3.5
The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse
ByPublisher Description
A princess and a peasant girl embark on a dangerous quest to outwit a warning foretelling the fall of the Monarchy.
In the center of the verdant Monarchy lies Dreadwillow Carse, a desolate bog the people of the land do their best to ignore. Little is known about it except an ominous warning: If any monarch enters Dreadwillow Carse, then the Monarchy will fall. Twelve-year-old Princess Jeniah yearns to know what the marsh could conceal that might topple her family’s thousand-year reign.
After a chance meeting, Princess Jeniah strikes a secret deal with Aon, a girl from a nearby village: Aon will explore the Carse on the princess’s behalf, and Jeniah will locate Aon’s missing father. But when Aon doesn’t return from the Carse, a guilt-stricken Jeniah must try and rescue her friend—even if it means risking the entire Monarchy.
In this thrilling modern fairytale, Brian Farrey has created an exciting new world where friendship is more powerful than fate and the most important thing is to question everything.
In the center of the verdant Monarchy lies Dreadwillow Carse, a desolate bog the people of the land do their best to ignore. Little is known about it except an ominous warning: If any monarch enters Dreadwillow Carse, then the Monarchy will fall. Twelve-year-old Princess Jeniah yearns to know what the marsh could conceal that might topple her family’s thousand-year reign.
After a chance meeting, Princess Jeniah strikes a secret deal with Aon, a girl from a nearby village: Aon will explore the Carse on the princess’s behalf, and Jeniah will locate Aon’s missing father. But when Aon doesn’t return from the Carse, a guilt-stricken Jeniah must try and rescue her friend—even if it means risking the entire Monarchy.
In this thrilling modern fairytale, Brian Farrey has created an exciting new world where friendship is more powerful than fate and the most important thing is to question everything.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Secret of Dreadwillow Carse Reviews
3.5
“I am very satisfied with this book. The plot is very creative, it's not boring. The secrets of the carse and the dark history of the monarchy makes me impatient and flip the pages of the book pretty fast. It's not scary but really triggering my curiousity to learn more. Which is a good thing to incorporate in juvenile fiction.
For the characters, I love both Jeniah and Aon. They are both made important and I love their friendship. I love how brave both of them are as 12 year old girls! Honestly this book reminds me of Coraline. Children set in a depressing atmosphere. Both Jeniah and Aon had to deal with loss at such a young age. Not just that, Aon had to deal with her mother being missing and her father being a Dreadwillow tree. She had a choice to save her father but in such unfair circumstances. The moment Jeniah made the choice to end the pact, I was already overthinking "what about Aon's father?". And the story ended with the father still ended up being a tree??? I am devastated, but Jeniah's choice was the right choice.
Moral of the story? I think all emotions are valid. It's stupid to get rid of all the negative emotions away to secure happines by killing people every year. Why would you do that? I mean, yeah, theres no war but these feelings are very much needed.”
About Brian Farrey
Brian Farrey is the author of The Secret of Dreadwillow Carse, winner of the 2017 Minnesota Book Award, and the Stonewall honor book With or Without You. He lives in Minnesota with his husband and their sweet but occasionally evil cats. You can find him online at brianfarreybooks.com and on Twitter: @BrianFarrey .
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