A Path Begins

books247 - This book was way better than I first expected it to be. I was immediately wondering what was going on when the book started off with the main character Kara Westfall, at the time age 5, was forced to watch her mother’s execution because apparently her mother was a witch. After that every one in the town makes Kara, her brother Taff and her father’s lives miserable because they think that Kara is a witch as well. Later a 12 year old Kara is led into the Thickety, which is a magical forest that everyone is forbidden to go into, by a bird with one eye that changes colors in the middle of its chest. The Thickety reminds me a lot of the Forbidden forest in Harry Potter because in both books there are dangerous creatures in the forest, and no one is allowed to go in. In the town that the story takes place, it is practically a religion that anything magical, anyone that has or had anything to do with magic, or anything related to magic will and should be gotten rid off. Kara gets hold of a magical book that grants the wielder powers. The only problem is that the more you use it the more the book takes control of you. Its one of those books where you get extremely irritated and annoyed when the main character just cant kill the bad guy already! The main character just keeps showing the bad guy mercy thinking they will “change” and the bad guy just keeps being evil and does some giant thing that causes a giant twist at the end. Other than that this was a pretty good book.

Starred review from March 24, 2014
The followers of the Path have left the sinful world behind to live in the isolated community of De’Noran, which is increasingly encroached upon by the Thickety, the domain of the forest demon Sordyr. Kara Westfall’s mother was executed for the crime of witchcraft, and now her family ekes out a living under the burden of the community’s suspicion. It falls to 12-year-old Kara to keep her sickly younger brother and dysfunctional father alive. She negotiates the treacherous road of a pariah, attempting to persuade a proto-Puritanical society that she is harmless, even while the dangerously addictive powers she has inherited from her mother well up within her. In this darkly imaginative debut, White creates a fantasy world with creatures that are anything but sweet—a cyclopean bird, a multi-mouthed horror—and, after a deceptively satisfying resolution, he unfurls a twist that will make readers want the next chapter of Kara’s story immediately. White’s prose is evocative without being dense, and Offermann’s sharp-edged silhouettes (not all seen by PW) add an ominous note. Absolutely thrilling. Ages 8–12. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, Janklow & Nesbit.

April 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-"There is no such thing as a good witch." These words, well known to all the villagers of De'Noran, haunt 12-year-old Kara Westfall. Ostracized and abused, she and her brother are the children of the last known witch, who was hanged on the edge of the Thickety when Kara was five. As the tangled branches of the dark, forbidden forest spread closer to the village, something strange and powerful awakens in Kara. Was her mother's magic truly evil? White's debut novel is darkly bewitching. The isolation of De'Noran and the fervor of its residents create a heady suspense, and White's well-crafted characters operate beautifully within the fantastical world he has created. Offerman's inky silhouettes perfectly complement the story. Readers will devour each twist and turn of the plot, right up to the startling conclusion.-Sara Saxton, Wasilla Public Library, Wasilla, AK

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