I loved the Jackaby series so when I was asked to read this new book from author Will Ritter I couldn’t say no and I am so glad I didn’t. I thought this book was so cute and I loved the characters so much. The bond between brothers and the love of their mother. Tinn and Cole are a bit of trouble makers but that is because one might be a goblin. After a mess up when they were born the goblin that was planning to steal the human baby got turned about and then couldn’t remember which baby was goblin and which baby was human so he left them both for Annie to care for promising to return to help save magic. This is quite the adventure and I really loved how the story played out. I was like one thing after another that was happening to these two boys. It has lots of adventure and kept my interest until the book was done. Which I was so very sad it was over. I am looking forward to reading the next one in the series.
I recommend this book to kids, teens, YA, Adults and one that loves a good story with fantastic characters and loved a good adventure. Once again Will Ritter did not disappoint and I am so loving the stories he writes.
Michelle thought this was such a cute adventure! Check out the 4 star review for The Oddmire by Will Ritter! and get a sneak peek of the book! Share on XPeek inside the book
PROLOGUE
A VERY LONG TIME AGO, HUMANS AND FAIRIES
and elves and dolphins and all of the other intelligent beings of the world got sick of one another—which was understandable, as intelligent beings were all pretty much rubbish in those days. After much arguing, they decided to split up the world and build a sort of magical wall between the two halves. On the human side of the barrier, life would be governed by logic and reason and the laws of nature. It would be an honest world of soil and struggle. The other side would be ruled by forces more ancient than any earthly science, a world of magic and madness and raw potential. Humans called their side the Earth, and
magical beings called their side the Annwyn (all except for the gnomes, who called it Pippin-Gilliewhipple—which is one of many reasons that, to this day, nobody from either side much cares for gnomes).
For many centuries, the wall stood—a sort of veil between two worlds, invisible but everywhere. Neither side could see or touch the other, and in time many creatures forgot there was another world at all. This remained the state of things until rogue groups brought their simmer- ing strife to an unruly boil and a new war broke out. As it turned out, intelligent beings were still fairly rubbish if not properly supervised. The resulting battle blasted a great, gaping hole right through the invisible barrier.
When the dust had settled, some felt the hole in the wall should be patched back up, and others felt the barrier should come down entirely. In all the hubbub, nobody noticed as the thing that had been inside the wall—the thing that may have been the very soul of the wall—escaped. Nobody was watching as the thing that had spent countless centuries listening at the cracks and growing hungrier and hungrier slipped past the rubble and across the bloody battlefield. Nobody saw it slide quietly into the forest.
The Thing clutched at shadows as it moved between the trees, drawing the darkness around itself like a rid- ing cloak. It had never known sunlight, or birdsong, or
honey-sweet breezes, or even the sound of its own name. If the Thing even had ever had a name, it had never had anyone to speak it.
The Thing whipped past mossy boulders, through tow- ering trees, and over the muggy, murky Oddmire. When it reached the very heart of the Wild Wood, it finally slowed and came to rest. The trees grew more densely there, and the air was still. Even the sound of the birds died away. The shadows here were thick and heavy, and the Thing gathered them up, greedily.
The Thing knew shadows. In that sunless, starless place between worlds, there had been shadows so absolute they had no form. The Thing’s whole world had been a shadow—its whole life had been one great shadow, and within it, the Thing had felt impossibly small. But the shadows in this new place were different. They would do as it bid them. They were powerful, those shadows of stones and boulders and tall pine trees, and the pieces torn from them felt comfortable as they knit together across the Thing’s back. The Thing felt strong. Beneath its swelling cloak of darkness, the Thing began to take on new shapes. Bigger shapes. Terrible shapes. Still, there was one shadow that caught the Thing like a thorn: its own. The creature’s meager slip of a shadow followed it, clung to it, taunted it with its own true, trifling form.
The creature plunged its talons into the forest floor, and for a time, the only sound was the scratching of unseen claws digging into the soil. When the hole was deep enough, the Thing turned its talons in on itself. It tore and it ripped until finally, reverently, it lowered its own severed shadow into the cold earth and buried the humble scrap beneath the dirt. All around it, pools of darkness blossomed as if the entire forest floor were a fresh, clean napkin laid over a seeping ink stain.
The darkness grew.
The Thing drew itself up to its full height, and then it drew itself up a little higher, and higher still. Countless stolen shadows rippled along its cloak like waves of grain shimmering in a breeze. The Thing would be whatever it pleased now. It was never going back.
The darkness spreading across the forest floor solidified into angry coils and knots as it grew. Wicked thorns burst from its surface. For just a moment, there was silence and the forest was still. And then the darkness began to creep.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
William Ritter
is an Oregon author and educator. He is the proud father of the two bravest boys in the Wild Wood, and husband to the indomitable Queen of the Deep Dark.The Oddmireis Ritter’s first series for middle-grade readers. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Jackaby series for young adult readers.
Visit him online at rwillritter.wordpress.com
and find him on Twitter: @Willothewords.
THE ODDMIRE, BOOK 1: THE CHANGELING By William Ritter Algonquin Young Readers / Publication Date: July 16, 2019 Price: $16.95; Hardcover; 272 pages; ISBN: 978-1-61620-839-4 www.algonquinyoungreaders.com Follow Algonquin Young Readers on Twitter @AlgonquinYR and on Instagram at @AlgonquinYR
This sounds like it was a great adventure! Great review, I am glad to hear it was a good read for you!