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What an ending! What a book!
A slim volume, sumptuously threaded with the fantastical — this beautifully crafted read is the first in a trilogy that may be targeted to young adults, but is absolutely loved by this reader (who can barely remember that time period).
Dark in parts, mysterious, and always enchanting, between these pages one will encounter the horrors of war, layer upon layer of secrets, traumatic grief, unimaginable loss, and the worst of shadowy military megalomania. But, mingled in throughout, one will also find sprinkles of hope, of enchantment, of wonder, and connection. Of imagination, at its most powerful.
Our journey will begin with (and end with?) a treasure hunt in a small Ontario town and more than one spell magically cast. A family, five sisters, searching for each other.
Across timelines, across oceans.
From arboreous Canada to history-drenched Eastern Poland to the global terrors of pre-WWII.
Across life, and death, and otherworldliness.
And wolves! Awakened and bonded through a human howl. A forest full of them, silent and padding. Yellow-eyed friends, protectors or predators, on the prowl.
Jeremy Gardela, our fourteen-year old main protagonist, will certainly need to find his way, carefully. As he embarks on an adventure, (a personal, soon-to-be deeply relevant quest), quite unlike anything he has ever really imagined.
Still reeling with the grief and the pain of his sister’s recent death, Jeremy may not be feeling quite up to all this. Through the deepest, darkest forest, he will encounter clues to be laboriously untangled, malevolent pursuit, and danger, but he will also discover friendship and love and a whole new level of meaning, as new and illusive worlds emerge.
“The very real feeling of entering another universe — a darkness beyond, or within, the place where he’d been standing.”
And where will it all take him?
Without giving the plot away (no spoilers here, you have to read the book!), if you follow, with Jeremy, the paths illuminating, you will be left with answers, — as well as many, many more questions.
And the next book in the trilogy beckoning.
A great big thank you to the author for an ARC of this wonderful book. All thoughts presented are my own.
