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A review by stitchkid
In Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll
3.0
This review was originally published on:
http://wordsofwonders.com/2015/07/11/in-darkling-wood/
An incredible fairy story which through the power of fairies highlights the seriousness of destroying our countryside whilst exploring sibling relationships and the most powerful thing on Earth – Hope.
As soon as I’d heard about In Darkling Wood at the London Book Fair, I knew I wanted to read it. A creepy old wood at the bottom of the garden which, rumor has it, is the home of Fairies? Yes, yes a million times yes!
Admittedly, this is my first Emma Carroll read and it certainly won’t be the last after this incredibly story. It is told very much like a classic fairytale with its whimsical and fantastical writing. When it comes to Fairies I’ve anally stuck to Holly Black and Sarah J Maas like a tick however, I have finally branched out and boy am I glad I did.
In Darkling Wood revolves around Alice, her younger brother, Theo and their strained family relationship. Theo is dying. He needs a new heart. So when the call comes in the middle of the night, that a heart has become available, Alice and her mother rush Theo down to the hospital – Alice’s estranged father no where in sight. But soon it becomes clear that Alice is not going to be staying with her mother at the hospital. Instead she is sent to live temporarily with her grandmother Nell, who is as equally estranged as her father.
Nell lives in the countryside in a small cottage which is being slowly overrun by Darkling Wood – the forest that lies beyond the end of the garden. It’s trees shadow the house in darkness and their roots are slowly encroaching on the house’s foundations, making it unstable and soon dangerous to live in and Nell wants rid of it.
It doesn’t take long for Alice to discover that there is more to the woods than first meets the eye. Flo, a strangely dressed girl who says she lives in the woods quickly becomes her friend and swears that the fairies live there, fairies that will do whatever it takes to save the wood, no matter the consequences.
The story is broken up by letters from a young girl in 1918, written to her brother who was serving in the war. They detail her experience of Darkling Wood and the fairies that reside within and how she eventually comes to scorn the fairies despite her love for them. These letters were really interesting and gave us a brilliant insight into how the people left behind during the war used things like fairies to provide them with hope and determination. It also provided a way of giving us great bits of sinister information and clues as well as breaking up the pace of the present story.
Obviously, everything isn’t all revealed in one go! In Darkling Wood keeps you questioning and guessing throughout and for the most part, leaves you completely clueless as to what was happening and if the fairies were indeed real or a figment of their desperate imaginations.
There is mystery on all sides. Alice discovers that Nell and her father bare secrets that link directly to the woods and the fairies but both are as equally stubborn as each other and withhold important details which could aid in their saving the wood. The answers are hidden, both in her past, her father’s past and Flo’s.
Why does Nell hate the woods? Why does Alice’s father distance himself from Theo and his health problems? Why is Nell’s and her father’s relationship so strained? Who is Flo? Could she be right about the fairies? What part does Alice play in all this?
Carroll does an exceptional job at portraying all of her characters realistically. Alice is a struggling teenager, weighed down by too much responsibility too soon. The fraught relationship between her mother and father is on point and heartfelt. Nell is a perfectly batty and stubborn old woman who reminded me perfectly of my own Nan. The other supporting characters, from her new schoolmates even to the tree removal guy are all essential to the story in some small way and each one adds to the underlying themes of the story itself – family, belief and hope.
I can’t remember the last time I read a book that weaved its themes into the text so intrinsically yet so seamlessly. You can feel the magic and hope reverberating from this book with every page, hope that seeps into your thoughts until you and the book are one as you follow Alice’s curious adventures in the woods.
In Darkling Wood is a fantastic 9-12/middle grade novel and is a perfect introduction in to the realm of fantasy and fiction. Written like a classic fairy tale, the story is intriguing and isn’t void of important morals that are still relevant to the children of today. The characters are relatable, the plot executed perfectly and presented simply and magically in a way that will delight all readers with its whimsical mystery that is the Darkling Wood.
