Name: The Goblin Wood
ISBN: 9780060513733

Hilari Bell

Makenna is a young hedge witch, forced to flee her village the day her mother is murdered for practicing magic. In the wilds of the forest, she forms an unexpected alliance with the mysterious goblins, and together they resolve to fight back against the humans and the cruel Decree of Bright Magic. But as Makenna grows more successful and her goblin army becomes stronger, her existence threatens the ruling Hierarchy's plans for the country. She evades every trap they set, until a young knight named Tobin comes to the Goblin Wood hoping to regain his lost honour. And each of them finds something else instead...

The Goblin Wood

A.L.L.

I read this many years ago, but still remember it. For being such a light read it was surprisingly good and left a lasting impression.

Kirsten Simkiss

This book is more of a 3.5 star read for me, but I'm rounding up because I liked that, unlike many stories, there is no party purely in the right in a war. That discussion of the lack of black-and-white morality was really great, honestly, and it's something most books lack in the YA age group.

The main two characters were a little thin, in a way, but I enjoyed them. I was a little taken aback when Makenna, age eleven at the time, hears a noise and mentally declares that she could kill a couple of the villagers before they took her out. Makenna is definitely a spit-fire of a character and I enjoyed that about her. Tobin, on the other hand, is your standard white knight. In a Disney-ish parallel, he reminded me a lot of Phoebus in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Ultimately, there wasn't a whole lot of inventiveness in the goblins and the cultures. That was mostly borrowed from other classic faerie lore, honestly, but they made it work. I never found myself getting bored by the story and I enjoyed their trickeries. Overall, I do think this is a YA book but I think it would be appropriate for children who understand the harshness of how witches were treated in the middle ages. If you like classic faerie cultures, you'll probably enjoy this book quite a bit.

Aleena Korell

Amanda J 

A young Hedgewitch, an idealistic knight, and an army of clever goblins fight against the ruling hierarchy that is trying to rid the land of all magical creatures.