Customer Reviews

Nieve

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Things just aren't quite right at home for Nieve, the young heroine of this darkly imaginative book. There are strange weeds growing in the garden, a disturbing new substitute teacher with earrings that seem to be alive, and way too many spiders everywhere. To make matters worse, the people she has come to rely in her life begin to disappear, one by one, and just when she needs them most.

This is a dark, but fun book, which should appeal to older children and young teens. Girls will like the spunky main character, and boys will appreciate some of the creepier touches. Griggs draws on Celtic legends and folk fairy tales for many of her supernatural elements, but the world she creates is entirely of her own imagining, parts of which are brought vividly to life not only by her powers of description, but by the splendid and richly detailed illustrations of her son Alexander Griggs-Burr. Griggs use of English is playful, but not so much so as to be a distraction. The dark, Gothic elements of the book bring to mind writers like John Bellairs, and fans of his young adult books will probably enjoy this one.

The pacing of the book is very brisk, which will also appeal to young readers. No sooner do mysterious things start happening than Nieve finds herself running for her life before she even has a chance to tell anyone about them. As the story unfolds, she is drawn into darker and darker places, finding both menacing and unexpectedly helpful characters along the way.

The book does come to a nice resolution, but clearly leaves room for sequels, which I can't wait to read.