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3.5 

Whichwood

By Tahereh Mafi
Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

Embark on a dark and lush journey through the land of Whichwood in this stunning companion to Tahereh Mafi’s acclaimed bestseller Furthermore.
 
Our story begins on a frosty night . . .
Laylee can barely remember the happier times before her beloved mother died. Before her father, driven by grief, lost his wits (and his way). Before she was the left as the sole remaining mordeshoor in the village of Whichwood, destined to spend her days washing the bodies of the dead and preparing their souls for the afterlife. It's become easy to forget and easier still to ignore her own ever increasing loneliness and the way her hands are stiffening and turning silver, just like her hair.
 
But soon, a pair of familiar strangers appear, and Laylee's world is turned upside down as she rediscovers color, magic, and the healing power of friendship.
 
Lush and darkly enchanting, critically-acclaimed author Tahereh Mafi weaves an all-new magical adventure in this companion to the New York Times bestselling Furthermore.

21 Reviews

3.5
“the first half was slow but the last half wrecked me. Written in Tahereh's lyrical way, this tale is absolutely beautiful and devastating. I love Laylee and seeing Alice and Oliver again. Her weird, wonderful little world was expanded and retained its oddities. This book was beautiful.”
“This book is just as good as I was expecting it to be. The lyrical writing style of Tahereh Mafi is always here to cheer me up. The story is just as passionating as Furthermore - If not more-. The characters were very well done, I really liked seeing such a dark character "Laylee" in my opinion was very complex and yet very simple. I am convinced that a third book is coming our way and I cannot wait !”
“Fairy and folktale inspired stories are popular today, and for good reason. We can recognize beloved elements of the stories we grew up with (and that our ancestors grew up with!), reimagined into creative, complex new narratives. Some of these stories are more enjoyable than others, some of them fail to add anything compelling to the original tale. And then, there are stories that take a mythos (in this case Persian poetry) and transform it into something entirely unique and beautiful. That's the case with Tahereh Mafi's Whichwood. I'll admit, this book was completely a cover buy. You can't quite tell in the second photo, but the matte cover shimmers, an effect I can't get enough of in print books. Gorgeous art aside, I was not disappointed by the story itself. As a picky reader I often "graze" books, checking out a first sentence, first few pages, first chapter, before moving onto the next. Whichwood captivated me from the start and carried me all the way through the bittersweet story to the heart-warming conclusion. I may have even teared up along the way. The story follows Laylee, the local mortician whose parents have left her with a mountain of newly (and oldly) dead villagers in need of the proper burial preparations. She is 'destined to spend her days scrubbing the skins and souls of the dead' and has learned to 'ignore not only her ever-increasing loneliness, but the way her overworked hands are stiffening and turning to silver, just like her hair.' Laylee has more or less accepted her fate as being simultaneously necessary and forgotten by the nearby village, her services taken for granted. Until two would-be rescuers (from Tahereh's first book, Furthermore), come to offer their help. What follows is an excitingly whimsical and dark tale of a sad girl burdened with too much responsibility, as she finds hope in the form of two other outcasts intent on helping. It's delightfully grim, exactly how a fairy tale should be, with a surprisingly mature message about respecting the people who take on jobs in society that are not glamorous--or even viscerally unpleasant. Also, there are candy snowflakes.”

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