Willa of the Wood by Robert Beatty {review}

Willa of the Wood
by Robert Beatty
♦publisher: Disney-Hyperion
♦released: July 10th, 2018
♦hardcover, 384 pages
♦intended audience: Middle Grade
♦series: Willa, book 1
♦source: ARC from publisher for review consideration

Move without a sound. Steal without a trace.

Willa, a young night-spirit, is her clan's best thief. She creeps into the cabins of the day-folk under cover of darkness and takes what they won't miss. It's dangerous work--the day-folk kill whatever they don't understand--but Willa will do anything to win the approval of the padaran, the charismatic leader of the Faeran people.

When Willa's curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in the day-folk world, she calls upon the old powers of her beloved grandmother, and the unbreakable bonds of her forest allies, to escape. Only then does she begin to discover the shocking truth: that not all of her day-folk enemies are the same, and that the foundations of her own Faeran society are crumbling. What do you do when you realize that the society you were born and raised in is rife with evil? Do you raise your voice? Do you stand up against it?

As forces of unfathomable destruction encroach on her forest home, Willa must decide who she truly is, facing deadly force with warmest compassion, sinister corruption with trusted alliance, and finding a home for her longing heart.

{Becky's Thoughts}

I really enjoyed Willa of the Woods. The story moves a little slow to start out, but not necessarily in a bad way---the heavily descriptive and picturesque way the author takes the time to show Willa's world reminded me a lot of classic fiction like The Hobbit or Tuck Everlasting. I didn't read the Serafina books so I didn't have a prior connection with Willa, but I did really enjoy her brave character and magical cleverness, and the passionate way Willa connect with her home in the woods. 

After a great loss, she longs to find a place where she really feels a sense of belonging and knows she doesn't feel it with her clan. Where she does find it will have her questioning everything she ever thought she knew. There are moments of great excitement and danger and darkness mixed in with passages of a sort of quiet fascination as Willa reflects a lot on what she knows of the world and what she is learning along her journey. I was actually really surprised just how dark and violent several parts of this story were! Not quite sure I would put it in the hands of a younger middle grade reader (I know my kids would have been pretty disturbed reading this as 8 or 9 year olds!) but possibly more suited for the younger end of YA, maybe 12 or 13. However, the writing is enchanting, the plot was utterly compelling, and the messages are important ones. I will definitely find myself reaching for more Robert Beatty's work in the future. 

{ABOUT THE AUTHOR}

Robert Beatty lives in Asheville, North Carolina with his wife and three daughters, who help create and refine his stories. He loves to explore the historic Biltmore Estate and the darkened forest trails where his novels take place. He writes full-time now, but in his past lives, Beatty was one of the early pioneers of cloud computing, the founder/CEO of Plex Systems, the co-founder of Beatty Robotics, and the chairman/CTO of Narrative Magazine. In 2007, he was named an Entrepreneur of the Year. When asked about the inspiration for his books, Robert said, “The Serafina and Willa books were inspired by my desire to write about unusual and heroic young girls for my three daughters."

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