The Goblin Wood (Jessica Rollend)

The Goblin Wood by Hilari Bell, 371 pages

2. I bought the book at an eighth grade book fair, but I didn’t understand some of the vocabulary then, so I never read it.

3. This novel is a about a hedge witch named Makenna who watched her mother die from villagers tying bricks to her legs and throwing her into a lake to drown. The priest, the ruler of he land, has made magick illegal and wants all magical beings killed. Makenna is forced to run away at age 14, and begins leading a group of goblins to try to save magical beings from being murdered helplessly. At the same time, a knight is forced to become a bounty hunter and capture her to stop her from becoming too powerful. He ends up helping her when the priests go on a killing rampage and put innocent civilians in danger. Makenna and the goblins are forced to fight for their lives and their homes in the forest while also trying to evade the human race entirely.

4. The audience for this novel is meant to be people who are outcaste from society. It’s written in third person and is about misfits that want equality.

5. The author writes in third person in the present tense. She uses multiple verbs to explain what’s happening, instead of using many adjectives. For example: “He surged forward in a furious sprint. They were almost into the forest. Willing all his strength into his pumping legs, he laid hands on the bag and grabbed it. The three goblins shot in different directions,” (Bell 157).

6. There weren’t many amazing quotes in this book because a lot of what’s significant is implied throughout the novel in different ways or is a mystery. “She had watched them from behind a screen of grass as they dragged her mother, struggling now, over the dock’s rough boards. It took two men to carry the heavy chains and shackles. They always drowned a sorceress, so she couldn’t use the power of her dying breath to summon demons or to curse,” (Bell 13). I like learning about the Salem witch trials, and this is almost like that. It’s also the part in the book that forces the main character to change the most, so it’s very significant. “…[S]he couldn’t put a spell on an inanimate object that would last more than a few weeks without renewal. Her mother had been able to make them last for months, and priests could set a spell that could last beyond their lifetime…” (Bell 137). This part makes the reader feel very emotional toward the main character right before the knight calls her a murderer. It keeps you on her side throughout the book because you know why she’s fighting against the humans. This part made me feel empathetic for her because she only had limited magick and couldn’t learn from anyone else since her mom had died. It also makes you feel like she’s very vulnerable and lonely. “He knew she hated to abandon the war, though she was a good enough commander to know when retreat was forced on her. There were enough of them left to continue the fight,” (Bell 370). This was toward the end and I thought it was actually a good ending. Most books, in my opinion, have very rushed, boring endings. I liked this one because it was different. All the chapters were written from Makenna’s view or the knights, but the last one was written from one of the goblins views, and it made the ending very heartfelt and original.

7. I loved this book. I read it all in one day, and I finished half of it in school during the last 5 minutes of each class. I recommend it to anyone who likes mystery or science fiction books, or has an interest in witchcraft. I’ve been doing witchcraft myself for 5 years, and I’ve studied it for a lot longer than that, which is why I was interested in the book in the first place. Although it’s called The Goblin Wood, the book focuses on relationships, starting life over, and problem solving more than the goblins themselves. I loved this book a lot, and it’s one of my favorites.