women's orifices.

Things that I did really like:
The unsettling feeling of Smugrove and other servants appearing seemingly out of thin air being explained by magic paintings was neat. Certainly not a unique idea, but well executed. I liked the ending confrontation with Erlwine in his chambers; it was so disturbing and vividly rendered in the text. A perfectly bizarre tableau. The intentions of the synopsis all become clear in these final few scenes in the castle, and I like how it twisted my expectations about the repeating cycle element.

Overall, this is a dark fairytale, a gothic horror set in an uncertain time with a compelling protagonist that I did want to succeed. While it wasn't totally for me, I think that fans of this genre will find elements of this story they'll like, but be mindful of a few inconsistencies, confusing sections, and women-specific body horror.