Wild with delight
As opening lines go, this novel has a humdinger: “How five crows managed to lift a twenty-pound baby boy into the air was beyond Prue, but that was certainly the least of her worries.”
Try reading that without wanting to know more.
By the time you get to Page 541, you’ll have learned plenty. Not only will you know how that “murder of crows” made off with Prue’s baby brother, Mac, you’ll know why. And you’ll be well acquainted with 12-year-old Prue, her slightly younger and somewhat geeky friend Curtis, and the quest they embark on to rescue Mac – even though it means heading into the Impassable Wilderness on the edge of Portland, Ore., their hometown. Technically, they shouldn’t be able to get through that area into Wildwood; something called “Woods Magic” is designed to keep Outsiders from breaking through the Periphery Bind, a maze in which “every turn is a dead end.” But neither of them has trouble penetrating the realms that deliver mind-boggling adventures and plenty of surprises.
We encounter Alexandra, for example, the Dowager Governess at whose behest the crows have kidnapped the baby. With an army of coyote soldiers under her command, she plans to rule the entire woods. There are talking animals, horrific battles and courageous individuals, all of which makes for the best in fantasy and adventure. Readers familiar with C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series may find themselves having a few flashbacks, if only for the fact that the Dowager Governess is reminiscent of the White Witch and this book, too, is ultimately a story of good versus evil.
Colin Meloy, in this first novel, creates settings and characters that stay with the reader. Carson Ellis’s art adds substance to Meloy’s words with six colour plates, numerous black-and-white spot illustrations, and 10 full-page black-and-white scenes. Her pen-and-ink art, given depth and texture with watercolour washes, will have readers poring over the tiniest of details.
Meloy, described on the dust jacket as “the singer and songwriter for the band the Decemberists, where he channels all of his weird ideas into weird songs,” has chosen this time to channel them into print – and done so very successfully. All I can say is: Bring on Book 2. Age 10 and up.
Wildwood By Colin Meloy Illustrated by Carson Ellis Balzer & Bray, 541 pages, $18.99