Fable, daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark, is allowed to visit her friends, Cole and Tinn, but she is supposed to stay away from the village. But when the three discover that people are destroying the Wild Wood, they are determined to stop it, whatever it takes. Magic, friendship, family, and nature.

A huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an eARC even after not having read the first book, and a huge apology for having taken almost 2,5 years.

But I'm here now, at 2am, and <i>wow</i>.

I enjoyed Changeling a lot, but this sequel? I loved it! We all know sequels are tough, especially in trilogies, but this one blew me out of the water. Fable, who I adore, was present a lot more (which makes sense, since the title is about her) and we got to meet Evie, another character I adore.

This book was a lot heavier and darker than the first one; probably why I loved it so much. It felt so much more real because of it, and the stakes felt a lot higher this time around, now that we're aware of the Wild Wood. Now that we love the Wild Wood. Saving magic in book one felt pretty meh, when you knew so little, but now? Phew! I didn't expect to finish this book in one go due to exhaustion, but here we are again. I couldn't put it down.

I also may or may not have teared up twice at the end of this book from the warm and fuzzies.

I will not take questions at this time.

Bring on book 3!

While it’s just as whimsical and original as Changeling, The Unready Queen is even more exciting.

I read somewhere that both of these books can be read as standalones, but I’m going to go ahead and recommend you don’t do that. These stories are completely tied together. They feature the same characters and locales.

Ritter makes it very easy to completely lose yourself while reading his books. They’re quick-witted and oddly charming.

(Review published on the Bookworm Extraordinaire Blog, Goodreads, and BWE Instagram page on July 22nd 2020)

I was invited to join the Blog Tour for this second book in the Oddmire series! I was given an advanced ebook for free in exchange for an honest review, just like last year for book one!

I was thrilled to be back in the Oddmire Forest with Cole, Tinn, and Fable! I fell in love with these characters in Changeling and couldn't wait to catch up on their latest adventures! I was particularly interested in seeing how Tinn was doing after the events of the first book and I wasn't disappointed.

But while book one focused on the twins this book really focused on Fable, the someday Queen of the Forest. I absolutely loved seeing how her character grows into herself throughout the course of this novel! She is incredibly well written and I just love her to bits.

The Oddmire Forest is once again the setting of this book but we see more of the town as well. Seeing how the townspeople respond to having a forest full of magic is incredibly interesting and I think it was handled quite well. There is also a lot more conflict in this book which honestly makes the world seem even realer.

Once again this book has such a charming wit about it that just sucks me in! I would gladly read as many books as William Ritter writes about these characters in this world! I highly recommend this series for kids who like magical stories! And if you've read Jackaby you won't want to miss out on this!

The Oddmire follows where book one finished. The twins have figured out who they are, and Tinn is taking Goblin lessons. Fable is spending time with her mother doing 'witch wood' magic lessons, but is still reluctant to sit and listen instead of exploring.

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers and NetGalley for the advance digital reading copy of this book.

This was such an interesting book; there are Fae, goblins, witches, spriggans, and humans, all trying to live together in harmony and not always getting along. I love the complexity of all the characters and all of the struggles they each face. I cannot wait to read The Oddmire, Book 3: Deepest, Darkest coming out in 2021.

A wonderfully magical sequel to the Oddmire series! This series makes it so easy to pick up and so very hard to put them down!

Human and goblin brothers Cole and Tinn are finding their way back to normal after their journey to the heart of the Oddmire. Normal, unfortunately, wants nothing to do with them. Fable, the daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark, has her first true friends in the brothers. The Queen allows Fable to visit Tinn and Cole as long as she promises to stay quiet and out of sight—concealing herself and her magic from the townspeople of Endsborough.

I have lost the copy of this book so I am really sorry I won't be able to give feedback on this book. I wanted to read this book but the copy got deleted from my phone. Really sorry.

Ritter once again takes readers to a quiet village next to a mystical wood and gives us more magic and possibility through the strength and potential of children.

Readers delve back in to the world of the wood and follow around the goblin/children twins Tinn and Cole as they solve a problem, equally deadly as the first one they encountered. This time, it is with humans instead of evil, monstrous creatures. They, along with their new friend Fable from the first novel in the series, put their collective heads together again and save everyone.

The absolute best part of this book is the representation of both sides of this conflict as equally culpable for their own part in this conflict. It is one of the few stories I’ve read that balances well the importance of accepting responsibility for one’s own actions while still maintaining a just punishment for wrongs committed.

