A Monster In The Hollows
Brad and I have been going on reading dates. I highly recommend this. We choose a cafe, select our drinks of choice (Brad usually coffee, hot chocolate for me), and settle down in some corner to get lost side by side in the pages of our respective reads. I sometimes feel like we stumbled across a closely guarded but very valuable secret: a romantic date can consist simply of being with each other while doing something you both enjoy. Especially if what you enjoy involves hot drinks and C.S. Lewis.
(Side note: The first time we went, Brad was reading Warrior of a Kind; I can now officially make the statement that I saw my book being read in a coffee shop.)
My most recent accomplishment in the area of reading, though, was finishing the highly-anticipated third installment of the Wingfeather Saga, entitled The Monster In The Hollows. Here follows my review.
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I started reading the Wingfeather Saga almost a year ago, and went into it a little hesitantly. If this was going to be a singer/songwriter's dreamy attempt at literature, and nothing more, I wasn't sure I wanted to subject myself to the disappointment. After all, I enjoy Andrew Peterson's music.....
But Andrew Peterson is not merely a singer/songwriter. He is a master storyteller, no matter the medium. And in the Wingfeather Saga, I was pleasantly surprise--blown away--to find a truly precious story in the tradition of the Chronicles of Narnia. And I don't ever, EVER reference Narnia lightly.
The series began with On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, in which the land of Skree suffers under the great evil of Gnag the Nameless and his wicked minions, the Fangs of Dang. Janner, Tink and Leeli Igiby are just three ordinary children growing up under Gnag's oppression, until they discover the secret of the Jewels of Anniera, and realize their heritage is more than it appears. In the second book, North! Or Be Eaten, the siblings find themselves running for their lives, fighting and fleeing and fighting again, and they discover that the house of Wingfeather has enemies around every corner--and friends in unexpected places.
Book 3, The Monster In The Hollows, picks up with siblings Janner, Tink (now Kalmar) and Leeli seeking refuge in the land of their ancestors. The Wingfeather children, it seems, have at long last reached a place of rest and safety, protected at least temporarily from Gnag the Nameless and his terrible Fangs of Dang. Like the first books, this one has its share of fascinating characters, vivid places, blood-chilling scarytale beasts, warm humor and epic adventure as the children discover that pursuant Fangs are not the only enemies they must beware of. Janner struggles with his role as eldest brother and makes difficult strides towards manhood as the Throne Warden of Anniera; Kalmar wrestles with guilt and regret even as he strives to hold onto his own identity; and Leeli explores her mysterious gifts more deeply than ever before. All three of the children have faced external dangers uncounted in the first books; this one finds them each growing as they learn who they are, both as the Igibys and as the royal Wingfeathers, and understanding how to fight internal monsters of their own.
But--are they truly safe? Can it be that the Green Hollows is the refuge they've sought for so long?
Of course not. There's a monster in the Hollows. And it's not what you think.
I caught myself, towards the end of this book, feeling like I really had the whole thing figured out. I called it. Well, I thought, jumping to conclusions while only three quarters of the way through, this book did seem more predictable than the others. It's okay. I still enjoyed the story. And then, Andrew Peterson did it again. Just when I thought I knew exactly what was going on, he turned the whole thing upside down in a climactic battle where the truth--all of it--the baffling, the impossible, the tragic, the horrifying and the glorious--is ultimately exposed. He kept me guessing until the end. I choked up. And I loved, loved, loved this book.
The characters of Janner, Kalmar and Leeli--all of whom I've grown to love through the series--see some real growth in this story. Up until now they've faced Fangs and bomnubbles and sea dragons and toothy cows and the Fork Factory and betrayal and the wilderness; now they face school, identity struggles, mistrust, and fitting into a foreign land. All this is told in Andrew Peterson's distinct style, which somehow manages to blend the comical and absurd with the profoundly moving. For me, the one enhances the other. I highly recommend this series. Here's to the anticipation of the fourth and final installment, The Warden and the Wolf King, which will be available.....er....whenever Andrew Peterson decides he's held us in anticipation long enough and carves out time to write it. I'll be waiting.
