The Thickety: A Path Begins is a spellbinding tale about a girl, the Thickety, and the power of magic. Fans of Neil Gaiman will love this thrilling new world.
When Kara Westfall was five years old, her mother was convicted of the worst of all crimes: witchcraft. Years later, Kara and her little brother, Taff, are still shunned by the people of their village, who believe that nothing is more evil than magic…except, perhaps, the mysterious forest that covers nearly the entire island. It has many names, this place. Sometimes it is called the Dark Wood, or Sordyr's Realm. But mostly it's called the Thickety.
The villagers live in fear of the Thickety and the terrible creatures that live there. But when an unusual bird lures Kara into the forbidden forest, she discovers a strange book with unspeakable powers. A book that might have belonged to her mother.
And that is just the beginning of the story.
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Customer Reviews
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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful.
Wow! Intense and well written, though not for the faint of heart
By bored99
This book is intense, compelling, and even though I'm an adult, I found it gripping--staying up late to see what happens next, and reaching for it every moment I had one second of spare time. My daughter (age 9) loved it as well.... but I found myself a bit concerned by that fact! The book walks a careful line between being scary and overly detailed, so if your child is OK with Harry Potter books 4-7, or the Warriors series about cats, or other kids books that *do* include a lot of violence or scary moments, they'll likely be OK with this one as well. But use a bit of caution and judgement depending on your child.To give you a sense of where the book draws those lines:* One of the first scenes in the book is the author's mom being killed by a mob (she's hanging from her hands, and kicks when her daughter screams... but that's the last time it describes her, just mentions later that she had died, and leaves the rest to your imagination)* There's an animal that can detect witches, and uses a needle-like claw to extract blood for that purpose. Although in an intense scene near the end of the book, it takes blood from someone's eye (ewww! and my child said this book ISN'T too scary?)* An evil person near the end of the book magically compels people to repeat some actions over and over against their will, and one of the clues that their actions aren't voluntary is that they've been doing it for so long that (in one case) maggots from a sack of flour are now working on the arms of the women carrying the flower (eww!)It says it's written for grades 3-7, and I definitely wouldn't let anyone younger than that read it. But some kids books *are* quite scary like this, so if your child is OK with that--and mine was--then it's a compelling, magical, fascinating book. Like I said, I was enthralled by it too, even though I'm an adult.I should also point out that the primary storyline does come to a conclusion, but then in the last few pages of the book, everything changes and falls to pieces, and sets you up for a gripping sequel. But this *does* mean that the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger. So you may or may not want to wait until the next book(s) in the series come out before reading this one.
30 of 38 people found the following review helpful.
NOT ages 8-12. Should not be compared to Witch of Blackbird Pond. More of a horror story than fantasy. Too dark for us!
By Miss Darcy
Contains spoilers.Fortunately, I decided to read this with my daughter, who, at age 11, falls well into the 8-12 age group listed on the back of the book. As the preface continued, I got pretty creeped out. The preface is indeed well written in terms of creating suspense, but the girl's mother is actually killed by the villagers for being a witch. The actual killing is very much brushed under the carpet, but they do first describe her hanging there, squirming from the scaffold. Then there is a creature that draws blood from potential witches, which is also described in some detail, and it all really goes downhill from there. Here is part of the scene with that creature so you can judge for yourself:"The nightseeker sat back on its haunches. Its whimpers grew to a piteous whine as a translucent needle, as long as Kara's forearm, emerged from its front paw. The beast looked up and barred its teeth, revealing large, jagged incisors that had not been there a moment ago. . . . the nightseeker leaped across the scaffold and knocked her to the floor. It placed one massive paw on Kara's chest and gazed into her eyes. . . . Kara did not realize the needled had pierced her arm until the nightseeker sat back and regarded the blood at its tip. At first Kara thought it might lick it, but instead the nightseeker plunged the needle deeply into its nostril. With a shudder of its massive body, it sucked up her blood and snorted deeply. . . . It raised its needle paw high into the air and angled it toward Kara's right eye."This is well written . . . horror.The ending, which basically manipulates readers by using the "blackout" trick that allows the publishers to guarantee sales for the second book, shows the villagers trying to stone the children to death.As you can see, this is a dark book. My daughter is a huge fan of the Harry Potter series, and I know that the HP series gets intense in the later books, but this is dark from Moment One. The back of the book actually says Grades 3-7. Third graders are too young for this content.To make it even worse for potential consumers, the back of the book contains "early praise," including a quote from Faith Hochhalter, Children's Book specialist, comparing the book favorably to The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I don't know what planet she lives on, but they are nothing alike. The Witch of Blackbird Pond is historical fiction about a young woman who is accused of being a witch in Massachusetts, and of course she's not actually a witch. I do recommend *that* book, particularly for kids 10 and up (based on the need to understand the historical background and get through the descriptions of the religious services and so forth, which can be a bit dry). This, by extreme contrast, is a book about actual witchcraft, and the results seem so dire that readers may well sympathize with the villagers (which is clearly not the author's intention), who want it banned. I would put the age of this book more toward 14 or 15 and recommend it only for kids (and parents) who also like the genre of horror, because the detailed descriptions in the book certainly lean that way.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful.
A fast-paced horror novel, but too scary for my 8-yr-old
By Mrs. Baumann
I originally got this book because I wanted to read it with my 8-year-old daughter, but the prologue was just too intense and dark for her. The age range listed on this book says it's for ages 8-12, but I think they're going for too young an audience. The novel has too much death, cruelty, and horror to serve for younger kids. It has no humor or lightness to leaven the darkness, so I think it's much better suited for kids 12+.That said, it was highly entertaining and full of twists and turns. I thoroughly enjoyed it from an adult perspective, and it sort of reminded me of Edgar Allen Poe's work. Very dark, creepy, and inescapable.
