Willa of the Wood is the first book by Robert Beatty that I’ve read, though I think I own two of his other books. Judging from the writing style, I really want to read more. I liked the way the scenery seemed to come alive and the deep emotions Willa feels through the story—her longing for companions and her internal wrestling over the wrongness of what her tribe has asked her to do.

One of the most powerful characters is Willa’s grandmother. Even though she can’t walk, she has this powerful presence and a fierce love for Willa and the goodness of the old Faeran ways. It’s this love and wisdom that Willa carries which gets pitted against the fears of her people, and Willa has to decide which way is right—being governed by that fear and allowing it to rule her actions, or daring to love not only her tribe members, but those very different from her, too.

I loved the theme of family and adoption in the story, too. Willa feels like an outsider among her Faeran tribe members, and she desperately wants to have meaningful, lasting connections with others. Her journey to find a community where she belongs totally resonated with me.

The story as a whole is a bit dark, to be honest. I’d say it’s probably better suited to older elementary school readers and middle school readers might also enjoy it, too, even though the writing style and characters’ ages feel geared a little more toward the eight to twelve range.

Willa is an underappreciated asset to the Faeran people, skilled in the old ways and in the modern practices that keep her people alive and safe. Homesteaders have been encroaching on her woods in ever-growing numbers, taking whatever they please and leaving destruction in their wake. The padaran, the Faeran leader, has adopted increasingly harsh practices in an attempt to keep up, but at what cost? The world is changing around Willa, but she when she meets one of the dreaded homesteaders, she quickly discovers that it's not as simple as us-vs-them. It's time to decide whether to blend in or speak out for what she believes in.

Willa is enormously capable, fending for herself without losing her core values. I found myself rooting for her all the way through, and I was surprised at the depth and complexity of the problems she faced. Kids aren't clueless any more than Willa was about the problems in the world, and I found the messages of hope and courage to be perfectly timed for our modern climate. All in all, this is an excellent, engaging story that treats its readers with the respect they deserve.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.

“ Willa of the Wood” is yet another exquisite tale by Robert Beatty. It is at once full of complex interactions between animals, humans plants, and creatures somewhere in between. While his writing is at times dark, with characters grappling with difficult subject matter, there is always enough light to keep the reader hopeful and engaged. Similar to his other Serafina series, this novel is not for the faint of heart, but tells an incredible story of strength, survival, and beauty amidst the darkness. I’m a huge fan of Willa and look forward to more adventures.

While I enjoyed the basic story, it was a bit too predictable. I ver much appreciated the environmental agenda, but it restricted the plot to a confined structure. Hence the predictability. I suspect my middle school readers will enjoy it, though and won’t be as jaded as I am.

Robert Beatty is a talented author that can create a setting that I immediately become a part of and Willa of the Wood is no different. Willa is spunky night-spirit who has learned the old powers of her people from her beloved grandmother. She learns that humans aren't all evil and that some can actually help her when she cast out of her community. But in the end, will she find her true home is with her own spirit people or the humans that she has learned so much from?

Willa of the Wood is an interesting story that follows the adventures of a girl living in the Great Smoky Mountains. She is part of a clan of Faeran. Her job in the clan is to steal items from the day-folk, the settlers. She’s very good at it.

She runs into trouble when she gets injured on one of her nightly forays. Suddenly, everything she has known is called into question. Her devotion to the clan and the padaran are absolute, but is this misplaced?

Willa is a delightful character with some very interesting skills. She is a woodwitch and is able to call on help from the natural world. This gets her out of some sticky situations. But, her own clan has a lot of issues and she gets in trouble with them too.

I enjoyed the storyline and the characters. Willa is the one whose point of view the reader sees. She is a wily and intelligent character that many readers will relate to. She can think for herself and can see that there is more to the world than the insular world of her clan. When she makes some disturbing discoveries, she knows her world is about the drastically change.

Willa befriends one of the settlers, a man named Nathaniel. She begins to learn that the things she has been told about the day-folk are really not true. When the padaran decides to recruit Willa to a new job, things begin to unravel.

This book should appeal to middle grade readers, as well as even older readers. As an adult, I found the story to be enchanting and the characters easy to like. If this book is going to be part of a new series, I think it would be an excellent series to introduce to your students. Although I have not read them, the author has another series that I have heard good things about.

