What the Woods Keep by Katya de Becerra
Published by Imprint on September 18th 2018
ISBN: 1250124255
Pages: 384
Goodreads

What the Woods Keep

 

Ever since Hayden was eight and her mother died she has been homeschooled and seen by a therapist.  She was believed to be responsible for a child being cut by a mirror and was expelled from school.  But now she is eighteen and has seen her mother’s last wishes for Hayden—to go back to their home in Promise, Colorado and destroy her mother’s darkest secrets.  Hayden and her best friend, Del, go to Promise and from their first moments there are fog, rain, suspicious strangers, and a feeling of connection to the Nibelungs of Germanic lore.   The Nibelungs want to be released to inhabit and take over the world.  They are not friendly sorts at all, but are cruel and evil.  In a horrible twist of fate Del’s pinky finger is cut off.  There is a slight bit of romance with Hayden and Shannon, who had been Hayden’s best childhood friend.  But Hayden solves her own problems and defeats the Nibelungs.

There is a strong friendship between Hayden and Del, but the finger amputation takes things too far.  The atmosphere of the story is set with the ever-present fog and sinister rain storms.  It may make readers want to find out more about the Nibelungs.

It is for grades 9-12.

 

Reviewed by Ellen Spring, Oceanside High School, Rockland