Wildwood

Wildwood Wildwood (Wildwood Trilogy, #1)

by Colin Meloy

540 pages of wildness and wonder

When a book begins by having a baby brother carried off by crows, your curiosity is piqued.  Then when the older sister decides to keep the disappearance hidden from her parents in the hope that she can successfully retrieve him from the crows and the wood (the Impassable Wilderness) hopefully no worse for the wear, you are compelled to read on.  As you do you meet Curtis, then Richard, then talking coyote soldiers with weapons and attack strategies, The Dowager Governess, the Bandit King, the Crown Prince of the Avian Principality and you know need to find out how the good and evil will meet and how the magic of this fantasy will be revealed.

Full of strong characters and unusual twists and turns, the citizens of Wildwood will welcome you in.  When you turn the last page, you’ll be hoping for another tale… Why are their magical barriers?  How did the two worlds (ours and theirs) decide to separate?  Why does it seem that magic only thrives in some places?  It is in our world, and we are just too busy to pay attention?

I like books that leave me thinking.  This one did.  I am glad the subtitle is “Wildwood Chronicles – book 1.”   I am looking forward to going back to this place and understanding more of how our worlds might meet.

side note:  I loved that Prue cherished the Sibley Guide and just needed it one more week – even though it was overdue