I had the opportunity to read a NetGalley digital ARC of this middle grade fantasy novel. For fans of the Serafina series by the same author, there is the breathtaking Smoky Mountain setting along with a new set of characters to love. The book takes place many years ago, when Native Americans and homesteaders were beginning to be pushed aside by loggers and railroaders in the quest to tame the mountain wilderness. Willa is a night-spirit who has been raised to steal as much as she possibly can from the humans and bring the bounty back to her clan. But Willa becomes caught between the world of the humans and that of the Faeran people that are her ancestors.

As Willa must save herself from the increasingly dangerous and malevolent intentions of her clan, she is faced with difficult choices without knowing whom she can trust. The book has some great themes for middle grade readers about loyalty, friendship, and love. But it also has engaging and suspenseful plot lines that make the book a real page-turner. Those who enjoy fantasy books that employ other-worldly creatures and wilderness adventure will also enjoy this book. There is a fair amount of violence in this book, but mature readers will see that it belongs to this story and probably won’t be too troubled by it.

Thank you for the opportunity to preview this book. I think this will be as popular as the first books in the Seraphina series.

As a long-time Robert Beatty fan I was both anxious and excited to enter Willa’s world. Would I love it as much as Seraphina? Would I only be thinking of Seraphina and friend the whole time?
I’m happy to say that I did love this book and I once I started reading, I was fully immersed in this new world and didn’t look back once.
Beatty’s writing is captivating, with descriptions that make the reader feel they’re in the forest and I held my breath when Willa was trying to be silent. The tension was off the charts!
I know I did say I didn’t compare to Seraphina, because I didn’t, but if you loved how the supporting characters developed not only the main character but important elements of the story, then you’ll be charmed by this story as well. Each character, whether human, Faeran, or animal, play a key part.
WILLA IN THE WOODS checked off all my loves in a book: Magic, Mystery, Enchanting Setting, and Heart.
While the expected magic is in the witchcraft, the gorgeous magic is in the world itself, in the trees and the mountains and the animals. And it wouldn’t be a Beatty book without the suspense and twists and turns. This story is so appealing and encourages the reader to FEEL, but while I do say it has heart, it is expectedly a bit scary, dark, and violent, so I will put that out there.
It also teaches a lesson without beating the reader over the head with it. Willa is a feisty character who has been taught to think a certain way about many things. Her story can inspire readers that they’re never too young to find out who they are and develop their own beliefs in what is right and what is wrong. To be an accepting, caring person.
I’ve already passed this into a few young hands and expect to be handing it on for years to come.

A fantastic adventure through the smoky mountains and all of its inhabitants. Chocked full of imagery, emotion and life lessons this read is one that is great for all ages, though it does have some scenes that will invoke a discussion with younger individuals. I love the way RB interweaves history and lore into his work and creates a magical world that is still relatable and leaves me wanting more time in this environment. After reading this story earlier in the week, I am still thinking about the entirety of the story, specific parts of the story and lessons I took from the book. I could not put the story down, but I know as much as I have talked about it and thought about this world, I will re-read Will of the Wood and hope to see more from RB in this world and storyline.

Thank you NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion fo the chance to read this book and share my opinions.

From the moment I opened the first of the Serafina books (Serafina and the Black Cloak), I was in love with Robert Beatty’s writing. His subject matter brought back fond memories of childhood when visiting the mountains was the best vacation I could have. It also brought back my time in Brevard, NC, a small community about 45 minutes southeast of Asheville, and not too terribly far away from Biltmore. I knew the area, I knew the landscape, and I recognized places that he included as settings in the books. In all, the books brought a sense of nostalgia, though they also offered a fantastical set of characters, a mystery worth solving, and just enjoyable fiction. All of this became a reason I jumped at the opportunity to pick this book up as an Advanced Copy on Netgalley. As with most of the books from Netgalley, I am apparently slow, so this review is a few days late considering the book released a week ago from this posting.

