Helpful Score: 2
Strangewood is another dark fantasy by Christopher Golden that positively oozes imagination. In a genre that is cluttered with cookie cutter plots, cardboard characters and recycled stories, his editors and publishers must kick up their heels with joy every time he pitches a new story. Because no one is going to accuse Golden of unoriginality.
The fundamental question posed in Strangewood is: do authors create the fantastic worlds and characters they write about, or are they merely borrowing things that already existed?
Thomas is a wildly successful children's fantasy writer, author of the colorful Strangewood series and likened to AA Milne and Frank Baum. But the characters in the real Strangewood -- the land that exists outside the pages of Thomas' books -- is filled with much more malevolent creatures than the Hundred Acre Wood or the Land of Oz. Even worse, Strangewood has fallen into disrepair since Thomas stopped writing about it, and its once friendly creatures are at war.
Thomas is less worried about Strangewood and more worried about his personal life. He's recently divorced and the father of a five-year-old son, Nathan. Unfortunately, the problems in his two worlds collide -- and escalate -- when creatures from his books seem to be stalking him and Nathan. First, Nathan claims his imaginary friend Crabapple has been murdered. Then, Nathan suddenly slips into a coma for which doctors have no explanation -- and awakens in Strangewood. Of course, Thomas is charged with the task of finding his way to Strangewood to save his son from the products of his own imagination. While there, he has to figure out a way to save Strangewood, too.
Much like other books by Golden that I've read recently (The Myth Hunters and The Boys Are Back In Town) I absolutely loved Strangewood. Golden writes children very convincingly -- so convincingly, in fact, I was at times bothered by the pain and emotional distress suffered by Nathan in this book. However, as a mom of a similar five-year-old boy, it probably hit a bit too close to home for me. The Strangewood residents were all fantastically colorful and inventive, and the land itself was just as magical as anything Lewis Carroll dreamed up for his own Wonderland. The only part of the book that fell a bit flat for me was Nathan's mother, Emily, and her awkward love interest, Joe. Ugh. I didn't feel sympathetic about her and didn't find her very relatable as a mother, or believable as a person faced with the situations she encounters. She grated on me so much it was tempting to skim over her plot sections toward the end.
Every book I've read by Golden has been a wonderful journey. I would recommend him to anyone looking for something "different" to read; anyone that loves horror or fantasy but is burned out on fairies and vampires; or anyone that loves the old, classic childhood tales of our youth. You won't be disappointed. [close]
The fundamental question posed in Strangewood is: do authors create the fantastic worlds and characters they write about, or are they merely borrowing things that already existed?
Thomas is a wildly successful children's fantasy writer, author of the colorful Strangewood series and likened to AA Milne and Frank Baum. But the characters in the real Strangewood -- the land that exists outside the pages of Thomas' books -- is filled with much more malevolent creatures than the Hundred Acre Wood or the Land of Oz. Even worse, Strangewood has fallen into disrepair since Thomas stopped writing about it, and its once friendly creatures are at war.
Thomas is less worried about Strangewood and more worried about his personal life. He's recently divorced and the father of a five-year-old son, Nathan. Unfortunately, the problems in his two worlds collide -- and escalate -- when creatures from his books seem to be stalking him and Nathan. First, Nathan claims his imaginary friend Crabapple has been murdered. Then, Nathan suddenly slips into a coma for which doctors have no explanation -- and awakens in Strangewood. Of course, Thomas is charged with the task of finding his way to Strangewood to save his son from the products of his own imagination. While there, he has to figure out a way to save Strangewood, too.
Much like other books by Golden that I've read recently (The Myth Hunters and The Boys Are Back In Town) I absolutely loved Strangewood. Golden writes children very convincingly -- so convincingly, in fact, I was at times bothered by the pain and emotional distress suffered by Nathan in this book. However, as a mom of a similar five-year-old boy, it probably hit a bit too close to home for me. The Strangewood residents were all fantastically colorful and inventive, and the land itself was just as magical as anything Lewis Carroll dreamed up for his own Wonderland. The only part of the book that fell a bit flat for me was Nathan's mother, Emily, and her awkward love interest, Joe. Ugh. I didn't feel sympathetic about her and didn't find her very relatable as a mother, or believable as a person faced with the situations she encounters. She grated on me so much it was tempting to skim over her plot sections toward the end.
Every book I've read by Golden has been a wonderful journey. I would recommend him to anyone looking for something "different" to read; anyone that loves horror or fantasy but is burned out on fairies and vampires; or anyone that loves the old, classic childhood tales of our youth. You won't be disappointed. [close]
