It’s feeling a lot like fall over here. I hate to rush the seasons along, but it has been breezy and cool for the past week, and I don’t really want those temperatures to leave. It’s nice to want to snuggle up in bed instead of lying there, feeling like a sweaty mess. And, I am a long-sleeved kind of person, so cooler temperatures make me very happy.
Cooler temperatures also make me want to huddle up somewhere and read some great stories. During the fall and winter months, I don’t escape by reading stories about beaches or summer adventures. I like more somber tales once fall starts to creep in. Maybe it is some unconscious influence of pop culture? Once I start seeing orange and pumpkin spice products, I think of Halloween, and my reading choices follow suit? I don’t know. But, this book I read this week definitely fits the fall vibe.
This week, among other things, I read the book The Thickety: A Path Begins by J.A. White.
In the prologue, the main character, a girl named Kara, is kidnapped from home and forced to stand in front of her whole village. She is accused of being a witch, and she is attacked by a creature that has the power to sniff out magic. While she is on trial, she learns that her mother is being put to death for being a witch, and her mother is accused of killing two people. Kara is shocked, and even though she is not found guilty of witchcraft, her world is rocked when the villagers put her mother to death.
The next chapter transports us eight years into the future, and Kara is now 13 and struggling to keep her family afloat. She is taking care of her father who hasn’t been the same since her mother’s death, and she is also taking care of her little brother whom her mother gave birth to right before her death. Kara is an outcast in the village, due to the fact that she is still thought of to be a witch, and her family struggles to make money since her dad is just a shell of a man. The village she lives in is weird–it is on an island, and the people there are obsessed with witches. There is this whole area of the village, called the Thickety, that no one goes to. It is said to be controlled by a Forest Demon. Kara never goes near it, until the day that a one eyed bird leads her there and shows her a book. This book, at first glance, seems to be a spell book, and Kara is convinced that it used to belong to her mother.
After Kara finds the book, her life changes. She realizes that she has powers, and, ultimately, she realizes that not all magic is bad–sometimes, it can be used for good.
This book was really intense. It was pretty dark at times–the parts with the forest demon were definitely scary. And, the foe that Kara fights against at the end of the book is pretty terrifying. There are also several mentions of death and murder in the book. So, I would definitely not recommend this for young readers. Even though it is written for middle readers (5th to 7th grade), I would probably veer towards the upper end of that spectrum. The story is really well-written, though, and the characters are really interesting. I really enjoyed reading it, and from the ending, it seems like I have another book in the series to wait for.
This book would be perfect for discerning readers who like to read about magic and who like adventure stories. It also contains strong female characters, which I always appreciate. I think this book is a great read, and I encourage you to check it out!
The Local Bookery 