Ritter’s characters are also delightfully written; Fable is one of my favorite little young queens in a book. There is no glossing over the fact that, while she is a princess that is mature enough to take responsibility and brave enough to be a defender of her kingdom, she is also still young enough to act like she has some innocence left. Many young queens in fiction for younger readers don’t quite maintain the playful personality that Fable holds on to in spite of the severity of the narrative’s conflict. Tinn and Cole also complement her with their personalities without managing to end up as love interests or sacrificing any relationships they already have in order to stay friends with Fable and continue their lives in the wood that they have come to love.

I eagerly anticipate a continuation in this series, as the end leaves off in a bit of a teaser for another book, though I don’t see any evidence of another anywhere as of yet.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, for which I give my own opinion.

The Unready Queen (Algonquin Young Readers, June 2020) is the second installment in William Ritter’s Oddmire, a middle grade fantasy series starring “twin” brothers Cole and Tinn, their mother Annie, and their friends from the town at the edge of the Wild Wood.

Recap:

In the first book (Changeling, 2019), we learned identical-looking Cole and Tinn aren’t really twins—rather, one of them is a goblin left behind from a botched changeling job. Goblin magic is so thorough, not even their own mother could tell them apart. Now, however, the truth has been revealed and while one boy spends his time learning Goblish shanties and spellwork, the other has started to feel left behind.

Fable is the opposite—in addition to being the daughter of the Witch of the Wood, aka The Queen of the Deep Dark, she’s a human changeling. As a child, she was stolen by goblins and sold to faeries, where she seemed to have absorbed a bit of their magic before being . . . um, returned . . . to her human mother living deep within the Oddmire. Fable has also been taking lessons—lessons that will help her become the new queen when her mother is no longer there to reign over the wood. And . . . they haven’t been going so well. While Fable’s power seems to eclipse her mother’s in almost every way, her ability to control it is far more limited. Also, it’s boring. She’d much prefer having adventures with her friends Tinn and Cole, and their new pal, Evie.

Evie lives in the town at the edge of the Oddmire and has always been fascinated with the magical creatures living beyond her back door. She finds these illusive beings so fascinating, she’s made a study of them, complete with notes and sketches bound within her very own magical compendium. When Evie meets Fable, she’s thrilled to have a new friend who can help her fill in some of the blanks and maybe even introduce her to the creature that fascinates her most of all: The Queen of the Deep Dark.

Raina, aka The Queen of the Deep Dark, aka the Witch of the Wood, aka Fable’s mother, has no interest in mixing with humans and doesn’t want her daughter mixing with them, either. Humans and magical creatures alike have caused her family nothing but heartache over the years. So when a water sprite shows Raina a glimpse of the future—Fable, covered in blood and ash, turning toward the sound of one of their human gunshots—she’s determined to keep her daughter from the dangers they present.

And then a stranger comes to town.

Jacob Hill, surveyor and prospector, has come to the village at the edge of the wood looking for new oil reserves. When his rig is attacked by magical creatures, he vows revenge, and sweeps the townspeople into an anti-magical fervor the likes of which it has never seen before, and soon it’s all-out war between human and magic kind.

But Fable, Cole, Tinn, and Evie each consider themselves a part of both worlds, and they more than anyone know what stands to be lost if either side erases the other. It’s up to them to bridge the gap and force both sides to see reason before the queen’s terrible vision becomes a reality, and both sides lose more than they ever thought possible.

Review:

Changeling, the first book in William Ritter's Oddmire series, contained entertaining and light-hearted adventure along with all the familiar fantasy elements, and illustrated the surprising power of love and family. This second installment hits all the same notes while expanding to explore the power of friendship, community, allyship, and what it means to consider the needs of others in addition to your own. Young readers (10-13+) with a penchant for fantasy—think Jinx (Blackwood), The Dark Lord Clementine (Horwitz), or The Witches of Willow Cove (Roberts)—will likely enjoy this quirky series by Ritter, who is also the author of the Jackaby series.

Additionally, middle grade writers may want to take note of the way the series “breaks” the modern convention of excluding adult point of view characters from middle grade fiction. Several characters including the twins’ mother Annie, the Queen, and one or two other ‘adult’ magical creatures are given page their own page time. It’s worth a read to explore why, in this case, the author and publishers chose a narrative path often considered taboo for writers of kidlit.

(I obtained an eARC of this title via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.)


Review live on www.WritersRumpus.com 8/21/20 3PM EST

If you loved the first book - The Changeling, then you'll love this one equally as much. We get to see more of the twins and their relationship explored, which was great. The main character in this one though is Fable, she really comes into her own here. She's completely hilarious and honestly reminds me a bit of Pippi Longstocking. Fantastic book and will absolutely continue the series.

“And then the girl whom the goblins had stolen away finally stole herself back.”

There are some themes in this book that might not be appropriate for some kids. I’ll list details at the end of the review so parents can decide for themselves if their child is mature enough to read, or if the book has triggers to their kids.

