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Under Wildwood. By Colin Meloy (2013)

by Colin Meloy(Favorite Author)

3.9 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0857863274 (ISBN13: 9780857863270)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Canongate Books

series

Wildwood Chronicles

review 1: Bloated.I went into this book after enjoying Wildwood very much, the beautiful art, the quirky style and deceptively complex tale for a book of this age group, what I found in Under Wildwood could can be summed up in one word, bloated:World: The word is interesting, and full of it's unique Portlandness. As with the first book, the setting and the characters that inhabit it make it unique and with the Portland lens where everything is displayed through it quite fun. I especially enjoyed the machine shop setting as it reminded me of a lot of similar books in this genre, but with it's own unique spin. This is an interesting world and it's worth visiting, and the art makes it even better.Story: This is the stories greatest flaw, the world the Meloy has created is wonderful, b... moreut the tale that takes place in this sequel is bloated and in dire need of an editor. What makes it worse is that this is clearly a first part in a two book arc that continues with Wildwood Imperium. I don't really want to get into the details of the story or the main arc as it does contain spoilers, but a lot of the story in the middle of the book is rather filler for the sake of filler. Not a lot happens of consequence in these sequences and not a lot of outcome I see will be of note in the grand arc of the story. It's suffers the same problem that Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy suffers in that the quest in itself is just one obstacle after another. Where Tolkien succeeds is that the quest has great characters, here as you will read below, that's not the case. Bloated beyond belief.Characters: The character choices that Curtis made at the end of book one was not one I really agreed with and in this sequel it does deal with that aspect, which is a good thing and also leads to the introduction of his sisters which I think are the best characters of the series so far. However, the rest of the cast is not as well developed and not as easily to empathize with. This is due to the bloated nature of the story which makes you kinda annoyed that the book is taking so long to get to it's point that any good characters in the middle of the book just seems like a distraction. I also did not like the constant bickering between Pru and Curtis, that got old very fast. The end of this book is on a cliffhanger and because of the bloated nature of this book, I'm kind of hesitant to continue to the tale, but knowing me I'll still slog through it. I just hope that it's much better than this bloated second book.Onward to the next book!
review 2: Under Wildwood falls prey to some of the tropes that plague middle installments of trilogies: it gets much darker, there isn't really a satisfying conclusion at the end, and there is a noticeable increase of angst between the main characters. This all being said, I am still in love with the world Meloy has built. The introduction of Elsie and Rachel, and their unfolding subplot, was actually more interesting than the main line following Curtis and Prue. Additionally, Meloy is teasing out the very important implications of Curtis' decision at the end of the first book, which is something that I don't see done very frequently in these "young reader" fantasy novels. While the book adopts a darker tone than the first entry, the writing is also significantly funnier, which is a welcome change. I still love Meloy's prose, even more so than in "Wildwood". I will sit down to read a chapter or two, and before I know it, I've guzzled 100 pages or so. His smooth writing makes the length of the book (550+ pages) very excusable. While the ending is simply a set-up for book 3, the final chapter was emotional and haunting, and it left me dying to immediately start "Wildwood Imperium", which is what the 2nd book of a trilogy should ultimately do. less

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