If I ever crave gorgeous worlds and perfectly delicious writing, I always take myself over to a Tahereh Mafi book. She just has such a way with words! It makes you feel like you’re in the story, due to the sensory elements and the magical creativity. I’ve always loved her YA Shatter Me series, so I was very keen to try her children’s duology, Furthermore and Whichwood. To say they are an exquisite delight is an understatement! I thought I’d give you a little introduction to both books because you absolutely need them in your life. (True, now.)
Also technically Whichwood is a sequel, but can be read on its own!
FURTHERMORE
We tumble into the world of Ferenwood which is a cosy small town where magic is colour and when one turns twelve, they Surrender their chief magical talent and are given a quest to help others. But Alice has this one problem: she is colourless. She’s so so pale and milky white and, since her father took a ruler and disappeared one day, she’s been entirely alone. Books giving us oddball and misfit protagonists isn’t anything new, but Alice is so winning. I love this trope and I think it’s so endearing because it’s so easy to feel like the “odd” one out. And Alice is delightfully firm in her opinions, disagreeable to those who are mean to her, and extremely passionate. She’s not always “nice” and she’s not perfect, which makes her even more loveable.
The adventure takes off when she and Oliver (aka her childhood nemesis) end up thrown together to find Alice’s father. They have to travel to Furthermore, which is also a magical land, governed by ridiculous and impossible rules. And if you mess up? Well people will eat you. No pressure for sure.
It has everything you want in a story! Magic! Adventure! Unlikely friendships where they bicker and also save each other! And the writing is this entrancing delight, where every word is weighed in colour and smells and Alice eats flowers and Oliver tells lies and everything goes horribly wrong before it goes right.
WHICHWOOD
Now we trot over to Whichwood and you will absolutely fall in love with this one and it’s frosty setting and sharp lemony protagonist named Laylee. She washes the bodies of the dead and, with her magical Mordeshoor abilities, sends them on to a restful afterlife. Grim? I think yes. But somehow it’s macabre and gorgeous, with Laylee eating sugared snowflakes and every description making your heart glow with wonder at this strange world where a little girl is forced into such a dark job (but she secretly loves it). She’s all alone after her mother died and her father wandered off, driven to madness from his grief.
And she’s dying. Laylee is turning silver from overwork in a thankless job since the people of Whichood barely pay her — in money or respect. What they don’t know though, is that if Laylee doesn’t do her job, the dead will get antsy and go find their own skins to try and relive again. They’ll unzip skins from the living and wear them instead.
What I adore about this one, is how dark it is — but it’s written in a hopeful and often whimsical way. Laylee’s ghosts are quaint and, yeah dead, but they actually love her. And Laylee is a fiercely gorgeous and sharp girl who’ll bite your hand off before accepting help. But a fingertip away from death…maybe she’ll accept the help from two strangers (named Oliver and Alice!) before she collapses and her dead go walking.
