What do you think?
Darklands
Fifteen year old Sophie is not the most popular girl at school. She's not thin enough, she's not pretty enough, and she's way too interested in maths and physics to be even remotely cool. So when she finds herself mysteriously transported into another world where it never rains, the sun always shines, the people all think she's fantastic and their impossibly handsome king dotes on her, she can barely believe her luck. But Sophie begins to realise that all is not as well as it seems in the Darklands. Why are all the visiting delegations so angry with the King? What is the mysterious millenniversary everyone keeps talking about? And quite what is Sophie's role in it all? Sophie finds both alarming differences and uncomfortable similarities between the two worlds as she struggles to find her way back home - preferably without turning the universe inside out... "Unputdownable, enthralling magic ... brilliantly written and thought out fantasy." www.bookstackreviews.com
266 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2011
About the author
Emma Woodcock
2 books5 followersEmma Woodcock has worked variously as a pump jockey, envelope stuffer, librarian, potter, web designer, and general software wrangler.
She lives in Derbyshire with her husband – but still no dog, despite her constant hints…
She has been trying to write books for most of her life, but the need to make a living keeps getting in the way.
Darklands is her first novel. It was followed in 2015 by Kikimora, the story of a reluctant monster, a heart-broken magician, a frustrated violinist, a kind-hearted Rusalka - and the magician's cat, who just might have the solution to all their problems.
She thought four years was a big gap between the two, and that she should buck her ideas up and do better next time… Anyway, life happened. And kept on happening. You all know. You were there too. But anyway, 11 years later, she is close to actually finishing a first draft of her third novel, Slinter Wood. Honest.
Amongst Emma’s writing heros are Diana Wynne Jones and Philip Reeve. She would very much like to one day write something as magical, enthralling and oh, just perfect as Howl’s Moving Castle or Mortal Engines.
She lives in Derbyshire with her husband – but still no dog, despite her constant hints…
She has been trying to write books for most of her life, but the need to make a living keeps getting in the way.
Darklands is her first novel. It was followed in 2015 by Kikimora, the story of a reluctant monster, a heart-broken magician, a frustrated violinist, a kind-hearted Rusalka - and the magician's cat, who just might have the solution to all their problems.
She thought four years was a big gap between the two, and that she should buck her ideas up and do better next time… Anyway, life happened. And kept on happening. You all know. You were there too. But anyway, 11 years later, she is close to actually finishing a first draft of her third novel, Slinter Wood. Honest.
Amongst Emma’s writing heros are Diana Wynne Jones and Philip Reeve. She would very much like to one day write something as magical, enthralling and oh, just perfect as Howl’s Moving Castle or Mortal Engines.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 18, 2011
The basic storyline is a through-the-rabbit-hole type story about a girl who is kidnapped to a parallel universe – The Darklands – ruled by a tyrannical, if charismatic King, who has just decided he is going to marry Sophie, and that she will go along with it.
I have to admit, when I started the book, I felt like I was reading something I’d read before. Lately I’ve been given a lot of books to review that feature girls being sucked through (or going willingly) into other worlds, and becoming royalty, either voluntarily or not. However, unlike some of the other books, this one had some good twists, especially near the end of the book, which is what pushed this book, ratings-wise, from a 3 to a 3.5.
Talking about characters within the story, Sophie was a strong lead, however, I felt very much like she switched between acting like a spoiled brat (then again, so would I had I been kidnapped in the manner she was) and a very resourceful young lady. I’d also have liked a few more personal details about Sophie, just so I felt like I really knew her. This said, the various family and home tie-ins between Sophie and other characters seemed well thought-out and again, that made the whole story seem more rounded.
King Thorne was very consistent, and actually quite chilling at times, which made him a very good villain. This said, my personal favourite character within the books was definitely Nettle, who was again consistent, defiant, and a general pain, really, but that was all part of her charm, especially when she ends up saving Sophie and the other ‘otherworlders’.
The world of The Darklands felt very well developed, with even humans from our world having their own set place within things, and there even being a religion within the place, and whilst I think this book is probably a stand-alone novel, if there were going to be more, it would be interesting to see more of the actual lands, and maybe hear more about the neighbouring kingdoms - though that may just be the epic fantasy reader in me needing to know everything about everything.
The pacing of the story was fairly good – though at times I did feel as if I were waiting for something to happy whilst the story just wandered along around me.
One of my only other criticisms of this book would be that at times, there were some strange formatting issues, with the font changing sizes from tiny to massive, but that may have been because I received a review copy.
Overall, this was a very good debut, and the twists at the end definitely made the story for me.
I have to admit, when I started the book, I felt like I was reading something I’d read before. Lately I’ve been given a lot of books to review that feature girls being sucked through (or going willingly) into other worlds, and becoming royalty, either voluntarily or not. However, unlike some of the other books, this one had some good twists, especially near the end of the book, which is what pushed this book, ratings-wise, from a 3 to a 3.5.
Talking about characters within the story, Sophie was a strong lead, however, I felt very much like she switched between acting like a spoiled brat (then again, so would I had I been kidnapped in the manner she was) and a very resourceful young lady. I’d also have liked a few more personal details about Sophie, just so I felt like I really knew her. This said, the various family and home tie-ins between Sophie and other characters seemed well thought-out and again, that made the whole story seem more rounded.
King Thorne was very consistent, and actually quite chilling at times, which made him a very good villain. This said, my personal favourite character within the books was definitely Nettle, who was again consistent, defiant, and a general pain, really, but that was all part of her charm, especially when she ends up saving Sophie and the other ‘otherworlders’.
The world of The Darklands felt very well developed, with even humans from our world having their own set place within things, and there even being a religion within the place, and whilst I think this book is probably a stand-alone novel, if there were going to be more, it would be interesting to see more of the actual lands, and maybe hear more about the neighbouring kingdoms - though that may just be the epic fantasy reader in me needing to know everything about everything.
The pacing of the story was fairly good – though at times I did feel as if I were waiting for something to happy whilst the story just wandered along around me.
One of my only other criticisms of this book would be that at times, there were some strange formatting issues, with the font changing sizes from tiny to massive, but that may have been because I received a review copy.
Overall, this was a very good debut, and the twists at the end definitely made the story for me.
November 3, 2015
Messing round in a stone circle leads to a girl being kidnapped by the evil king of a magical world in this highly enjoyable fantasy adventure.
The disappearance of a teenage girl in the prologue is a bit of a clue that dabbling in magic and hanging round the stone circle at night may be bad life choices. The teenager who went missing is Sophie’s long-lost aunt, but she doesn’t take the hint, and sure enough, she gets dragged off to another world where magic rules. The evil 1000-year old king wants to marry her, won’t let her go home, and is planning world domination. Since he’s inclined to kill people who disagree with him, things look grim.
The writing is very readable throughout and very well edited. It feels a bit rushed in places but a compelling plot and strong characters make up for any weak spots. I stayed up way too late reading the start. A tremendously fun read.
This is young adult, but romance is kept to a minimum.
The disappearance of a teenage girl in the prologue is a bit of a clue that dabbling in magic and hanging round the stone circle at night may be bad life choices. The teenager who went missing is Sophie’s long-lost aunt, but she doesn’t take the hint, and sure enough, she gets dragged off to another world where magic rules. The evil 1000-year old king wants to marry her, won’t let her go home, and is planning world domination. Since he’s inclined to kill people who disagree with him, things look grim.
The writing is very readable throughout and very well edited. It feels a bit rushed in places but a compelling plot and strong characters make up for any weak spots. I stayed up way too late reading the start. A tremendously fun read.
This is young adult, but romance is kept to a minimum.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews