Lets Take a Break

I don't know about you, but I definitely feel like my last few posts (and books) have been pretty  heavy, metaphorically speaking of course.  I think it's time for a break.  For me, this means going back to a favorite genre: fantasy.  J.A. White's The Thickety: A Path Begins was the perfect break book.

I could tell as soon as I picked it up that this book was going to be exactly what I wanted.  The cover screams 'fantasy' and 'fairy tale' and I couldn't wait, add to that thick rough cut pages (hey, it's the little things) and
a solid heft to the book (at 500 pages it's long enough for you to get completely lost in but not soo long that it becomes a project) made it practically perfect.

The Thickety feels like a step back in time but also a step into another universe.  Kara lives in a community where people are devoted to following the teachings of Thomas Chen, "work hard, want nothing, stay vigilant."  And above all they want to eradicate magic from the world . Cue witch hunts.  When Kara was just a young girl her mother was convicted of witchcraft and hung, Kara narrowly escaped the same fate.  Nonetheless she has been essentially shunned for her entire life.  Her father was emotionally broken by the experience so it is up to Kara to raise her younger brother Taff.

So what should Kara do when she realizes she also has magical powers.  Though she has tried to deny it her whole life, she is a witch like her mother before her.  Will she be able to make a way for herself without abandoning Taff?

And if you're wondering what the Thickety is then you're just going to need to read the book yourself.

Finding a way...that's kids stuff.