The Unready Queen starts us off not long after the first book ended. This book, however, focuses more on Fable and Raina than the twins, not to say they don’t have a huge part in the story.

This book has a darker theme than the first, in my opinion. After living their entire lives doing the same things together, looking alike, and going everywhere together, Tinn and Cole have to deal with how things are changing for them. Tinn is having his own adventures going to the goblins for lessons, and Cole struggles with not having his best friend always by his side. At the same time, they really start to question about their absent father.

The mother/daughter team of The Deep Dark also have struggles of their own. Raina is deeply worried about Fable and the fate of the forest, while Fable desperately wants to branch out to discover herself and become more part of the human world.

It is so nice to have so many strong female characters. Both Annie and Raina are fierce mama bears, not hesitant in the least to jump in and take care of their kids. Fable is bright (though a bit naive), strong and unafraid.

All the characters grow so much in this second book, and it’s easy to fall in love with all of them. Overall, it’s a wonderful sequel and I can’t wait for the next!




PARENTAL CAUTIONS (contains spoilers):

Absent/Missing Parent. Book 1 touched on the boys’ missing father, but this book really pushes the subject
Guns/Violence. Raina, Fable’s mother, is given a premonition of being shot and killed; guns are used against fantasy creatures
Violence on Kids. Kids are attacked and hurt by fantasy creatures and an adult male.
War. Villagers and fantasy creatures; involves guns
Parental Defiance. The kids are constantly disobeying their mothers; running off and getting into trouble, involving themselves in dangerous situations
Drug-like Abuse. A male villager uses ‘dust’ to gain the strength of a giant

Fable is the daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark. She’s friends with Cole and Tinn, the human and goblin brothers. Some new people in town decided to dig for oil in the Wild Woods, disturbing the magical creatures who live there. Fable has to stand between her fellow magical creatures in the Wild Wood and her friends from the human town, when the dispute threatens to start a war.

There was a lot of history of the Oddmire world in this story. The story begins with Fable’s grandmother, and her experience with a changeling. She lost her own daughter, but she was returned right before the old woman died. These stories of the past made the story feel realistic, like it existed beyond the pages.

The dispute between the humans and magical creatures reminded me of race relations today. In the story, the humans took the land that the magical creatures lived on, just because they could. Other creatures were put down and accused of doing things, when there wasn’t evidence to support the accusations. This could teach kids the dangers of racism through a fantasy story.

I really enjoyed this story!

Thank you Algonquin Young Readers for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This Second Book is Just As Good

The first book in this series, "The Oddmire: Changeling", followed the story of Tinn and Cole, two boys who were mixed up as newborns by an inept goblin and left behind to grow up together as twin brothers knowing that one was a human and one was a goblin changeling, but not knowing which was which. It was a ripping adventure, a tender exploration of brotherly and maternal love, and an often funny bildungsroman with a nice fantastical switch. By the end we knew which was which, and the story was left open for a sequel, but that didn't feel absolutely necessary.

But here's the sequel, and it is, if anything, more fun than the first book. In the first book the two brothers met Fable, a fairy/human child who was destined, as the Wild Witch's daughter, to become the next Queen of the Wild Wood. This second book is mostly Fable's book. She tires of being cooped up with just the Queen mother and the magical creatures of the Wild Wood and seeks out adventure and real world experience with the brothers. She is a stone cold hoot. She is feisty and spunky and bounces around on every page as probably the most interesting manic pixie dream girl ever. She actually is a manic pixie, so that helps. Along with Fable we get a new girl character, Evie, who befriends the brothers and carves out her own no-nonsense place in the tale. And, as before, we follow the continuing story of the boys as one deals with being a goblin and the other deals with not being a goblin. (We also get two very well developed, strong, and sympathetic mother figures, (the boys' Mom and the Queen), and that struck me as a rare and unusual bonus.)

The plot deals mostly, though, with Fable coming into her power and her responsibilities, while warding off a human assault on the Wild Wood. The human villain is well developed and the ultimate battle between the creatures of the Wild Wood and their human neighbors is gripping, and surprisingly violent, (although no one dies). There is a very sunshine and butterflies conclusion, but since the eco-message and the just-getting-along-together messages weren't too heavy handed the happy resolution didn't feel out of place either. Even with the suspense and conflict, this was still an upbeat, thoughtful, and even often gentle tale.

So, this was a sequel that set out in a new direction, with strong featured girrrl characters instead of just more Tinn and Cole. I enjoyed that, and the overall good humor and often deadpan funny bits. This was a very accomplished work.

