This review was originally posted at The Oaken Bookcase, along with an interview with Kim White.

The White Oak certainly begins with a bang, with Cora falling into the Underworld and starting her terrifying adventure right from the first page.

Cora must venture across the River Tartarus and into the city of the dead to rescue her twin brother and find her way out again. The story is a whirlwind of adventure, with Cora flung from one adventure to the next. It’s never clear what will come next – I loved the fast pacing of the story.

The story is based on the Greek underworld mythology with a high-tech twist. The shining gem of this story has to be the descriptions and imagery. White’s Underworld springs out of the page in vivid detail. Some of the scenes in The White Oak are rather dark and nightmarish – in fact most of the story feels quite dreamlike. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on that ferry across the river.

Cora is a strong-willed and determined heroine. She seemed as confused about what was happening to her as I was – she certainly asks a lot of questions of every character she runs into! This inquisitive nature helped describe what was happening, but occasionally slowed the story down a little.

The only part of the story that I felt really stopped the flow was the last couple of chapters. This instalment of the series ends with a very detailed courtroom scene, completely different to the rest of the tale. The ending doesn’t really feel like a real ending, but rather like the first and second books were once joined together and have been split into two separate volumes.

The White Oak is a fantastic first part in this series. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next!