fuonlyknew

Welcome to my stop on the tour for Root Bound (Emma and the Elementals Volume 1) by Tanya Karen Gough.  Root Bound is an upper Middle Grade fantasy adventure recommended for ages 10+. The tour is to run February 3-14 with reviews only.  Be sure to check out all the details and the tour schedule on the tour page.

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My Review

Root Bound took me down the rabbit hole. Or rather down the brownies burrow.

Imagine discovering mythical, magical beings, all shapes and sizes, living under our houses, under our cities.

That’s what Emma discovers when her father’s job lands them in yet another city, in a beaten down old apartment building.

Emma hears strange noises in the walls, shifting shadows, and voices in the vents. It’s as if the building is alive.

Something is, as she discovers when a pile of tiny brownies tumble from the vent grate onto her bed.

Thus begins Emma’s quest of discovery. Both worlds may lose their magic, the brownies need her help, and the answers she seeks about her mother lie at the center of the earth.

From the beginning, I knew Emma would encounter something in that building. It was such a delight that it was brownies. Then the author throws in a ruthless gang of girls who torment her daily at school, strange lights coming from under the weird ladies’ door down the hall, and the curious case of the little boy who can’t seem to go anywhere.

Root Bound is fantastical. Greek and Roman mythology are spread throughout the adventure, delighting you with the different magical beings.

The author nailed it while presenting the girls who bully Emma. I felt like I was back in school, wanting to shrink smaller and smaller, become invisible. Just so they’d leave me alone.

But Emma is no baby. She is a brave young girl, trying to help her new friends, find her own path, and get answers about the dreams she has of her mother.

This story reminded me a bit of The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland combined. If it were a movie, I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that Emma wakes up and it was all a dream.

Tanya has a beautiful imagination and has created an extraordinary world and beings and a strong heroine in Emma. It’ll be fun to see where she takes Emma next.

4 Stars

Synopsis

Root Bound is a fast-paced, action fantasy novel about a young girl finding her place in the world through a series of adventures involving magical creatures, and a journey to the centre of the earth. Root Bound is both a topsy-turvy riff on traditional literary children’s fantasy and an allegorical coming-of-age tale.

Emma and her father, a jazz musician, are always on the move, travelling from place to place as her father’s work demands. Their new home, however, is different. There’s a frightening woman who lives down the hall: she bears an uncanny resemblance to a witch. A mysterious light comes from her apartment, and a small boy seems to be trapped inside.

School in this town is no happy place either, with an odd principal and a gang of girls who make tormenting Emma their special project. And strangest of all is the fact that there seem to be brownies – basement brownies, in the air vent in her bedroom. They are searching for the Wanderer, a powerful being who can help free the Crown Prince of Under from the black magic prison that holds him. Emma travels through the brownie burrow to the valley of Hades to visit with the goddess Ceres, following a series of clues that lead her across the sea of memory to the centre of the world. There, on an inhospitable rock floating in a sea of steaming lava, Emma must find a way to free the prince, release her mother from the sea of memory, and restore magic to both the brownie burrow and the human world above.

About Author Tanya Karen Gough

Tanya Karen Gough owned and published The Poor Yorick Shakespeare Catalogue from 1997-2007, earning a strong international customer base of world class academics and high school educators.

Tanya was also a contributing editor for the Internet Shakespeare Editions at the University of Victoria (BC), audio advisor for the Sourcebooks Shakespeare textbook series, and theatre reviewer for Playshakespeare.com. Tanya grew up in New Hampshire and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.