The Witch’s Boy
Several of you have mentioned Barnhill’s THE WITCH’S BOY, and our library copies finally hit the shelves recently. I wasn’t a fan of Barnhill’s starred debut THE MOSTLY TRUE STORY OF JACK, and was underwhelmed by IRON HEARTED VIOLET….so I’m having a hard time parsing my appreciation of THE WITCH’S BOY. Did it simply exceed my modest expectations, or is it actually quite good? Barnhill’s world building is fully solid in this tale. She keeps it simple, which I think is smart, allowing her to develop the mythology for the forest and the stones in a way that gives a consistent tension to the narrative. Her characters are appealing-yet-flawed, and play on the usual fairy tale tropes with light twists throughout. I especially appreciated the complexity of the parent/child relationships…each parent has grave weaknesses, but is yet beloved, in a way that has a real-world resonance. The smart humor in the subplot with the elder queen; the voices of the magic; the animal-attachement side-narrative… all these elements add additional flavor that is well suited to the audience.
My quibbles with Barnhill’s third novel don’t, I think, sink its successes. The character motivation isn’t always convincingly fleshed out… Why does Aine’s feeling about wolves remain unchanged after her first encounter, which seemed so life-changing? Why is Ned so willing, so fast, to make a fatal sacrifice? I accept these and other turns because they feel acceptable within the story and basic character sketches that Barnhill has laid out, but at times I don’t feel quite convinced, I just feel like I’ve been sold something. The story also feels long for what it ultimately gives. Not draggy in any one place…it’s just that if I compare it word-for-word with WEST OF THE MOON, or EGG & SPOON, I don’t think it gives as much per square inch. These flaws, however, if truly flaws, can be seen as consistent for the intended presentation: it’s a nice long fantasy for a younger reader. Ultimately simple, but complex enough for the 8-10 year old. Is it, even, distinguished?
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About Nina Lindsay
Nina Lindsay is the Children's Services Coordinator at the Oakland Public Library, CA. She chaired the 2008 Newbery Committee, and served on the 2004 and 1998 committees. You can reach her at ninalindsay@gmail.com
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Haven’t gotten a hold of this one yet but I love the Jon Klassen cover.
I liked a lot about this book for many of the same reasons you gave. Especially liked the world- building and some of the secondary characters like the queen and the mother. But I found myself tiring during the latter battle-heavy parts of the book. Figured it was me not the book, though.
This is interesting, because my personal ranking of the three Barnhill books (enjoyment-wise, anyway) is Violet, Jack, and then The Witch’s Boy–which I only finished because one of my friends loved it so much, she wanted me and the rest of our group to read it and thought we would all love it. I’m not a big reader of “high fantasy” (and I’m sure I’m all wrong for putting this there, but that’s how it seemed to me) and I simply couldn’t enjoy this; there didn’t seem to be anything “wrong” with the writing. But my impression is that high fantasy isn’t Nina’s usual genre either, right? (Maybe I’m wrong about that, too.) If so, it’s interesting, and I think a good sign for the book, that you liked this so well.
I’m always muttering about books being too long, and while I really do think a lot of them are, sometimes that’s just about personal taste–so while even if I liked this book I think I would agree that it doesn’t offer as much “per square inch”, I’d have to also agree (this is what I think you’re saying) that it could be seen as a feature of the genre, not a bug.
This is my second Barnhill book ( wasn’t crazy about Jack). I have been listening to it on CD and the reading is so powerful, especially in the parts that deal with the parents and their actions, that it seems like it might go over a ten year old’s head. The main part of the story is a very satisfying mix of high fantasy and medieval adventure and coming of age story. I think it has a chance. It somehow reminded me of the Gary D. Schmidt outer space title from a few years back that just didn’t jell for me.
I’m about halfway through this and I can’t get over Barnhill’s overuse of italics. It just annoys me as a readers. Like she’s telling me how to read her book instead of trusting me as a reader to understand her narration. This is fatal flaw for me so I can’t get behind this book, even though the first chapter was amazing.
Since I had only been listening to it, I’ve looked at the print now. I thought that the italics would have been good when referring to the voice of the Magic (within Ned or elsewhere), but I see that she’s used it to shows thoughts in general. It seems excessive and takes away from the Magic’s character, but not enough to take away from the book. I think the end is as strong as the beginning. I’m not sure I liked the way the battle scenes built up and got resolved, but the individual scenes themselves (like King Ott’s experience) were memorable.