Root Bound by Tanya Karen Gough
ebook, 251 pages
Published: June 3rd, 2012 by Baba Yaga Press
Source: Author
"A lighthearted, whimsical confection that will delight both kids and their parents’ inner child." -Kirkus Reviews
How far will you go to find your way home?
Emma
and her father are always on the move, travelling from place to place
as her father’s work demands. Their new home, however, is different.
There’s a frightening woman who lives down the hall: she bears an
uncanny resemblance to a witch. A mysterious light comes from her
apartment, and a small boy seems to be trapped inside.
School in
this town is no happy place either, with an odd principal and a gang of
girls who make tormenting Emma their special project. And strangest of
all is the fact that there seem to be brownies - basement brownies, in
the air vent in her bedroom.
Haunted by visions of her mother,
Emma travels through the brownie burrow to the valley of Hades to visit
with the goddess Ceres, following a series of clues that lead her across
the sea of memory to the centre of the world.
There, on an
inhospitable rock floating in a sea of steaming lava, Emma must find a
way to release her mother from the sea of memory and restore magic to both the brownie burrow and the human world above.
This was a
fantastic, fun and quirky middle grade fantasy adventure. From the moment I picked it up to the moment I put it down I was fully entranced. Emma is a character that is easy to connect with. We feel her pain, her fear, her anger and her frustration and most strongly of all, we feel her sadness. But we also see her love and her strong belief in right. Through her we are easily able to accept that brownies are real and live in the ground below us. We accept that the mythological creatures we have only read about, are in fact real. We believe that parents that have passed away are still with us but performing a much higher and sacred duty.
Emma starts at a new school and is immediately bullied. We see her shyness, her fear, her vulnerability. We feel for her, and we want to help her. Fortunately things start to change right away. We meet the quirky, strange and altogether weird, brownies as they venture into Over (our world) from Under (their world). We are introduced to a whole other world when Emma ventures to Under, to try to save the brownies from the evil witch. The descriptions are done well and the world is easily accessible to our imagination, as are the creatures that dwell within.
The dialogue, particularly that of the brownies and the other creatures, is done fantastically well. They have a different way of talking and thinking and they lighten up the tone of the book with their hilarious banter. Every moment with the brownies was a pleasure even if at times they could be frustrating, talking in circles, but always a lot of fun. They also proved to be Emma's greatest ally and helped her along this tumultuous journey.
I really loved the characters, creatures and the world created. While the book didn't feel overly fast paced, it was done at a steady pace. Never boring and constantly moving forward. The world was so easy to imagine that I nearly believe brownies could live beneath our homes at this very moment! This is a
solid Middle Grade fantasy that readers of middle grade and young adult both, can fully enjoy. This is the first in a series and I'm anxious to see where Emma's adventures lead her next!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.
I'm now putting together a review tour for this in February. I hope you'll join in the fun! You can find the tour page
HERE.
