The Mirrorwood
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of the Twisted Tales series and Doll Bones, this thrilling, “cleverly original” (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade fantasy follows a girl without a face as she battles a deadly enchanted forest and learns the truth behind her world’s fairy tales.
Appearances are always deceiving…
Fable has been cursed by what the people in her village call the Blight, a twisted enchantment that leaves her without a face of her own. To stay alive, Fable has to steal the faces of others, making her an outcast that no one trusts. When the fierce Blighthunter Vycorax comes to kill Fable to stop her curse from spreading, Fable narrowly escapes by fleeing into the thorny woods surrounding her small village.
The treacherous forest has been ruled by a demon-prince for centuries, a deadly place trapped in time. Fable—and her opinionated feline companion, Moth—is the first to dare enter in a very long time. There, she encounters a tediously chatty skull, dangerously meddlesome deities, and a beast so powerful it tears at the fabric of reality, leaving nothingness in its horrible wake.
Fable will soon discover that, in the Mirrorwood, nothing is quite like the stories say, and the perilous realm may be the only chance she has to break her curse and find her true self.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Twelve-year-old Fable, cued as white, is cursed by what her village calls the Blight, an enchantment from the surrounding Mirrorwood that caused her to be born without a face. To survive, she reluctantly steals the faces of those around her, which makes her a pariah and a target for fearsome Blighthunters—warriors tasked with eliminating anyone touched by magic. A close call with a hunter and his daughter and apprentice, brown-skinned Vycorax, spurs Fable, along with feline companion Moth, to head deep into the impenetrable Mirrorwood, resolving to break the curse. As Vycorax pursues, the duo eventually crosses paths with one of Mirrorwood's omnipresent Subtle Powers, who offers them a quest: kill the demon prince of the realm, and be free of the Blight. But the forest is filled with dangers more treacherous than Blighthunters, and Fable and Vycorax must work together or risk being swallowed up by the wood. Fagan's (Nightingale) sinister, fast-paced fantasy adventure is elevated by Fable and Vycorax's warm, slow-building friendship. This thrilling and unusual tale suggests that self-reflection—and self-acceptance—can be the difference between heroism and villainy. Ages 10–12.