Yet another fantastic contemporary fairy tale from the ever great Emma Carroll. Hauntingly whimsical and memorable, this tale will reside in people’s minds and remind everyone who reads it of the importance of family and hope.
http://wordsofwonders.com/2015/07/11/in-darkling-wood/
An incredible fairy story which through the power of fairies highlights the seriousness of destroying our countryside whilst exploring sibling relationships and the most powerful thing on Earth – Hope.
As soon as I’d heard about In Darkling Wood at the London Book Fair, I knew I wanted to read it. A creepy old wood at the bottom of the garden which, rumor has it, is the home of Fairies? Yes, yes a million times yes!
Admittedly, this is my first Emma Carroll read and it certainly won’t be the last after this incredibly story. It is told very much like a classic fairytale with its whimsical and fantastical writing. When it comes to Fairies I’ve anally stuck to Holly Black and Sarah J Maas like a tick however, I have finally branched out and boy am I glad I did.
In Darkling Wood revolves around Alice, her younger brother, Theo and their strained family relationship. Theo is dying. He needs a new heart. So when the call comes in the middle of the night, that a heart has become available, Alice and her mother rush Theo down to the hospital – Alice’s estranged father no where in sight. But soon it becomes clear that Alice is not going to be staying with her mother at the hospital. Instead she is sent to live temporarily with her grandmother Nell, who is as equally estranged as her father.
Nell lives in the countryside in a small cottage which is being slowly overrun by Darkling Wood – the forest that lies beyond the end of the garden. It’s trees shadow the house in darkness and their roots are slowly encroaching on the house’s foundations, making it unstable and soon dangerous to live in and Nell wants rid of it.
It doesn’t take long for Alice to discover that there is more to the woods than first meets the eye. Flo, a strangely dressed girl who says she lives in the woods quickly becomes her friend and swears that the fairies live there, fairies that will do whatever it takes to save the wood, no matter the consequences.
The story is broken up by letters from a young girl in 1918, written to her brother who was serving in the war. They detail her experience of Darkling Wood and the fairies that reside within and how she eventually comes to scorn the fairies despite her love for them. These letters were really interesting and gave us a brilliant insight into how the people left behind during the war used things like fairies to provide them with hope and determination. It also provided a way of giving us great bits of sinister information and clues as well as breaking up the pace of the present story.
Obviously, everything isn’t all revealed in one go! In Darkling Wood keeps you questioning and guessing throughout and for the most part, leaves you completely clueless as to what was happening and if the fairies were indeed real or a figment of their desperate imaginations.
There is mystery on all sides. Alice discovers that Nell and her father bare secrets that link directly to the woods and the fairies but both are as equally stubborn as each other and withhold important details which could aid in their saving the wood. The answers are hidden, both in her past, her father’s past and Flo’s.
Why does Nell hate the woods? Why does Alice’s father distance himself from Theo and his health problems? Why is Nell’s and her father’s relationship so strained? Who is Flo? Could she be right about the fairies? What part does Alice play in all this?
Carroll does an exceptional job at portraying all of her characters realistically. Alice is a struggling teenager, weighed down by too much responsibility too soon. The fraught relationship between her mother and father is on point and heartfelt. Nell is a perfectly batty and stubborn old woman who reminded me perfectly of my own Nan. The other supporting characters, from her new schoolmates even to the tree removal guy are all essential to the story in some small way and each one adds to the underlying themes of the story itself – family, belief and hope.
I can’t remember the last time I read a book that weaved its themes into the text so intrinsically yet so seamlessly. You can feel the magic and hope reverberating from this book with every page, hope that seeps into your thoughts until you and the book are one as you follow Alice’s curious adventures in the woods.
In Darkling Wood is a fantastic 9-12/middle grade novel and is a perfect introduction in to the realm of fantasy and fiction. Written like a classic fairy tale, the story is intriguing and isn’t void of important morals that are still relevant to the children of today. The characters are relatable, the plot executed perfectly and presented simply and magically in a way that will delight all readers with its whimsical mystery that is the Darkling Wood.
Yet another fantastic contemporary fairy tale from the ever great Emma Carroll. Hauntingly whimsical and memorable, this tale will reside in people’s minds and remind everyone who reads it of the importance of family and hope.