The Forest of a Thousand Eyes
Reviews
This is what people have been saying about The Forest of a Thousand Eyes:
The Guardian (best new chapter books)
"Frances Hardinge’s hungry forest might be even redder in tooth and claw than the Costa Rican jungle. The much-celebrated YA author continues her younger-middle years detour with The Forest of a Thousand Eyes (Two Hoots), in which straggler groups of humanity are siloed on a great, crumbling wall, just keeping the ravenous wild at bay. Young Feather finds a stranger and steals a precious telescope for him. Bad mistake. With her community at risk, she and Sleek, her scaled ferret, must recover it, chasing their quarry along the wall, dodging giant eagles and discovering more survivors. Hardinge is excellent on resourceful children in extremis, as Feather finally confronts her enemy with guts and compassion." ~ Kitty Empire, read more
LoveReading4Kids
"Feather lives locked inside an isolated stone fortress called the Wall. Surrounding her small community and their slowly eroding compound is a vicious, deadly forest. Ever-changing and growing, the forest is home to deadly tentacles and lethal creatures, intent on destroying their human neighbours. When Feather is cruelly tricked by a new friend, she must seek justice beyond the safety of the familiar stone walls or risk the lives of all those she loves. With her loyal companion, Sleek, an adorably cute scaled ferret, for company she journeys out along the Wall; meeting friends and foes, and discovering new stories and possibilities.
Just as the deadly forest teems with danger and tension, The Forest of a Thousand Eyes is brimming with Hardinge's distinctively eerie world building. The sense of tension and peril makes this an utterly gripping read, so addictive you can't look away. Similarly, Gravett’s playful green and grey illustrations perfectly bring to life Feather and her arduous journey. Creepy vines laced with spiders’ webs lead us from one page to the next, whilst breath-taking full-page illustrations reveal the creepy landscape and wonders discovered on Feather’s quest.
Beautifully packaged, this is a book to treasure and cherish. Whilst its conciseness (coming in at less than 130 pages) makes it a sure fire hit for those who are developing reading confidence and stamina. Feather’s brave journey is one not to be missed. Perfect for fans of A.F Harrold and Cressida Cowell." ~ Amy McKay, read more
Just Imagine
"The Forest of a Thousand Eyes is another gloriously imaginative fantasy adventure tale by Frances Hardinge which comes in a beautiful hardback edition with gorgeous illustrations by Emily Gravett.
Feather lives inside the Wall, a narrow and dilapidated structure surrounded on all sides by the rampant Forest which she and her fellow wall-dwellers do their best to keep at bay, always alert to the risks posed by stray seedlings. After an unexpected encounter with a cunning stranger, Feather finds herself leaving her enclosed community of Greyman's Gate and journeying the length of the Wall accompanied by Sleek, her loyal scaled ferret.
There is plenty of danger and excitement for Feather as she travels the length of the Wall and experiences the true wildness of the Forest. Along the way, she also learns the value of looking beyond her immediate surroundings and learning from different communities at the same time as they learn from her.
As ever, Hardinge's world-building is thrillingly original and endearingly strange, and her prose is richly evocative. Her writing is perfectly matched by Emily Gravett's black, white and green pencil illustrations; these include a generous number of full-page and double-page spreads which bring Hardinge's settings and characters to life (I particularly loved the drawings of Sleek), along with vines which snake around pages full of text, sometimes populated by beetles and spiders. There are other nice touches: when Feather abandons the safety of the Wall for the darkness of the Forest, we switch to white text on black pages, and when she reaches the edge of the Forest, the vines are replaced by fisherman's rope.
At 128 pages (many without text), this is a quick read but one which is packed with intricate detail, sure to delight any fantasy lovers. The story would be accessible to older primary readers but also has enough complexity to engage younger secondary readers, and it is great to see books with such high production quality being published for this age range. It would be an enjoyable book to read aloud to a class, and Feather's journey might inspire children to produce some original and imaginative stories - and pictures - of their own."
Lancashire Post
"A young girl’s fight for survival in a treacherous natural world is the spectacular stage set for a thrilling eco-themed gothic fantasy from the creative pairing of Costa Book Award-winning Frances Hardinge, author of The Lie Tree and Unraveller, and illustrator extraordinaire Emily Gravett who has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal. This is the superstar team that gripped us with the unforgettable Island of Whispers, a deliciously dark fairy tale about mortality, grief, kindness and fate, and once again they combine their talents on a gripping adventure filled with pulsating action, emotional intensity and the rawness of nature." ~ Pam Norfolk, read more
The Irish Times
"The use of the fantastical to gently invite readers to consider our own environment, and humankind's ongoing damaging of it, pops up too in the latest collaboration between Costa-Award-winning Frances Hardinge and Greenaway-Medal-winning Emily Gravett. The Forest of a Thousand Eyes (Two Hoots, £14.99) follows last year's team effort, The Island of Whispers, and features a typical strange-yet-resilient Hardinge heroine. "Feather was used to the Forest trying to kill her. Snakes, giant eagles, poison thorns, hurricanes. That was normal. But people didn't try to kill you." Feather's attempts to help a stranger lead to a near-death experience and propel her on to a quest to return a stolen spyglass to her small community. As she tracks the thief through the vast, wild Forest, she encounters other bands of humans, all with their own distinct ways of living. "What did they think of her, the first stranger they'd spoken with? A dogged, haggard girl wandering in from beyond the edge of their world, her hair full of sap, her skin full of thorns, her mouth full of impossible stories. A girl who gobbled any food they would give her, asked more questions than she answered, and refused to stay." The green-hued pencil-style illustrations from Gravett enrich the story immensely, often winding around the text like tree branches. Haunting and memorable." ~ read more (paywall)
Books for Keeps
"Not a ghost story but certainly haunting, is The Forest of a Thousand Eyes, written by Frances Hardinge and illustrated by Emily Gravett. Somewhere in a dystopian future mankind is cowering behind the remains of a wall, built, possibly, to keep something out and now the last bulwark against the Forest, a wave of green that seems determined to wipe out those humans that are left. Forced from the relative safety of a crumbling tower after making a terrible mistake, Feather has to follow the wall to its very end. Dark but never gloomy, and terrifying though the Forest is, Feather’s story is one of human resilience and ingenuity and offers real hope for the future." ~ read more
The Guardian (children’s and teens roundup)
"Feather lives on the Wall, last bastion against the murderous Forest and its poisonous plants and deadly wildlife. When her gullibility puts her community in danger, she must set out, accompanied only by her scaled ferret Sleek, and travel deep into the world’s unplotted terrors. Thrilling, sinister and poetic, this powerful 10+ tale of fear, discovery and hope is enriched by Gravett’s soft-textured illustrations." ~ Imogen Russell Williams, read more
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