Wildheart

This is a thoroughly engaging, thought provoking and thrilling debut fantasy novel which creates a vividly imagined world and has characters that you can really believe in. The story opens in Twigswick, one of several towns dotted around the enchanted forest of Dryda, home of twelve-year-old Nettle and her older sister Fern. Like all children they have been taught to never enter the forest, which is infested with ghouls, monsters and most deadly of all, the ghostly Hollow Spirits, and indeed their father was killed six years ago when Nettle was lost in the forest. Fern is the opposite of Nervous Nettle, as she is known, and wants nothing more than to join the Wildheart Rangers, dedicated to protecting the towns and keeping the monsters at bay. But shortly after Fern joins up, they hear that she has ditched her role as a Ranger to join the infamous Shadow Stalkers. 

Nettle cannot believe that Fern is a traitor, and thinking she might be in trouble, Nettle courageously enters the forest to find some answers. Lying about her age, she is enrolled into the Rangers and we discover alongside her, the mythology of the Rangers and the woodland spirits they work with, as well as uncomfortable truths about Fern. 

Nettle comes to slowly realise it’s the Hollow Spirits who need her help, and it is her sister who has to be stopped. As Nettle discovers her own special powers, how to handle her fears and appreciates her own worth, she is supported by the first friends she has ever had.

While being entirely age appropriate and completely integrated into the plot and characterisation, there are important diverse and inclusive LGBTQIA+ elements in this story and while the antagonists are certainly vivid and scary, they too are not one dimensional and the way in which they are dispatched is rather moving. 

While having some familiar folkloric tropes, this feels like a genuinely original story, absolutely infused with a love of nature in all its elements. It also happens to be beautifully written and a perfect read aloud length, with fast paced action and enough twists and turns to keep your audience desperate for just one more chapter! 

We definitely leave the book wanting more from these characters and I will certainly be looking forward to finding out what will happen to Nettle and Fern in the next instalment of this excellent new series.