The Witch's Boy

Wow what a beautifully written, amazing book! It's one of those books you come out feeling wonderful and alive and wanting to travel the world and experience new cultures...and yet you're so sorry it's over because you wanted to stay with those people you've come to know and love. I have kindle unlimited and I almost never pay for books, but I thought I'd give this one a shot, I was intrigued, and it was worth ever penny and more! I don't know that I've ever highlighted in any of the books I've read, but this one I did many times. Beautifully descriptive lines that I intend to go back and write them all in my art journal. Thank you Kelly for a incredible journey that left me feeling more alive than I have in some time!

The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill is essentially a fairy tale that combines multiple story lines, while tugging at your heart strings from the very first page.The mischievous and happy twins, Ned and Tam build a make-shift raft that will take them from the Great River to the sea. “The sea, Tam…. the sea!”Unfortunately, a raft built by 7 year-old boys can hardly be deemed sea-worthy…“The current separated the boys. The father couldn’t save them both. He kicked and swore, but as he reached one boy — the closer boy — his twin had been swept far down the length of the river and out of sight. […]‘We should have known he’d bungle it,’ they said.‘He saved the wrong one.'”And so Ned, the wrong boy, lived — while Tam, the smart one, was carried away by the current and drowned. But his mother, Sister Witch, could not bear that one of her sons had died, while the other lay struggling for his life… so she did something she shouldn’t have: she used the magic kept under her care to keep her child alive.Saving Ned’s life came at a cost to him — he barely grew, he was small and quiet, he stuttered:“Words were his enemies. They rattled in his mouth like broken teeth, or tumbled off the page like scattered dust after a sneeze.”… he also forgot how to read:“There was a time when he could read. Both he and his brother could. Before. But then everything changed. Now, whenever Ned looked at the sign (or any writing for that matter), the letters seemed to wobble, shift, and scramble themselves. They wriggled like snakes and swarmed like locusts.”The townspeople think him dim-witted… they are unkind. However, larger events come into play as the Queen comes to this little village while visiting different towns throughout her realm. Her family — the Queen’s nephew in particular — would love to see her dead. Fortunately, Sister Witch is able to save the Queen’s life… and is then invited to visit the castle. Using magic is exhausting for Sister Witch, and so she leaves the magic at home, safe within its little jar, and asks Ned to look after it. Unfortunately, the Bandit King comes along with his band of ruffians to take the magic — he is consumed by greed and power, and even threatens to kill Ned’s father to force Ned out of his home along with the jar of magic. But Ned discovers he can be brave… he cannot let his father die… he opens the jar, and the magic melds within his skin, burning, and itching, and causing so much pain. But it does not kill him. The real adventure begins!The magic within Ned is volatile — constantly causing him to war within himself: Will he do what is right? Will he do what is selfish? Will he do what is best? Will he be merciful? Will he give into the power within him? Ned’s family has been keeping the magic good for generations… can he do the same? The magic requires a strong will to be kept in its place — it requires strong commanding words:“A word, after all, is a kind of magic. It locks the substance of a thing in sound or symbol, and affixes it to the ear, or paper, or stone. Words call the world into being. That’s power indeed. And Ned was not a powerful boy.”As he runs through the woods to escape the bandits, the Bandit King plots with the over-indulgent and power-hungry King Ott of a nearby kingdom against the Ned’s small village. He convinces King Ott to attack — now Ned has an even greater task ahead: he needs to save himself, and warn his people.While lost in the woods, he meets a wolf… and Áine – the Bandit King’s daughter. Upon her death bed, Áine’s mother told her, “The wrong boy will save your life, and you will save his. And the wolf –” Well, she’d have to guess about the wolf.Together, this trio runs through the woods, escaping bandits, making some difficult decisions, and taking care of one another. They learn to trust, they learn to care, and most of all, they learn about true friendship and sacrifices.It is difficult to choose only one theme within this lovely tale of good versus evil. It is about friendship, it is about greed, it is about making the difficult choices, it is about forgiveness, and it is about accepting loss…The Witch’s Boy is poetic in it’s repetition, melodic in it’s tone, and deep in it’s message.http://doodlesandwords.com/2015/04/07/the-wrong-boy-and-his-words/

Being as The Girl Who Drank The Moon is my fav book, it's no surprise I was taken with this one. The cadence of it. The repetition and tone reminded me of the old Jim Henson Storyteller series and that's a thing that always puts me in a place of wonder in a story. I very much fell in love with all of the characters and enjoyed seeing the emotional growth of the characters as events progressed. Highly recommended.

