Quick facts

• pages: 416.
• genre: Middle Grade, fantasy.
• date started: September 24.
• date ended: September 26.

Summary

Ferenwood is a country of vibrant, incandescent colours and of wonderful magic. In it, however, lives Alexis Queensmeadow, a girl completely devoid of all colour. She is mostly ignored by the people of her town, as how colourful you are is thought to be in direct correlation to how much magic you possess; in fact, the only person that truly cared for her was Father... who disappeared almost three years ago.

Alexis sets out on a journey to Furthermore, a chaotic and lawless country she thought to be a myth until she discovered otherwise, to find Father. She is accompanied by Oliver Newbanks, a boy from her class and the person she hates most in the world, on an adventure through a land where it is a crime to waste time and making sense is infinitely less desirable than making magic.

Furthermore is a story about friendship, love, adventure and magic. Although it is aimed at children in middle school it can be enjoyed by all.

Thoughts

At first, I did not like this book very much. It felt like it was trying too hard to be quirky and whimsical and the kind of cute, odd story you would read aloud to your children. The descriptions were on-point from the very beginning though; sparkling and poetic descriptions of the weird, wonderful world surrounding Alexis carried the first part of the story until I got to a point where I found myself genuinely enjoying this book.

It has its flaws, but it is a children's book and so it requires some leniency on my part. I should not be too criticizing.

Instead, I should focus on how funny some parts of this story were, how thoughtful and touching and beautiful this sometimes became, how many beautiful quotes I could highlight in this. It truly was a magical story. The characters and the world came alive, the descriptions made them feel so real.

The ending was deeply satisfying, in a way some adult novels will never be.

Verdict

I would recommend it to everyone who wants a bit of magic in their lives!