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FindingJane
Sep 13, 2015FindingJane rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Lord John-Dalberg Acton’s grim warning remains as true today as it was when he penned it in the late 19th century. “The Thickety: The Path Begins” lays out exactly how magical power can taint the most innocent hearts and befoul the best intentions. The author manages something extraordinary here. While all of the reader’s attention remains focused mainly on the young girl Kara, who suffers the slings and arrows of superstitious townspeople, our interest persists in drifting over to the spiteful townsfolk. As the novel continues, we come to suspect that these people, with their disturbing blond sameness repeated everywhere, are the victims of too much inbreeding, a religious mania that doesn’t allow for change or growth and the steadfast refusal to permit anybody from the outside world to influence them. Laboring under the doctrine of a long-dead religious fanatic who waged a nearly one-man campaign to rid them of magic wielders, they aren’t allowed to think for themselves, question their faith or even long for anything beyond what they have. Even a casual wish is punished by the teacher with a harsh caning. While Kara is encouraged to feel sympathy for these people who have never cared for her, we see just how difficult that inner struggle is—as is her need to fight the dark magic which acts as both a subtle lure and a fatal addiction for her, one that has killed every witch that has tried to use it for her own ends. The book contains its quiet power in every chapter, one that culminates in an epic struggle between two wounded girls, each longing for what the other possesses. A dangerous and mysterious forest encroaches on the people of one small island. No explanation is given as to where the wood comes from, why foul creatures out of nightmare exist there and nowhere else in the world or why it continues to creep closer on the small town and its inhabitants every single year. It simply is and that is all. The Thickety itself may contain the answer to the island people’s moral dilemma. Did it create them—or did they, on some primal level, create it? Questions no doubt to be addressed and answered in future volumes. Kara’s victory is not complete and has destroyed nearly everything she holds dear. This is one reader is a-buzz to learn how she deals with the new threat that has engulfed her.