Thorn Ogres of Hagwood

Starred review from October 14, 2002
Learning the ancient secret that keeps the tiny race of Hagwood Forest's werling folk safe is only one highlight of this fantasy, the smashing launch of the Hagwood Trilogy. Jarvis, author of the Deptford Mice Trilogy, here abandons mice (well, sort of) to concentrate on wee werlings, who can wergle (or transform) themselves into any creature of similar size. Readers will easily identify with seven-year-old Gamaliel Tumpin as he begins the first day of werling school with the same butterflies human children feel, accompanied by his crabby older sister, Kernella (whose "two prominent peg-shaped teeth... stick out and make her resemble a vexed rabbit"). She is crazy about popular Finnen Lufkin, who can wergle himself into almost any creature faster than even their jealous tutor, Terser Gibble, can. But trouble brews in Hagwood, and soon wergling won't be enough to protect them from the wasp/spider, Frighty Aggie ("Would that she were only a nursery bogey.... But she is not. The horror that is Frighty Aggie is as real as you or I. Doubt that at your peril," Gibble tells a student), nor from the wrath of wicked Rhiannon, faerie Queen of Hollow Hill. Rhiannon seeks the missing treasure box stolen by the Smith, last of the dwarfs who once served her and her monstrous thorn ogres. Jarvis turns up the volume on his trademark suspense blended with whimsy, and readers are drawn deeper into the magical conflict through Gamaliel and Finnen's involvement. Fun for Hobbit-addicts and Potter-philes of all ages. Next up in this series: The Dark Waters of Hagwood. Ages 10-up.

May 15, 2013
Over 10 years after Thorn Ogres of Hagwood (2002), a middle volume appears, doing more to indulge the author's love of grotesque magical creatures than advance his derivative plotline. The tale zips among points of view as well as back and forth from murky Hagwood Forest to the subterranean Unseelie Court and the mazes of tunnels and caverns deeper down. It sends diminutive Gamaliel Tumpkin and his shape-changing fellow werlings on a search for the hidden casket that holds the beating heart of Rhiannon Rigantona, murderous Queen of the Hollow Hill. The story reads more like a sendup than a credible quest fantasy. Along with silly names aplenty, Jarvis trucks in armies of odd creatures. Snaggle-featured spriggans and glutinous sluglungs ("Snot monsters!" as a revolted onlooker accurately exclaims) keep characters busy between encounters with the odd barn bogle, candle sprite or troll hag. One character is described as a "human dwarf," and most of the other females are likewise evil, ugly, or, in the case of Gamaliel's sister Kernella, fat, loud, stupid and in need of rescuing. Following various assaults, the questers and their pursuers gather for a climactic battle that, thanks to a contrived twist, proves indecisive and so leaves the door open for the next episode. It offers some creepy moments and critters, but it's more often a pale imitation of one of Brian Jacques' woodland epics. With slime. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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