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Book Review: Wildwood Chronicles Trilogy by Colin Meloy
When crows steal Prue’s little brother, she and her friend Curtis find that the Impassable Wilderness bordering Portland, Oregon, isn’t quite so Impassable after all.
Summary:
Prue and her friend Curtis uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval—a world full of warring creatures, peaceable mystics, and powerful figures with the darkest intentions. And what begins as a rescue mission becomes something much greater as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.
Review:
A middle grade fantasy trilogy by the lead singer of my favorite band, The Decemberists. Gorgeously illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis. If you’ve ever read The Chronicles of Narnia, this is like that except replace the Christianity with environmentalism and new age spirituality.
My favorite part of this trilogy was the various talking birds. All the animals in the Impassable Wilderness can talk, but Meloy’s love of birds really comes through. (As a fan of his songs, this didn’t surprise me at all.) The dapper outfits all the animals wear are also just too cute. It’s a trilogy with maps, and I do always love a good map to go with a story. I appreciate very much that the hero of the story is a girl with Curtis playing the sidekick.
There are really two enemies in the plot. A civil war style conflict inside the Impassable Wilderness, and the looming threat of capitalism from outside the Impassable Wilderness. I liked the idea of the latter more than the former, but the execution felt a bit too silly to me. For example, the big bad capitalists are all named the Titans of Industry (capitalized like that). One of them uses child labor in the form of orphans collected directly from Portland. It felt quite Victorian for something where the rest of the world outside of the Impassable Wilderness is quite modern.
The books are incredibly long, hitting chunkster length even for adult books. Each is over 500 pages (the last clocking in at 580.) I certainly read some long books when I was a kid, so I don’t begrudge them that per se. I do think it’s a tough sell when even the first book is super long. Regardless, I don’t think that the length is justified by the plot. While the first book is just about paced right, the latter two are not. There’s a lot of pages spent on not a lot going on. The middle book especially suffers horribly from middle book syndrome.
I liked the world, the Impassable Wilderness residents, and the illustrations. I felt the plot lacked depth, and the pacing was too slow for my taste, especially for such long books. I also found the ending to be a let-down.
Overall, this could be a good match for a reader who has a hankering for a through a secret door fantasy. Especially for the reader who loves talking animals and doesn’t mind a slower pace.
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3 out of 5 stars
Books in Series:
Wildwood, 4 stars, length 541 pages – chunkster
Under Wildwood, 3 stars, length 559 pages – chunkster
Wildwood Imperium, 3 stars, length 580 pages – chunkster
Source: Gift
Buy It (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
Book Review: Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory by Constance Bowman Reid & Clara Marie Allen
Explore the world of women working on airplane factory lines in this memoir with hand-drawn illustrations from 1944.
Summary:
In 1943 two spirited young teachers decided to do their part for the war effort by spending their summer vacation working the swing shift on a B-24 production line at a San Diego bomber plant. Welding torches and climbing into bomb bays, they learned to use tools that they had never seen before, live with aluminum shavings in their hair, and get along with supervisors and coworkers from all walks of life.
They also learned that wearing their factory slacks on the street caused men to treat them in a way for which their “dignified schoolteacher-hood” hadn’t prepared them. At times charming, hilarious, and incredibly perceptive, Slacks and Calluses brings into focus an overlooked part of the war effort, one that forever changed the way the women were viewed in America.
Review:
I knew the instant I flipped this book open it would be a new favorite. Two teacher friends set out to help the war effort in WWII in their summer off and document it. Constance was a writer, and Clara Marie (fondly called C.M. in the book) was an artist. The book maintains an upbeat tone throughout, in spite of being written prior to the authors having any knowledge of how the war would turn out.
This is an easy read. It feels like chatting with a friend about their unique summer. It starts off with a brief description of their friends’ reactions to their plan for their summer. It then goes through the process of signing up and their first day on the line. Subsequent chapters talk about specific issues. For example, the time the factory tried to make all the women employees fully cover their hair. Or what it was like to commute in pants. C and C.M. were surprised to find how differently they were treated in public in pants.
The characters are memorable, even with the authors doing due diligence to anonymize real people. In From the foremen to women colleagues to men colleagues to the folks they encounter on their commute. Everyone feels real. Some are of course more well-rounded than others. (The foremen or “Red Buttons” are particularly flat.) But this simply adds to the realness of the memoir. Isn’t that how we all encounter people in our lives? With some developing into full-fledged members of our lives and others staying two-dimensional background characters.
The illustrations are utterly charming and are throughout the book.
The authors reflect on things like the fact that while they will be returning to school in the fall, others will be working on factory lines throughout their life. They also consider the impact the war is having on gender roles in society, although not in academic language. They simply discuss things like how more women are wearing pants and how men treat them when they do. In general, though, the women try to keep the tone light.
Overall, this is a compelling primary document in memoir form of the women on the factory lines in WWII. It’s interesting they had the foresight to realize this was an important moment in history. Immediately writing the book and finding a publisher. They were published in 1944. Their factory work was just the year before in 1943. An easy gift for any WWII aficionado. Also, check out my other reviews of books dealing with WWII.
If you found this review helpful, please consider tipping me on ko-fi, checking out my digital items available in my ko-fi shop, buying one of my publications, using one of my referral/coupon codes, or signing up for my free microfiction monthly newsletter. Thank you for your support!
5 out of 5 stars
Length: 200 pages – average but on the shorter side
Source: Gift
Buy It (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
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