Title: Whichwood
Genre: Fantasty Middle Grade
Author: Tahereh Mafi
Publisher: Dutton
Publication: November 14th 2017
Cover Rating: 5/5
Reading Format: Hardback
Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi is the story of Laylee and her cleaning dead bodies business, Alice and the task she has been assigned and finally Oliver and whatever it is Oliver does. The book is actually equal parts Laylee and Alice. Where their worlds intertwine and where they don't. We get to see the story from all sides and I think that made the book the amazing work of art that it is.
Laylee is a new addition to our little Furthermore group. Alice retook her Surrender and got tasked with Laylee. Alice's magic is meant to help Laylee out but Laylee is too stubborn and scared to admit that she had a problem. And what might that problem be? She is losing herself, in all ways possible. She has a buttload of other problems too, but Alice was only sent to help with one, but we all know Alice can't just do the one task she was given. Alice has such a pure heart that she wants to help Laylee in any way possible.
The Furthermore books take place in magical worlds so of course Laylee has to have some kind of magical ability. Laylee is a Mordeshoor. That pretty much just means she is a mortician. All the dead people of her town, Whichwood, are sent to her so she can clean their bodies, do some ritual and then shove them in a coffin. She is only thirteen years old but she is alone in doing this task because he mother has died and her father is... absent, although she sees he frequently, you can figure this puzzle out by reading the book. Aside from this horrible job, she can also SEE spirits and that causes a lot of problems for her, as you can imagine. Her job and these spirits are draining the life from her and Alice has been sent to help. But Laylee is a very stubborn girl and she always thinks someone has ulterior motives so Alice has one heck of an adventure ahead of her.
One thing this book has that the first book didn't is romance. I don't think it can be truly called romance as the protagonists are still kids but attachments and bonds and feelings start to become real. It was kind of strange seeing something as normal as a crush happening in this book that is full of craziness. Nothing about this book is normal but love still found it's way in. There was love in Furthermore, of course, but not this kind.
The author does an amazing job at making this vibrant, magical world come to life. The world building must have took forever to get just right and the character development was beautiful. Alice and Oliver both changed and grew. It was nice to see that the characters didn't just stay the same. They aged so their personalities and such changed and the author did a great job of showing that.
In the end, I found that I liked Whichwood a little bit more than Futhermore. I can't really explain why. I really loved Furthermore so maybe it's not that I like this book more but maybe it's a different kind of like. Both books are insanely abnormal and full of craziness but Whichwood had a more serious tone to it. As serious a tone as a book like this can have. I do hope to see some more books set in this insanely creative world some day. I am finding that I will miss Alice, Benyamin, Laylee and Oliver.
Overall, I gave the book 5/5 stars.
1 comments:
I really want to read this book and happy to see Tahereh continue writing.
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