Review Summaries

• Its restrained, poetic style and the way it digs into family history are highly regarded. There is a quiet beauty inside the darkness, and the aftereffect lingers.

Reviews

• This book is amazing; the story is creative very dark and dappled with light throughout and moved towards a wonderful creative ending. This incredible story was original and wonderfully crafted together, showing the brilliance of David Almond writing skills. After reading Skellig I thought how could David Almond ever match this book, but he proved me wrong; he not only matched it he may have just surpassed it. As the story progresses Kit (the main character in the book) starts to write a story that links into the main story's plot - overlapping in an amazing and clever way. I can't praise this book enough - beautiful, different and Remarkable, this book will stay with you long after reading it.

• Without a doubt, David Almond's best book. I've read it and reread it dozens of times, and I carry quotes from the book with me every day. At it's core, this is a story about how we can choose to live in the light without ignoring the darkness that exists, how our histories shape us and how we are yet free to choose our own destiny, how connections between people are powerful enough to overcome adversity, and how love is the strongest force of all. It's beautifully written and intensely compelling. It's also about the power of stories – Kit's grandfather's old stories that he passes down to his grandson, Kit's writing that gains a life of its own – to give meaning to our lives. It's also lovely to see a young male character who's as sensitive, sweet, and creative as Kit, a writer who's able to use those strengths and stories to save his tough, more traditionally-masculine friend John (whose drawing talents complement Kit's stories, just as their characters complement each other throughout the story, a fact that they're aware of). Kit's best friend Allie also provides a well-written foil to John, and all of the main characters (Kit, John, and Allie) are complex and human, while still clearly children. I cannot recommend this book enough, especially to anyone who's enjoyed other books by David Almond. I have this quote by Kit's grandfather underlined in my copy of this book: “This is our world. Aye, there's more than enough of darkness in it. But over everything there's all this joy, Kit. There's all this lovely, lovely light.”

• one of the best because the author plays contemporary reality, the culture of the mining community and the dilemmas of ice age kids all together resonating one against the other. simple and beautiful.

• Like Richard Cormier's books, this "Young Adult" novel is not just for those under 20. Nothing is black and white, everything is poetic, mysterious and slightly cloudy in this original, enticing novel by David Almond. The opening chapters look morbid - Kit is new to the community where his ailing granddad grew up, a mining town in England. He's reluctantly drawn into a group led by the dark and sinister John Askew, the son of the town alcoholic. These kids play a game called "Death" - Askew holds a knife to the one chosen in a spin-the-bottle selection, and takes them into the deep dark mine and leaves them there. The Dead One emerges moments or hours later, claiming to have been truly dead. I got that far and thought this book wasn't for me - surely something evil was going to happen to Kit who was drawn both to Askew and the game. I pushed on, and was greatly rewarded. Kit struggles with his wish to believe that no matter what others may say about someone, there is a goodness within all, waiting to be recognized and invited out. He expresses this through a story within-the-story, that ties in with Askew's disappearance, his own grandfather's preparation for dying (wonderfully handled) and his shadowy visions of many children - one special one named Silky - who died years ago in the mines. Although I saw this somewhere referred to as like Harry Potter, I'd have to say it's not - the audience for this book is looking for more substance than entertainment (and I LOVE Harry Potter books). An excellent read!

• Kit's Wilderness is not your typical ghost story. Actually, whether or not to classify it as a horror story depends on how vivid the reader's imagination is. The creepiness found in the story lies all in the details. The theme throughout the novel seems to be that "change is inevitable; death is inevitable; but life continues." The story has more to do with the magic of storytelling and memories than with ghosts. The relationship between Kit and his grandfather and between Kit and John Askew are well crafted, and at times, heartbreaking. I would love to give the novel five stars, but I have only read it in Kindle format. In the Kindle format, there are many typos found--misspelled words, punctuation marks in bizarre places, random numbers showing up in the middle of words. It is a shame because it could distract the reader from this otherwise well written book. Especially since many passages are written to give the reader a feel for a specific region's dialect. For those who are unfamiliar with the dialect, it can be difficult at times to know for sure if the author intended a certain spelling of the word or if one is seeing yet another typo. I assume many who have read this novel in paperback or hardcover have not had to deal with this problem, since the story is so highly recommended and has won awards. In spite of this flaw, I would still recommend Kit's Wilderness to anyone who is looking for a story with chills and an eerie atmosphere as well as a story that is deep in symbolism and heart.

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