N. D. Wilson

Nathan D. Wilson

Presents the continuing adventures of Henry York, who has been living in Kansas with his cousins, where he discovers doorways leading to other worlds and becomes involved in a multi-world struggle between good and evil.

Dandelion Fire

Sarah Sammis

Dandelion Fire by ND Wilson is the sequel to The 100 Cupboards. Although this book shares the same world and same characters and seems to start where there the previous one ended, it bears little else in common with the original.

At the start of the book Henry's told his parents have been released, are getting divorced and that he will be flying home to his mother in a very short time. Not wanting to go back to his humdrum life, knowing what he's learned about himself and his family in his recent adventures, he turns towards the now off limits cupboards as a means of escape.

Before he can even put his plan into action, he is given second site and a temporary blinding. The blinding, though, lasts long enough to make Henry basically a useless protagonist. He's put in bed where he's left to mope and stuff happens around him.

Those events include Henrietta being the one to go through the cupboards to one world and getting captured, the house being half put into a world of its own and finally Henry's aunt, uncle and the rest of the family also going through the cupboard for reasons not every satisfactorily explained.

In and amongst all this commotion, Henry also ends up in the cupboard, in one of the alternate worlds, where he sets about learning about his past and his new found powers. The only problem is Henry had spent so much of the time not acting that I'd lost all interest in him as the hero of the book.

If there's a hero of the book, it's Henrietta this time. Except, she's robbed of her chance to shine because she's competing with her family's nonsensical adventures and her cousin's flailing around with the after affects of the dandelion fire.

For all of these jumps between worlds and points of view, there's not enough plot to justify the confusion. Lord of the Rings, this book is not.

It could have been an excellent book had it just focused on Henrietta. Instead, it ends up being a mess.

Christine

10/26/22: i got a pretty solid 5 hours of sleep last night because like a fool and a moron i chose to finish this book for the fifth time instead of sleeping knowing full well i’d hate everything in the morning and i did lol oh well it was worth it, as always. DF is so important to me for whatever reason and always will be one of my favorite MG novels for literally no real legitimate reason. i just remembered the first time i read this was the day i almost blacked out during choir practice LOL i was 12. that wasn't a fun day.
 i tried to figure out how to boil down my thoughts to readable sentences but i can’t so like here are several of my main thoughts rereading this:
- I LOVE TREES!!!
- this pacing is awful girl what. why do 28475838!5$”” things happen in the last few chapters of the book and meanwhile there are a few chapters that are just like Faerie Committees Suck Lol 
- WAIT henry and henrietta are TWELVE AND ELEVEN (fact i keep forgetting until henry brings up wet socks for the second time in a chapter. normal 12 year old
boy activities)
- monmouth is cool why have i never really noticed how cool he is until now. deserved hot dog. bro is like 17 and absolutely BALLING 
- this magic system is the wildest thing in the world it is NOT hard and it’s not even soft it’s just like Things Exist. DEAL WITH IT. 
- Hylfing’s world is brutal 
- CALEB AND HYACINTH AND MORDECAI !!!!!! BEO!!!!! one of my favorite dogs in literature which is saying something 
- FAERIES S I N K 
- the FitzFaeren relics - I still want to learn more about them, not just the arrow of Ramoth Gilead (cool thing btw but what EVEN???)
- this world, or worlds - I also still want to know more about them and the cupboards in general. multiverse thumbsup if 13 year old me had paid more attention to the letters from the grandfather… she would’ve been completely unbearable about these books. as it is, I’m 18 and slightly less obsessed but still losing my mind over the things I’m only noticing on a FIFTH REREAD (help)
- one of the funniest things about these books is the very subtle like hey these random kids who showed up are part of our family now deal with it (Zeke and Richard and Monmouth even lol) 
- FAERIES SINK. 
- some baller quotes. 
- Wilson’s protagonists are so funny they’re like 12 and literally stupid but also so smart at the same time. 12 year old boys are another level of What Is Going On 
- right… dreamwalking is a thing… 
- this book does NOT deserve 5 stars but it is one of those things where i'm too nostalgic to change it. lol. thanks baby me!! same vibes as whichever Keepers book it was probably starlit loom tbh. 
- someone came by when i was reading this and was like "I LOVE THAT BOOK" so i'm so excited right now 
- trees tress TREEEEEESSS 
- i really find it funny that Henry's brand is dandelions. little yellow weeds with all their strength. like yeah I get the symbolism and reason for it it is just always unreasonably funny to me. I'd love dandelions if they didn't take over my entire lawn for like 3/4ths of the year 
- THROW THE KNIFE 
- i have got so many questions it is incredible 
- my absolute biggest grievance with these books is the vaguely unexplained idea of everyone speaking English. im not going to elaborate here bc i am so tired but also it has been plaguing me for years
_________

2021: CALEB AND BEO

EDIT: mmMMMM Ramoth Gilead

i have so many things to say abt this book but they all just straightup left my mind as soon as i opened goodreads so like. goodbye

Dandelion Fire

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