THE HEART OF THE WEIRD WOOD

The magical land of Wreathenwold is threatened by not one, but two crazed and immensely powerful foes in this series finale.

Were they and their works not so terrifying, readers might sympathize with dapper magus Manfred Tarr and Blight, a (literally) twiggy teen from the Weird Wood’s Root Folk. The former has been driven mad by his obsessive love for the Widow, an uncommonly scary, dream-haunting witch, and the latter by overwhelming rage against those who have despoiled nature. Both are wantonly destructive threats with monsters and mighty powers at their command. Lees brings a trilogy laced with provocative twists and populated by a racially diverse human cast to a climactic series of confrontations that challenge his young hero, Benjamiah Creek, not only to find the courage and resources to face the immediate crisis, but in the end to make hard, heartbreaking choices that will save his beloved friends and their world in the longer term. Before that, though, the search for a crucial hidden key further enriches the folkloric, almost ritualistic structure and tone of the tale with sets of agonizing tests, arduous quests, and seemingly impossible tasks. Persichini’s monochrome illustrations are unfortunately a disappointment, being too bland to evoke the setting’s otherness or the robust, nuanced characters.

A dazzling finish to a rich, strange, and beguiling story.