Under Wildwood

THANK GOODNESS IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!I don't know why I kept reading. I normally take pride in giving up on a book I'm not enjoying. I am in charge of my reading life! I don't let guilt propel me! There are too many great books I'll never read to waste time on those I don't like. Why did I keep on reading this one even though I was not enjoying it?1. I enjoyed the first one. I assume it's going to be a trilogy and I like reading trilogies. 3 is the magic number!2. I like the look and feel of the b [...]

4.5A rare second book in the trilogy that is better than the first. This book benefited from having more characters than the first. This novel has beautiful pictures just like the previous. I thought this novel was a lot more interesting in it's plot as well.

The overall feeling/aura/context of Under Wildwood matches it's cover: dark.Dark places, dark emotion, and very dark verbiage. Meloy definitely took this story to depths not seen in the first book, and he approached bloodshed with zero fluff.Somehow the entire 559 pages are spent merely aligning things for the third book, though a hearty amount of new characters are introduced and new places explored. Unfortunately I was turned off almost immediately by WAY too many "hold ups" in the book meanin [...]

This series just keeps getting better. I honestly had to force myself to go to work this week. I just wanted to stay home so I could continue reading this story that I was so caught up in. Were Prue, Curtis, and the Children from the Unthank Orphanage ever going to get out of the very dire situations they had found themselves in? Would Curtis be able to find his way back to his bandit family? Would Prue be able to complete the seemingly insurmountable task she was given and be able to save Wildw [...]

Ugh. to be fair, I didn't finish the book. I couldn't make myself. The writing is just so overwrought. I got to one short section where a thicket of scotch broom was described as "rackety fauna" (shouldn't plants be flora?), a feathery texture was described as a goose-down pillow "giving up its dander" (dander is sloughed SKIN, has nothing to do with feathers), and douglas firs were described as "leafy". Seriously? Sorry, the story might be wonderful, but I could NOT get past the writing to enjo [...]

Спустя два года я вернулась в Дикий лес, и это было одно из самых прочувствованных погружений в давно полюбившийся мир Мэлоя. Я познакомилась с ним в те времена, когда впереди была целая вселенная открытий и приближение старости казалось глупостью. Сейчас, когда меня посто� [...]

2.5It's weird to be saying this, but I did not enjoy Under Wildwood as much as I did the first book. It just didn't capture me the same way, and while I didn't mind that this book was a little darker, it was lacking a spark that kept me wanting to read it every day. I did finish it, and while the prose is lovely and Prue was still a great protagonist, everything in terms of the story fell flat and didn't keep me engaged. Also, why did the moles speak in caps lock? That got really irritating afte [...]

This book is just as magical and intriguing as the first one. It continues the story of the world right on the edge of our world, but this time shows the grittier side of both. Children being used for free labor, assassins of some fanatic religious group, overcoming tyrannical leaders, abandoning your family to live the life you want and the consequences that come with that. I mean I can’t think of a young adult book that does ALL this at once besides this one.My favorite part is still the ill [...]

Many intruiging stories woven into a masterpiece

My goodness Colin Meloy turned this series around! At the end of the last one, I was pleased. It seemed like a good, happy way to wrap things up (ignoring the fact that Curtis never went home. I didn't agree with that.) However, in this second book, he takes the book to a much darker level. People die. Hands are cut off. Both of these things I tend to appreciate in books. (Queen of Attolia. Best plot twist ever.)Anyway, despite (or perhaps because of) the darker feel to this book, I really enjoy [...]

I liked this one more than the first one. It ends with a bunch of different cliff hangers - looks like I gotta track down a copy of book three!

I'm so upset that the next book doesn't come out until February. SO UPSET.I recommend the audiobook, especially if you're a Decemberists fan. Nice to hear Colin's voice reading his own work!

Magical:)

There's something about this series that brings me back for each book. I love them and hate them. They fascinate me and bore me at the same time. This book is over 500 pages and it took me almost a year to finish reading it once I had started. It's very descriptive and almost slow until suddenly it isn't. I felt that way about the first book as well. I had to make myself sit down to read it only to discover by the time I was done reading that day, I'd finished a good portion of the book. This bo [...]

I should have reread my review of the first one before buying the second. Geesh.Once I started reading, I remembered a vague sense of not loving the series, but couldn't remember why. So, I kept reading. After about 300 pages, the "why" became clear.In Middle Earth, Frodo undertakes an overwhelming odyssey, to save Middle Earth from a great evil: total domination and destruction by Sauron.In Narnia, the four children, never before trained in battle, arm and prepare to fight a great evil: the Whi [...]

This second installment in the Wildwood series was just as magical as the previous book. I had my doubts after finishing book one that I would enjoy book two as much as I did. The size was honestly daunting even to me. This sense has kind of been niggling at the back of my mind while I've been reading it, like there was something off about it that I couldn't quite place. While I enjoyed the first book and enjoyed it's mood which to me was similar to Chronicles of Narnia in its magical atmosphere [...]

3.5The sequel to Wildwood takes place only a few months after the action of the first story. For Prue and Curtis however, it seems a lot longer. The story at first rotates between the two characters, Prue back in Portland living a dull life and daydreaming about her time in the IW. Curtis, on the other hand, has formed a new family among the Wildwood bandits.Although I really enjoyed listening to Meloy's narration, I didn't enjoy Under Wildwood as much as the first book. It felt rushed at points [...]

