Sometimes I read a book that is so wonderfully amazing, that I when I get to the last third, I purposefully slow down simply because I don't want the story to ever end. The book on this edition of Fiction Friday is just such a book. As I mentioned in my last Fiction Friday, I needed a break from reading YA and to clear my mind, I returned to what has become my favorite genre over the past decade, Middle Grade literary fantasy. It's the "literary" that has pulled me toward the genre, as I feel Middle Grade is the one place where literary writing still thrives. This book is a perfect example.
(Algonquin, 2016)
There is a which in the woods...so the opening lines of this novel tell us. And there is indeed a witch in the woods, but the witch is not what she seems, like things often are in the magical world of this story.
For the people living in the isolated city of The Protectorate, surrounded by swamps and danger at the far end of the forest, the only thing to be found in abundance is sorrow. They are taught that their suffering is due to the witch who lives in the woods and demands a sacrifice every year of the youngest baby in the city. As a result, a cloud of sorrow hangs over the town, preventing those who live there from seeing the world as it truly is.
The people are blind to the magic that exists in the swamps and the forest, but the fate of one of these "sacrificed" children will change everything. Accidently enmagicked, Luna is destined to free the people of their sorrow, with the help of her dragon friend, a swamp monster, a familiar madwoman, the old witch, and the boy who once left her in the woods to die.
An absolutely beautiful story that is so full of life, love, and magic.
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