Review by New York Times Review
PORTLAND, Ore., is an analog town, a city of bicycles and bookstores and Douglas firs and old pubs with splintery wooden bars and hulking industrialera bridges. It's a town where the bookish, bewhiskered, occasionally bowler-hatted band members of the Decemberists can play perfect homegrown rock. Now the band's singer, Colin Meloy, has written a fantasy adventure set, appropriately, in the green heart of the city. Within that heart lives a seventh grader, Prue McKeel, who resides with her parents and her baby brother, Mac, in a Portland neighborhood near a great tract of wilderness Meloy has imagined into being: "As long as Prue could remember, every map she had ever seen of Portland and the surrounding countryside had been blotted with a large, dark green patch in the center, stretching like a growth of moss from the northwest corner to the southwest, and labeled with the mysterious initials 'I.W.'" The initials stand for Impassable Wilderness, a terrifying place that Portlanders barely speak of, let alone visit. If they have the choice. But one day while Prue is minding 1-year-old Mac, a murder of crows swoops down and kidnaps him into the Impassable Wilderness. Doughty, brave-hearted Prue realizes there's only one thing to do; head into the wilds and save the baby, Y.A.-style. Folding elements of real-life Portland into the story, Meloy lovingly describes the jungles to the north and the cobbled streets and elegant tree houses of the more civilized south. The result is a richly satisfying weave of reality and fantasy. Into this hybrid world, Prue journeys forth with Curtis, a geeky schoolmate she reluctantly acquires along the way. Cycling into the forbidden woods and towing Curtis behind her in his Radio Flyer, Prue quickly discovers that the seeming wilderness is very inhabited indeed. Locals include a vicious coyote army, an avian diaspora, a gang of Robin Hood-like bandits and a citified population of prosperous animal and human burghers. But things are not entirely rosy in the woods. The evil widow of the former ruler is plotting a takeover. The animal factions face escalating conflicts. As Prue and Curtis search for baby Mac, they find themselves crucial players in a political drama dating back decades. In the end, these troubles can be resolved only in battle, and Prue must rise to the occasion. She sets off to meet her destiny by bicycle: "Never in Prue's life had she been so focused on her riding, so tuned in to every churn of the pedal assembly." Bicycle heroism: it doesn't get any more Portland than that. Sometimes things get almost too Portlandy, as though the characters from the brilliant TV satire "Portlandia" have gotten lost in Narnia. Picture Fred Armisen squinting from behind his glasses as he smugly informs the killer coyotes that he's actually, you know, a pacifist. THE illustrations, too, have an elegantly homegrown feel. In fact, they sprouted very close to home. The illustrator Carson Ellis, whose drawings have graced "The Mysterious Benedict Society," is Meloy's wife. Her work toggles between graphic, quirky miniaturism and a sylvan majesty well suited to these pages. (In case Meloy and his family don't seem talented enough, note that his sister is the novelist Maile Meloy.) One problem: the plot occasionally slows to the speed of a 1974 Schwinn. This is presumably the first book in a series, and there's a lot of setup. But mostly Meloy's efforts pay off. He has shaped the real stuff of Portland into a fantastic epic with a rainy, bicycle-riding Northwestern heart. Claire Dederer, author of the memoir "Poser," lives on an island near Seattle.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 11, 2011]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* If you like stories in which spunky kids emerge from secret tunnels only to be greeted by smartly outfitted badgers operating rickshaws, this is your book. Meloy's debut is the kind of delicate, elaborate fantasy that is so well versed in classic Narnian tropes that it is destined to be enthusiastically embraced. After her baby brother is abducted by crows, 12-year-old Prue is compelled to enter the Impassable Wilderness an ominous forest just outside of Portland, Oregon. Although Prue is initially joined by her classmate Curtis, the kids are soon split up as they become embroiled in a war between stuffy bureaucrats, bandit separatists, militant birds, and the evil Dowager Governess. The two leads are fairly boilerplate, and some readers may find the constant panoply of helpful, uniformed animals (most likely speaking in English accents) too precious. These elements, though, are more than balanced by flashes of darkness blood sacrifices, death in battle, and more that would make the Brothers Grimm proud. Meloy, best known as the literate lead singer of the Decemberists, clearly knows that weird vocabulary is part of the genre's fun and has no qualms dropping 10-dollar words like retinue and totemic. Frequent, droll illustrations further solidify Wildwood as a uniquely alive place right down to the stubborn blackberries and vengeful ivy.--Kraus, Danie. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Meloy, the lead singer of the band the Decemberists, delves into middle-grade fiction with a story that pairs classic adventure novel tropes with cool, disaffected prose. The book opens as 12-year-old Prue McKeel loses her baby brother to a murder of crows, and sets off to rescue him from the Impassable Wilderness, a strange country alongside Portland, Ore., (where the actual Forest Park lies). Her classmate Curtis tags along, and the two are soon separated. Prue takes refuge with the postmaster in his delivery van, while Curtis is captured, then suddenly made an officer in an army of talking coyotes led by the beautiful and intimidating Dowager Governess. It becomes apparent that Prue and Curtis have landed on opposite sides in a war-and neither side may be right. Without a good side to cheer for (disappointments and betrayals abound), the story lacks a strong emotional center, and its preoccupations with bureaucracy, protocol, and gray-shaded moral dilemmas, coupled with the book's length, make this slow going. Ellis's spot art, not all seen by PW, is characteristically crisp and formal, further lending the story a detached quality. Ages 8-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-7-When a flock of crows carries off her baby brother, 12-year-old Prue has no choice but to cross the bridge from her Oregon home into the Impassable Wilderness to save him. There, she and a friend become embroiled in a fantastical world of warring creatures, corrupt leaders, and peace-seeking mystics. A fresh and forthright modern fantasy. (Aug.) (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Fans of Meloy's indie-rock band, The Decemberists, will recognize themes running through his engaging debut celebrating the struggle of ordinary folk (including plants and animals) to throw off tyranny and shape their destinies.When her baby brother is carried off by crows to the Impassable Wilderness at the heart of Portland, Ore., stubbornly courageous Prue McKeel, 12, sets out to reclaim him, accompanied by annoying schoolfellow and class pariah Curtis Mehlberg. Their quest soon becomes entangled with longstanding conflicts among residents of this magical wilderness, which harbors secrets both strange (talking animals, sentient plants) and familiar (xenophobic mistrust, government red tape). Overcoming a slow start, the story gains momentum when Prue and Curtis enter the woods, encountering its vividly portrayed denizens, human and otherwise. Captured by the mysterious Dowager Governess, Curtis must choose sides in a confusing conflict; either way, he'll need courage and ingenuity to survive. Prue's search leads through South Wood's impenetrable bureaucracy to North Wood, where mystics commune with nature. Gritty urban settings abound in contemporary fantasy (Holly Black, Neil Gaiman and China Miville are exemplars). Faithfully recreating Portland's wild Forest Park, Meloy gives his world a uniquely Pacific Northwest spin. Illustrations by Ellis, Meloy's wife, bring forest and inhabitants to gently whimsical life.A satisfying blend of fantasy, adventure story, eco-fable and political satire with broad appeal; especially recommended for preteen boys. (Fantasy. 10 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
