Under Wildwood, by Colin Meloy, with illustrations by Carson Ellis

23 Feb 2013 ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Buy the book

After saving her brother and all of the Impassable Wilderness from the evil machinations of the Dowager Governess, Prue McKeel can't seem to return to the interests (few) and responsibilities (boring) of everyday life. Her mind is constantly drawn back to the adventures she had in the Impassable Wilderness, and the friends she left there—especially Curtis, now a bandit-in-training, whose family outside does not know his whereabouts. Separated from her friends, Prue has little idea that although the coup she led was successful, she is not safe, and neither is the Wood.

This sequel to Wildwood is not as good as the original: it suffers from long, boring stretches where nothing much happens, and frequently succumbs to telling rather than showing. It reads as though, in the rush to get this sequel out in good time, there was no time for editing and rewrites which may have tightened the prose and livened the story. It is not a terrible book by any means, but in future I think it will only provide a bridge from the engaging first book to the—hopefully superior—third.

Good for: Fans of the first book in The Wildwood Chronicles series will want to know what happens next.