Willa of the Woods offers a new setting in the Serafina universe. Instead of being set at the familiar scene of Biltmore, we’re introduced to Clingman’s Dome, a mountain that is right along the border of Tennessee and North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Another familiar setting for me, and amusingly enough I rode by the entrance to the trail to hike it on my way home from vacation while reading Willa of the Wood. Willa is the member of an ancient race known as the Faeran people, people who were once so intune with nature that they lived in the heart of the forest and harmed no living thing. They had many woodwitches who could manipulate living trees and on occasion dead ones to weave magnificent halls. Now, however, the clan of Dead Hollow is dying. There are no new children being born into the clan, and with the coming of more and more day-folk (humans), it seems that the future of the clan is in danger.

With the pressing issues involved, the leader of the clan (the Padaran) has create a group of the youngest members of the clan to be thieves from the day-folk. Willa, wanting to be the best, has become bold and sneaks out alone despite the clan’s rule of never going alone. She also breaks the rule of never entering the day-folk’s homes, breaking into a farm along the nearby river. This venture however leads to the beginning of Willa’s greatest troubles. Caught in the act of thieving, Willa is shot by the homesteader. Terrified that he’ll succeed in killing her if he catches her before she returns to the woods, Willa flees, trying to escape into the woods, but ends up cornered in the man’s barn before she can. There she has an encounter that she realizes is never supposed to happen, the man expresses concern for her and regret for shooting. Two things that day-folk aren’t supposed to do. They’re supposed to kill without a care according to the Padaran.

Faced with this conflict of information, Willa escapes and returns to her clan’s home after a side trip with a wolf and a visit to the ancient lake of bears for healing. Though she manages to hide her take from the other Jaetters, Willa still ends up being brought before the Padaran and challenged by the other Jaetters on the grounds that instead of them stealing her take, she takes theirs. Impressed by her ability to outwit her opposition, the Padaran leads her out into the woods through his private chambers (which are stuffed to the brim with dayfolk stuff) where she learns that he’s begun to forsake the old ways and has created a team of Jaetters that go out into the wood and kill animals for their pelts so they can sell them to the day-folk to keep the clan alive.

Things go awry when the Padaran attempts to make Willa stand by while the steel traps lining a path to a wolf’s den, however the den belongs to the wolf leader that Willa knows well. Unable to break the ancient bond with her animal friend, Willa defies the Padaran and ends up tossed out of her home after her beloved Mamaw is killed. Escaping via the underground river, Willa is left in a deep depression that settles into her very being. Uncertain what to do now that she’s removed from the clan and uncertain where else to go, Willa ends up returning to the place where her troubles started, the home of the man she robbed. For a time she simply observes his way of life, curious and confused by his actions. After a short while, she begins to reveal herself to him, first as a quiet presence in the wood, briefly suppressing her natural camouflage ability for him to see her. Slowly a friendship forms between them.

Throughout the rest of the book, Willa is forced to face many beliefs she’s held since childhood and must reevaluate whether or not certain things are truly worth the pain. When she learns why her friend Nathaniel is always sad, she’s forced with a difficult decision of rescuing his family and not being wanted anymore or staying silent on the matter. With a decision she knows might cost her life, Willa sets off to reunite a family and free her clan from the grasp of a Padaran who’s priority in life is to collect more Day-folk stuff and silence the members of the clan who oppose him.

Beatty’s newest book doesn’t disappoint with the fantastical and mythical themes woven throughout the books. This combined with familiar scenarios that children of any age can relate to creates a good balance of learning experience and mystery to readers. This is very true when you consider the author events. This Thursday past (7/12/18), I attended an author event for Willa’s release with the anticipation of meeting Mr. Beatty. Unfortunately for me, there was a line stretching to the back of the store that wove through the aisles, but I was glad to see the large number of children in attendance for the event.

As before, I look forward to the next book in Willa’s series, along with the next book in Serafina’s series as well. Perhaps we’ll see them cross paths more in future books.

Wow! What a fun read, I didn't know what I was expecting, but I am In love with this unique magical read.

The writing was easy to follow, the world building was engaging, detailed and rich. Everything about this book was beautiful.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because any small detail about the story will ruin it. And I'm not in that business. I will say that this book isn't like anything you have read. From the amazing complex characters to the multi layer plot, you are going to be hooked from start to finish.

