Deep is the Fen – Book Tour

Lili Wilkinson

Publishing date: April 16th, 2024
Genre: YA Fantasy

SYNOPSIS:

Merry doesn’t need a happily-ever-after. Her life in the charming, idyllic town of Candlecott is fine just as it is. Simple, happy, and with absolutely no magic. Magic only ever leads to trouble.

But Merry’s best friend, Teddy, is joining the Toadmen—a secret society who specialize in backward thinking and suspiciously supernatural traditions—and Merry is determined to stop him. Even if it means teaming up with the person she hates most: her academic archnemesis, Caraway Boswell, an ice-cold snob who hides his true face under a glamour.

An ancient Toad ritual is being held in the sinister Deeping Fen, and if Merry doesn’t rescue Teddy before it’s finished, she’ll lose him forever. But the Toadmen have been keeping dangerous secrets, and so has Caraway. The farther Merry travels into Deeping Fen’s foul waters, the more she wonders if she’s truly come to save her friend . . . or if she’s walking straight into a trap.

There’s nothing the Toadmen love more than a damsel in distress.

REVIEW:

I loved seeing the rebel witches through different eyes and learning even more about the world dynamics. The addition of an element from A Hunger of Thorns was interesting & I am even more curious to see where these books go (and what happens to the characters). I would also like to note about that particular element – if you haven’t read A Hunger of Thorns it won’t impact your experience with this story. I had to go backwards and double check the book to make sure I was actually correct. The Toadmen are entirely more nightmarish than they sound and their clout is something else entirely.

We’ve been waiting for you, she says, as she lets me into her mind.

It’s dark and vicious and wise in there.

The dynamic of the three friends, how they grow to accept and work through all the challenges thrown at them throughout the book was a delight. Merry’s commentary about Caraway felt a little redundant and cruel – that he didn’t sink to the same level made me like him just a little more even with his actions throughout the book. I liked Merry as a character but didn’t connect with her as much as I did Maude from A Hunger of Thorns. The author does excel at exceptional found family dynamics and seeing how they grow and change throughout the story.

I would love to see a world map of the world that Lili has created in these two books. I love seeing on paper where all the events take place and where the characters go. The places that we experience in this book didn’t seem as vividly written as the first book except one area that Merry visits in particular – Deeping Fen.

I am so very thankful to TBR and Beyond Tours for the opportunity to be a part of this tour, to Delacorte Press for the gifted copies of this book. To the author Lili Wilkinson – I am beyond happy you decided to keep writing stories in this world you have created & I am so excited to hear what’s next! I highly recommend reading this book AND of course A Hunger of Thorns. All opinions in this review are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lili Wilkinson is the award-winning author of eighteen books for young people, including The Erasure Initiative and After the Lights Go Out. Lili has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, and is a passionate advocate for YA and the young people who read it, establishing the Inky Awards at the Centre for Youth Literature, State Library of Victoria. Her latest book is Deep is the Fen.