carolesrandomlife

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life

I have mixed feelings about this book. Young adult fantasy with a fairies? I was ready to love it and I thought it started out really strong but everything started to fizzle out for me as the book progressed. I liked the overall story but I had a lot of trouble connecting with the writing style. I really wanted to see where things were going in the story but I found that I kept checking how much I had left to read like I was eager for it to be over.

Clare and her father return to their home in Ireland after spending the past several years in the United States. Clare was born in the house as were her ancestors on her mother's side of the family. The house is unique with open windows, dirt floors, and a huge yew tree growing in the center of the home. Clare's mother died before they left the country originally so it is just her and her father. She soon starts to rediscover all of the things that her mother had taught her about the strange and finds herself pulled into the world of the fae.

I was really sucked into the story as Clare started to piece everything together but as the plot really got moving I found that the writing style overpowered the story. There were some elements of the story that could have used a little more definition such as the totem and the balance between the human and fairy worlds. I found that I was often reading passages a second time trying to figure out what I had missed. I would have liked to dig a little deeper into the world of faerie to learn about their world and get to know some of the characters better. Some very interesting characters were introduced but then were quickly gone such as the beast and the girl from the yew tree.

I did really like the underlying connection between Clare and the yew tree. Clare did seem to accept her new reality very quickly and was more than willing to try to make things better. I never developed any kind of connection with Clare and never felt truly invested in the story. I was actually quite thrilled that this story did not have a focus on romance. The conclusion to the story was well done and I felt like everything was really wrapped up quite nicely.

I would recommend this book to fantasy fans looking for a book written in more poetic style. This is the first book by Katherine Catmull that I have had a chance to read but I would definitely be open to other works by this author.

I received an advance reader edition of this book from Penguin Group - Dutton Books for Young Readers via First to Read for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Initial Thoughts
Meh. I didn't care for this book. I came really close to not finishing it but stayed with it until the end.