The Mirrorwood

February 15, 2022
To survive her curse and those who'd punish her for her affliction, a 12-year-old seeks answers in a magical wood while accompanied by her cat. Fable adores her large family, but her mere existence is dangerous to them. Since infancy, she's been cursed with a blight that comes from the corrupted Mirrorwood. Each blight is different, but Fable's is horrible: Rather than having a face of her own, she can only steal the face and, along with it, the good health, of someone she touches. Every few days, just to stay alive, Fable must harm someone in her family. And on top of that, her life is constantly in danger from the blighthunters, who seek out the blighted and kill them. Faced with such a hunter, Fable flees with her cat, Moth, into the Mirrorwood, where the godlike Subtle Powers grant her a quest that might offer a cure. In this magical forest she encounters villagers stuck in eerie, seemingly joyful time loops and others whose blights are more grotesque or dangerous than her own. The mashup of fairy-tale tropes and children's literature references gets unexpectedly dark, but clear coming-of-age arcs (and adventures with "a fox girl, a winged scholar, and a demon prince") keep the text accessible. Fable and her family read as White; other characters sport a wide variety of skin tones and hair colors. The world features both different-sex and same-sex couples, and Fable has a nonbinary sibling. Starts as a fairy-tale retelling but goes somewhere cleverly original once in the enchanted wood. (Fantasy. 9-12)

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April 25, 2022
Twelve-year-old Fable, cued as white, is cursed by what her village calls the Blight, an enchantment from the surrounding Mirrorwood that caused her to be born without a face. To survive, she reluctantly steals the faces of those around her, which makes her a pariah and a target for fearsome Blighthunters—warriors tasked with eliminating anyone touched by magic. A close call with a hunter and his daughter and apprentice, brown-skinned Vycorax, spurs Fable, along with feline companion Moth, to head deep into the impenetrable Mirrorwood, resolving to break the curse. As Vycorax pursues, the duo eventually crosses paths with one of Mirrorwood’s omnipresent Subtle Powers, who offers them a quest: kill the demon prince of the realm, and be free of the Blight. But the forest is filled with dangers more treacherous than Blighthunters, and Fable and Vycorax must work together or risk being swallowed up by the wood. Fagan’s (Nightingale) sinister, fast-paced fantasy adventure is elevated by Fable and Vycorax’s warm, slow-building friendship. This thrilling and unusual tale suggests that self-reflection—and self-acceptance—can be the difference between heroism and villainy. Ages 10–12. Agent: Hannah Fergesen, KT Literary.

May 1, 2022
Born outside the Mirrorwood, a place full of magic surrounded by an impenetrable thorn thicket (not the only fairy-tale allusion here), protagonist Fable tries to hide her "twist": cursed to have no face of her own, she must steal faces from others. Now pursued by blighthunters (including the determined young Vycorax), Fable flees with her talking cat, Moth, into the Mirrorwood, but Vycorax is able to get through the thorns as well. Fable convinces her that together they can end the blight (including Fable's own twist) by defeating the demon prince at the heart of the Mirrorwood and awakening the true prince. But they learn that they will have to kill the demon prince, using the sharpest tooth of a near-mythical beast called the Withering, and it's all a bit more than Fable has signed on for. The author excels in setting expectations and then subverting them: the Withering offers advice; the demon prince turns out to be nice; a blessing given to the true prince turns out to be a curse. Fable's twist ties in to themes of identity and self-confidence with gratifying neatness as the novel unfolds in unexpected directions through Fable's and Vycorax's competing motivations and pushes through multiple complications to a highly satisfactory conclusion. Anita L. Burkam

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2022
Born outside the Mirrorwood, a place full of magic surrounded by an impenetrable thorn thicket (not the only fairy-tale allusion here), protagonist Fable tries to hide her "twist": cursed to have no face of her own, she must steal faces from others. Now pursued by blighthunters (including the determined young Vycorax), Fable flees with her talking cat, Moth, into the Mirrorwood, but Vycorax is able to get through the thorns as well. Fable convinces her that together they can end the blight (including Fable's own twist) by defeating the demon prince at the heart of the Mirrorwood and awakening the true prince. But they learn that they will have to kill the demon prince, using the sharpest tooth of a near-mythical beast called the Withering, and it's all a bit more than Fable has signed on for. The author excels in setting expectations and then subverting them: the Withering offers advice; the demon prince turns out to be nice; a blessing given to the true prince turns out to be a curse. Fable's twist ties in to themes of identity and self-confidence with gratifying neatness as the novel unfolds in unexpected directions through Fable's and Vycorax's competing motivations and pushes through multiple complications to a highly satisfactory conclusion.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)