Since the events in Wildwood, Prue has returned to the unfulfilling monotony of the Outside while Curtis trains with bandits in the Wood. But their lives are disrupted again, this time by an assassination attempt which sends them on a long quest to resurrect a ruler and save the Wood. Under Wildwood continues the stylistic traditions of its predecessor, but this is a darker book. Rambling and whimsical, lengthy but so diverse--exploring new areas of the map and introducing a number of new charac [...]

Under Wildwood is the second recently released book in the Wildwood Chronicles a slated trilogy. I enjoyed the first book immensely, likening it to a contemporary Chronicles of Narnia but set in my own backyard of Portland, OR. It has a wonderful dark side I find so alluring in young adult literature, similar to Neal Gaiman. I wish I had reread the first book so it would have been a little fresher in my mind, it would have helped me jump into this book quicker. We again follow Prue on an adventu [...]

I downloaded this in audiobook format from my library's website late one night, in the throes of severe insomnia and desperate for something to lull me to sleep.Surely it can't be as bad as the first one, I thought to myself, and BOY WAS I WRONG.Please stop, Colin Meloy. Your music is amazing and your glasses are totally happening, but your books are just so boring. So. Boring. If this had been written by a nobody, I highly doubt any publisher would have given it a second thought. It's like any [...]

A great sequel, in my opinion better than the first. The multiple story lines heightened suspense and enriched the complex world of Wildwood and the outside world of Portland. The new characters brought much needed additional perspectives and helped make the story's pace seem faster and more engaging than the first. Though a very long drawn out story, the author uses that time to provide more character depth and events to weave the web of saving Wildwood. It does feel like a distinct journey fro [...]

Truth be told, this book isn't as good as the first one. But it sure did answer a lot of questions. It obviously still has the significant touches that the authors had in the first volume but with a lot more intricate detail as well as whimsical values that the prequel doesn't have. It is the start of the thread that connects both the Woods and the Outside. Most fantasy novels don't connect one world with the other and deem one is non-existent when the other one does. I have to say that the mole [...]

Prue and Curtis are back, with another knock out adventure inside and outside Wildwood, the not so mythical forest on Portland’s edge. This book finds Curtis enmeshed in the bandit life while Prue makes a go of life with her family in outside world (St. John’s neighborhood). But, evil is afoot. When a shape shifter impersonates a schoolteacher, Prue is in danger. Rescued and flown back to Wildwood, Prue finds a calling from the North Wood she cannot refuse. Enlisting Curtis’s help, the hal [...]

I know it's a kid's book But it's a FANTASTIC kid's book. I wish I had this series to read when I was growing up. Meloy's story telling is at times laugh-out-loud funny and is constantly engaging. Ellis' illustrations create a rich tapestry that enhances the story telling through a unique an consistent visual style. It's hard to put this book down, and it's easy to tear through it in just a few sittings. This is a fantastic book to get your kids to read, or to read to them. The 2nd book in the s [...]

2 1/2 stars. I'm not quite sure anything actually happened in this book. Prue and Curtis really annoy me. Curtis is so incredibly self-absorbed. They seriously don't think about their real families at all??? At least there wasn't much about the super annoying hipster parents in this book. I can't stand all the annoying hipsters that have infiltrated my city (ummm the author included). The secondary storyline about Curtis' sister was much more interesting to me. Hopefully that line of the book co [...]

What can I say about this book? It was absolutely phenomenal! The main characters were just as relatable as ever, the plotline remained fresh and new, and their conflicts were just as harrowing. For every plot point that was closed from the previous novel, three more were introduced. And that last chapter was like the quiet moment before a bomb explodes. I'm running to my library tomorrow.

Overall a good book, but defiantly not as good as Wildwood. Wildwood just caught my attention and made me actually feel like I was joining Prue and Curtis. Under Wildwood just didn't captivate me as much and I got a little confused and bored between all the switching parts. I still loved it though! Really love septimus the rat hahah. If you enjoy fantasy and The chronicles of NARNIAAAAAA, this is the book to read!

Unless you were a huge fan of Meloy's original book Wildwood, I would pass on this one. It is one of those books that doesn't have any resolution at the end because it's part of a series. Instead of being excited for the next book in the "Chronicles of Wildwood" it just kind of pissed me off. I like the characters but it felt like a waste of time. Sorry, Colin Meloy. Love your work with the Decemeberists.

I enjoyed the author's style very much but I didn't like the content of the story as much as the first book. It didn't feel like a complete story, and in the end, left me a bit unsatisfied. This book just seems like a bridge between the first and third books. The violence was also off-putting for me, especially at the end. The thing that really saved this book was the moles. I hope we'll see them again in the next installment of the Wildwood Chronicles!

The first book was good, kind of a slow read, but good enough that I read the second one. I was very glad I did. This book was suspenseful and I was unable to put it down. I finished it during the week and didn't have time for a trip to the library. I spent three days worrying about the children. Silly I know, but it does mean I was invested in the characters. To me that is what makes a good book.