Woven

Gr 6–9—A quarrelsome princess and a handsome ghost connect with sorcerers, conjurors, and witches as they seek an enchanted Needle to stitch the world back together. Nels, a peasant lad seemingly dead at the hands of an evil Fabricator, must join forces with petulant Tyra, princess of Avërand, in order to restore himself to life. The mismatched pair stumble into danger, adventure, and love as they discover nothing is as it seems in their quest to preserve the kingdom. The premise behind this mythical world is creative: a great tapestry into which everything in all of the worlds is woven, supported and protected by weavers with magical skills to keep the threads from unraveling. The execution, however, is not always successful: characters with insufficient depth or backstory and dialogue that occasionally seems too modern for the world in which it is spoken. While many fantasy readers may prefer the works of Terry Pratchett and Diana Wynne Jones, there are those who will enjoy the world-building, magic, action, and trace of romance found in this novel, which leaves the door open for sequels.