(Please note that I received a free ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

What a lovely middle grade novel! I loved everything about this, from the plot and setting to the fierce main character. I can highly recommend this lovely read, it was so enjoyable!

"Dinna be afraid of a few sparks or a burnout from time to time. That’s na failure. That’s fine-tuning.”

I received a complementary copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

Finally finished reading The Unready Queen with my son! Normally, I'm able to read several chapters to him at night, but we've been having some late evenings, and he kept falling asleep. Not wanting to read without him, I paused wherever we were continued from there the next night. It took us about a month to get through this book, but it had nothing to do with the story, and everything to do with life.

Warning! Potential (small) spoilers if you haven't read the first book. Review for the first book can be found here.

I really love the cast of characters in this series! They're all so unique and interesting. Fable is both fairy and human, her mother is Queen of the Deep Dark (and her grandmother before that), Cole is a human, but Tinn (his twin) is a goblin changeling. They're all trying to figure out how to exist in a world that views them as different, and I enjoyed seeing their individual journeys. I do wish the characters had been developed more over the course of the story, but they seem like the same kids we read about in the first book. More character growth and this book would've been a five-star read for me.

Tinn has started to embrace his goblin side, and I thought his moments with Kull were sweet and endearing. Kull did a bad thing for the right reasons, but he was also hurt in the process. He was willing to give up something precious to him if it meant saving his entire clan, and now he's getting a second chance. Their interactions were some of my favorite parts of the book, especially there at the end.

The first book was mostly about Tinn, the second focused on Fable, and I believe the third will be about Cole and his desire to find his father. I'm sure the others will still be around, but I like that each character is getting their own story of sorts. Evie (another human) joining the group in this book just made things better! I really loved her interactions with the spriggans.

Speaking of spriggans, I like that the author includes mythological creatures we don't often see in stories. Spriggans, hinkypunks, rock trolls (not like the ones depicted in Frozen or Trolls World Tour). Ritter keeps their outline (what's generally known about them), but fills his characters with a uniqueness that makes you want to know more. For example, I would love to visit the spriggans and see their caves and whatever else their guarding on their side of the forest.

If you have a child that loves magic and the mythological, definitely consider giving this book a shot! The characters do talk about bodily functions a lot, but that's something my adult brain can overlook in the grand scheme of things. My son thought those comments and conversations were hilarious, but it's just something that doesn't appeal to me personally. (★★★★☆)

Goes live on my blog (Books, Movies, Reviews. Oh my!) tomorrow at 6 am cst.

In the first book we find out that one of the twins is a goblin (not a spoiler) and they need to go into the forest to meet with some other goblins or things could get through off kelter. So that happens and they make a new friend Fable.

In this one their new friend is getting a little tired of what her mother, Queen of the Deep Dark wants her to do and starts coming more into town. This is good and bad as there is a new face in town who seems to want to get rid of part of the forest for his own gain and Fable is not happy.

When something happens that the man does it sparks a chain reaction and makes the creatures in the forest to do drastic things to defend themselves and their forest. The Queen needs Fable to act more like a future queen but she doesn’t want to be her mothers type of queen.

Also during this the goblin brother is learning more about being a goblin even though he still stays with his mother in town. I feel like if I say much more it could spoil things so I will not say more.

I really like the characters in this series as they are fun. The twins are great but in this one it’s Fable that rules the book and she is a very interesting character and caused me to chuckle frequently. I also like some of the woodland creatures especially Kull.

I think there are a lot of things to learn in this book about loving yourself no matter who or what they are and that messing up isn’t failure it’s just fine-tuning.

Now this could have just been me and my mood of late but I did get a little bored with it in parts but I really liked the ending and I am curious to see what will happen next and how Fable learns more about her magic and how the twin that is a goblin becomes more confident in who he is.

I would recommend it.

The Oddmire Book 1: Changeling was fantastic and I often recommend it to students that enjoy fantasy novels. I was excited for this sequel unfortunately, it did not grab me as strongly as book 1. That being said, the first and last 20% were very strong. I flew through those parts. I struggled to maintain interest during the bulk of the book and think a shorter version would have made for a more pleasurable reading experience. I will likely read book three since the ending did entice me to continue this journey through the Wild Wood.

4.5 stars

This is the second book in the Oddmire series by William Ritter.

I think this middle grade book appeals to both adults and kids. They didn’t just focus on the kids here. The adults were just as big a part of the plot as they were. This also was easy to get into. I did not read book one and had no problem understanding what was going on.

This is a coming of age story for many of the characters, adults and kids alike. Everyone seemed to learn by the end a great lesson and that is always wonderful in a middle grade book. Learning lessons by reading is a great way to subtly get kids to understand concepts not easily related to them any other way.

Definitely recommend this one.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.