by Kaley Ingenito

This is probably one of the most beautiful, creative, and well-crafted books I have read in the last five years.

Please read it. There is something here for everyone! For kids (probably 9 and above) and pre-teens, this is a story of adventure and conspiracy and love and play and dragons.

For adults, the story Barnhill spins lets us explore more meaningful themes, like why memory is important and how sorrow can be dangerous and what it means to die.

The story follows Luna, a young girl snatched out of her mother’s arms to be sacrificed to the witch in the woods to ensure the protection of her isolated village, The Protectorate. Lo and behold, the witch is far from evil.

She is in fact quite loving and raises Luna on her small farm in the heart of the woods. But Luna is not a normal child and it is all the friendly witch can do to contain the girl’s powers and protect Luna from herself.

The imagery in this book is powerful and the writing, although fast paced, transports you gracefully into this world of endearing characters that are good, evil, cunning, thoughtful, kind, and crazy all in new and exciting ways.

A great choice for a rainy weekend- I finished the 385 pages in two days.