I am starting to become a little obsessed with Kelly Barnhill books. Since I am a Grandma, I certainly don't fit the age group its listed for but find these so much fun to read. I recommended them to my kids and they are reading them to my Grandchildren so they are absolutely multi generational.

Just Wow.This author really knows her stuff.The story is written so beautifully. The writing alone is worth the read. Just how she uses words to convey a world, a feeling, building characters, etc. Amazing.This story has many lessons sprinkled within too. About love and sacrifice. That's what it's really about. Doing the right thing. Good vs Evil.I am likely going to read this story again soon. It's really that good.RECOMMENDED? YES. HIGHLY.

This was a really great read. It's about a boy who is separated from his twin When the twin dies. Kelly weaves the story of the love, loss, guilt by the boy, his mother and father. It's about a girl whose mother and father are perfect until the mother dies and her father changes. The boy and the girl are connected indirectly by the magic . The story is all weaved around the magic, where it came from and how it has impacted all of their lives.

I found The Witch's Boy to be a very pleasant read. The narrative flowed very well, the characters were interesting and distinct, and the perspectives of the two main characters seemed appropriate for their age. I believe the book is written for an audience of young readers, but it was also an enjoyable experience for someone who is almost a half-century old. There was magic and danger and love and loss. The characters changed as a result of their experiences, as did the nature of the relationships between them. There were very few surprises here, which may have been the author's intent given her audience. This is the only reason I did not give it a five-star review. The plot was fairly linear and predictable, and I think even a younger audience would have enjoyed an unexpected plot twist or two.

A lovely fairytale fantasy with very engaging characters. There were things about this world -- its geography and history, as they had bearing on the story -- that I didn't always quite get, but on the other hand their mystery added to the lyrical quality of the whole. This could skew younger or a little older, as I could imagine Ned and Aine as 10 as easily as I could imagine them as 15. Either way, and for young readers of any age, the book does not dumb down its underlying musings about power, corruption, love, and loss.My favorite characters were Sister Witch (Ned's mother, the witch of the title), and the Queen, who probably added the most humor -- something largely lacking otherwise.I received an Review Copy of this book via NetGalley.

This book has a beginning that is way too sad from my liking. In the beginning (spoiler alert!) Ned's twin brother drowns and Ned almost did too. Finding this a sad start I read on. Next we are introduced to a new family, Aine and her mother and father. It was going fine untill Aine's mother died. Then we're back to Ned. Ned's mother has magic and people call her sister witch. The queen was coming to Ned's village but she almost died for who knows what reason and Sister Witch had to save her. Using her magic comes at a cost of making her ill. After she saved the queen she was drawn to bed for two weeks with a consistant fever. After that, I put the book down and stopped reading it.I am sure things get better in the end but I didn't want to risk it. So overall, the book has a start too sad for my liking so I stopped reading however, the author is extremely talented for describing in great detail all of the characters and their personalities.

If you have imagination, romance and some of your childhood innocence left, you will love this exceptionally well written book. You’ll try to put it down but it cant be done!

A wonderful adventure, with characters to really care about, in a world brought to life in sumptuous detail. Magical. Highly recommended.

Great book ... my 11 year old loved this book!

Habe es sehr gerne gelesen und bin nun gespannt auf 'The girl who drank the moon'.Teilweise musste ich beim Lesen an 'Game of Thrones' denken. Ein Mädchen, das von seinem ursprünglichen Lebensort entfernt leben muss, ein Junge, der durch einen Unfall nicht mehr der selbe ist, von einem Wolf begleitet wird, der König, der hinter den Bergen, dem Ende der Welt lebt und von dort angreift. Schade, dass es das Buch auf deutsch (Zwillingsherz) nicht mehr gibt.