This is a super high recommendation from me

Happy Reading

-E.A. Walsh

I received this book as an ARC courtesy of Net Galley!
Willa of the woods was a beautiful whimsical journey through history and the Smoky Mountains! Willa is a strong tenacious loving night-spirit and I Loved her to death! I loved learning about the history of the Smoky Mountains and the railroad that runs through it. I Loved Willa's unique view on the coming of the said railroad and her bond with nature and all of her creatures! I loved learning about the frontiersmen and the Cherokee people! I Loved how the relationships changed and formed throughout the story! This was such a fun whimsical, journey through history that I recommend to simply everyone!!

Reader, they had me at river otters.

Willa of the Wood is the engaging story of a young girl possessed of forest magic. Like so much of what Robert Beatty has given us in the past, this heroine is a source of hope and inspiration, set in an atmosphere of mystery, wonder, and strife. This is a book for children growing up in our present day, a book in which children are encouraged to question social order and norms and come to their own conclusions about what is good and right and fair. Is hatred of others or of the different ever the right path? Willa learns to question this thought. A wonderful children's story with a sense of suspense, this was a delightful read. Plus... OTTERS!

I can heartily recommend this book.

I loved the Seraphina books and was hoping to see a bit more of her in this book. However, once I got into the story it was so good on its own that I didn't miss Seraphina. Willa is not human, but what she IS is somewhat difficult to explain. I would love to know if Mr. Beatty is basing his stories on Smokey Mountain legends. This book really emphasizes care for the environment, at first I was somewhat put off by Willa talking to the trees but I got used to it after awhile. All in all, a fantastic book. I ended the story with a smile a face!

This book is so fun to read as it draws you right into a wonderful different look at our world and how we treat it through a wonderful character named willa.  She has the ability to blend in with her surroundings and has been taught all her life that day-folk or humans are bad and will hurt her and her clans.  It a very compelling story and holds lessons for all age groups to learn and discuss.  I think any elementary teacher would be able to build a whole lesson around Willa of the wood and explore all kinds of things about our world and discussing about different cultures see things around the world.  The author has done a great job with this story and highly recommend it.

This is a wonderful story full of magic and mystery. If you are familiar with his other series, Serafina, and enjoyed them you will like this one as well. Set in the same area as the Serafina books, the Appalachian mountains, and with a mixture of folklore and Native American stories, this book will surprise you with it’s many twists and turns.

Willa is a beautiful and very strong character. She is a type of night-spirit almost a fae type creature. She can blend herself into the forrest background so well that you can not see her at all. She is brave and certainly stands up for what she believes in. Willa faces many losses throughout the book, but it never deters her from doing what is right. She is willing to sacrifice it all to save her clan and the forrest that she loves. The book is told through her voice alone, and it is a very distinctive and beautiful one.

There are many other characters that interact with Willa throughout the story, animals, clan, and humans. Most are not well developed because she doesn’t interact with them for long. I love her interactions with the animals the most though, especially the otters. She learns something from all of the animals she encounters, which helps her in her journey. Except for her mamaw (grandmother0 and the Padaren (leader) the rest of the clan was not that well developed. The human that she ends up staying with Nathaniel, was a great father figure to her. You just knew that he wanted to protect her because she was part of the land that he loved so much. There were some interesting conversations between them about the lumber companies and ownership of land that I thought were very well done.

The plot of the story was interesting, although it does lag quite a bit in the middle when she is staying with Nathaniel. This book was not as dark as the Serafina books were, but there are some very dark moments. It is an intricate plot with some twists and turns that were hard to predict. The world building is different but still tied to the world the author has already established but now it is from the creatures that live in the forrest and even the forrest itself.

This world continues to be full of wonder and magical delight. If you loved the Serafina books you will certainly enjoy this one as well.

If you loved the Serefina books, you will love this new series too. As we meet Willa, we find she is a spunky little thing, as are many of the women I know from the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. The story takes us through the woods, with the sounds and smells of a mountain stroll filling our senses as we travel with Willa. This is not the Serefina series, but one that will bring the same kind of joy to young readers as Beatty's earlier books did.

This was such a great book. Although it is perfect for middle school age, I'm a lot older and loved every bit of it. Willa is a nightspirit of the forest. She comes from a clan who has been changing and whose beliefs no longer are kind or giving. When Willa gets hurt one night by a human she begins to discover what true kindness may be. I so enjoyed this book for its love of nature, animals, adventure and its strong female character. I'd be happy to read many more books from this author! I received a complimentary e-book from Netgalley.com

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the novel. It is a good novel.