I would give this book 3.5 stars if I could. Think of a cross between Alice in Wonderland, Homer's Odysey, and the darkness of some of the Grimm's fairytales. There was a quest and personal discovery journey, crossed with some freaky stuff going on. Really, I was amazed, at the end, how well everything tied together-that's how random the journey was.

I would echo the others, and say this is obviously more for the boys...in fact, thinking back on all the female characters in the book, they're either stereotypically or offensively portrayed. I would say the author has some woman issues!

The coolest, coolest part is the illustrations. Wonderfully done, and there's a TON of them. At least one every-other page! They illustrate very well what's going on, which is important in a book where 9 out of 10 creatures the author has made up.

Twig has grown up in the Deepwoods-think really scary, monsters you'd never want to run into woods-with the woodtrolls, but has never fit in. He doesn't look like them, and he doesn't have their obsession with sticking to the path. One day his dear mother admits to him that she found him in the forest when he was a baby, and he needs to leave because the SkyPirates are looking for him. She warns him to watch out for the Gloamglozer, the scariest of scary monsters, and sends him on his way. He goes on a journey into the woods, doesn't stick to the path, and quickly learns how smart the woodtrolls are for sticking to the path, because he goes from one bad situation to the next one.

Will he make it out alive?? Will he run into the Gloamglozer??? Will the SkyPirates get him????

Well, this is a series, (so I answered the first question-oops!) and I've heard the rest of the series is better, so I think I'll read book #2 and see how it goes!