Willow Bloom’s biggest challenge is to organise her thirteenth birthday party. However, a walk in the woods near her home provides some big surprises – a mystical guardian from another world, a magical forest, and the discovery that her parents are part of a secret order that protects dreams. With the discovery comes a calling. A prophecy tells of a young one who can push back the dark forces that threaten to corrupt our hopes and dreams. Is Willow that young one? Can she take on the forces of evil, the Underlord Maliceius, and win?
Something ominous approached the planet Arn. A dark, ethereal presence spread across the cosmic sky.
As twelve golden rings appeared around the planet, each one bigger than the last, an Ancient, draped in white and gold, emerged from the outer ring. She hovered before the darkness and raised her Sceptre.
“UnderLord Maliceius, abandon this attempt to spread your vile shadow. I command it on behalf of the Ancient Realms.”
The dark ether surged forward, pulling its mass inwards to double its height. “The Ancient Realms will not stop me this time,” the UnderLord hissed.
The Ancient raised her head. “You do not frighten me, UnderLord. The Light will always prevail. You cannot succeed.” She brought her Sceptre in close and whispered “Alodin Zoinda,” and her Sceptre responded with a piercing light that radiated towards the darkness. “Retreat now or embrace the Light,” she declared.
The UnderLord Maliceius recoiled from the opposing rays. “Your efforts to stop my expansion across the universe will be futile. I will blacken the precious dreams you so faithfully protect. And I will become the Master.”
His dark mass billowed and swelled backwards as he slowly retreated from the planet Arn. An evil drone sounded from the darkness before he instantly disappeared.
As each golden ring receded, a colossal Ancient appeared and slowly they gathered themselves in a circle.
Satisfied that the UnderLord was gone, the Ancient, Varta, turned to each of them. “It has begun. We must institute the Protocol at once.”
“We must retain the integrity of dreams,” Soto declared.
“Agreed,” said Varta. “The dreams are paramount. It was only a matter of time before he returned… His nature does not allow otherwise.”
A deep sigh reverberated out into the Universe, the first in aeons.
Varta raised her Sceptre up high, initiating a discharge of violet light out into the cosmos. “It is done,” she said.
Review
This is a lovely fantasy for early teen/middle-grade readers. The concept behind this book warmed my heart—keepers tasked with the safekeeping of human dreams and ambition. I feel like we can all lose sight of dreams at one point or other, and the message here—stay to the light—is wonderful.
Willow is a great leading character. She’s smart and strong but not afraid to be, well, afraid. She’s also not afraid to admit when she’s wrong, an important trait in protagonists for younger readers. She struggles both with her own emotions as well as her duties to the dream keepers, making for both internal and external tension at high levels.
While I enjoyed the book overall, there were some things that didn’t work for me so well. A bulk of the story felt more like a training sequence than a quest/battle. Willow is awakened and realizes she has all these amazing powers, but it didn’t feel like she needed to really use them right away. There was a slow buildup of her having plenty of time to figure everything out, which made things drag for me. I also couldn’t really get behind the prophesy element. Maybe I just feel like prophesies are overused, but this one felt like it came into the story too late and then just became a reason for Willow to do everything she was already doing.
The settings were beautiful—so many bright and different colors. The magic and technology, too, were incredible. I particularly liked the chair that restored a dream keeper’s energy. I need one of those for my office.
All in all, this is a great book to introduce new readers to the fantasy genre. The ending wrapped things up while leaving plenty left for future books in this series. I recommend this book for fans of magic schools and feel-good fantasies. It really is an uplifting story.
E.V. Farrell lives in rural Victoria with her husband and two sons. This is her first novel. Find her online at http://www.hooklinebooks.com/young-adult-novels.php
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All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.