School Library Journal Starred Review (Thu Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Gr 4–7— Henry often felt eclipsed by her father, a YouTuber famous for his daring (and sometimes illegal) adventures. When he goes missing in the woods on her 11th birthday, Henry's feelings are complicated. They become even more so when on the one-year anniversary of his disappearance, he emerges from the woods, rambling. Trying to understand what happened, Henry, now 12, goes into the woods and finds herself in another world: This Place, where lost things end up until they can find their way back home. As if This Place weren't strange enough, the inhabitants say it's getting stranger: white beasts have emerged at night, and the moon is missing. Henry must work with the people she meets there to try to fix things, and in doing so, she uncovers her own flaws alongside uncomfortable truths about her father. This novel isn't so much a story about loss as it is about what it means to be lost. Henry has no voice at home, and her metaphorical sense of loss leads her to experience it in a real way. As Henry learns more about her father, she understands that she can't stay silent about his choices, and staying silent about her own hurts both her and her new friends. The conclusion may leave readers wishing for more closure, but the rest of Henry's journey is deeply satisfying. VERDICT This is a story that will resonate with many readers, especially those who enjoy fantasy and coming-of-age stories.— Kristin Brynsvold

ALA Booklist (Mon Dec 09 00:00:00 CST 2024)

In the middle of Henry's twelfth birthday party, her wilderness-explorer father ssing for a year and presumed dead aggers into their midst, babbling incoherently. His unexpected return triggers what amounts to an existential crisis in Henry, who is filled with questions about why he left her and her mother for so long and what if he leaves again? Perhaps if she were a better, more adventurous, daughter (i.e., more like him) he'd be content to stay. It's the latter thought that leads Henry into Quinvandel Forest (the woods that had swallowed her father), and it's what sends her plummeting into a location that shouldn't exist: the Empty Place. Cole's eerie fantasy realm is a literal world for lost souls, and it's both a place of community and bewildering dangers. As Henry makes friends and endeavors to follow in her father's footsteps, she must confront truths about herself and her father to find her way out. Readers captivated by cerebral tales and dark fantasy will be drawn to Cole's latest, which, while heavy-handed in its metaphor, offers thought-provoking adventure.

Kirkus Reviews

A girl whose father disappeared in the woods for a year needs to know where he went-and whyHenrietta Lightfoot's father went missing while caving in a forest; he was creating content for his popular YouTube channel, "Discovery Joe." She isn't bold or outgoing like her dad, though-she loves the companionable silence she shares with her best friend, Ibtihaj, who's also the only person to call her by the name she prefers, Henry. At her 12th birthday party, exactly a year after his disappearance, Henry's dad appears, in terrible physical condition and saying things that make no sense. In the hospital, he directs Henry to look in his bag, where she finds his special gift for her: an exquisite necklace, wrapped in a map of Quinvandel, the forest where he vanished. Armed with the map, Henry sets off to retrace her dad's steps. She ends up in a land of the lost, where mysterious things happen. While some plot points feel underdeveloped, Cole's latest is infused with beautiful language that accentuates the somber tone. Introspective readers who are seeking a weighty, serious adventure of self-discovery will appreciate this work, in which individuals strive to overcome challenges as they seek their truths. Henry is white, and there's racial and ethnic diversity among the supporting cast.A solemn and compelling read.(Fiction. 8-12)