Review: Wish by Beth Bracken and Kay Fraser (Faerieground #1)

Title: Wish by Beth Bracken and Kay Fraser
Published: April 1st, 2013 by Capstone
Source: Provided by publisher for review
Format: Hardcover
Group age: Middle grade
Genre: Paranormal / Fantasy/ Fairies
Challenge(s): None
Grade rate: C+
                                                                                                                                                                         

Never wish in the woods.
With one wish made in Willow Forest, Soli and Lucy are pulled into Faerieground—and into the middle of an ancient battle. In the faerie kingdom, an evil queen searches for her daughter while the palace crumbles. To save her best friend, Soli must find her hidden strength.

This is a story about friendship, growing up, and the power of wishes. This is a story about faeries and spells, queens and lost princesses, fireflies and four-leaf clovers. But mostly, this is a story about love.

My Review

Wish: Faerieground is the first book on a series of four about Soli and Lucy.  I enjoyed it.

Lucy is light, while Soli is dark. They are thirteen, best friends and complete opposites.  They have played in the woods all their lives; it’s their secret shortcut, even though Lucy’s mom has warned them to not go there.  One day, Soli makes a wish that has rather big repercussions. 

Beautiful art!

This is the start of their adventure, as they encounter very different fates while in Faerieground.  These faeries are not the Tinker Bell type, they are quite scary and mean.  Especially Queen Calandra, she is awful.   

At the end, Lucy and Soli turned out to be good friends and look out for each other, trying hard to do everything possible to overcome the mess they got themselves into.  Kheelan is also a faery, but he seems to be a good one and he took an instant liking to Soli. Since the book is not lengthy, the characters were a little hard to get to know, mainly because we are told about them and their relationship, instead of shown, for instance by the use of flashback or dialogue.

Faerieground is really easy to read and it’s short.  In fact, I found it too short, but I understand that more is to come in the series.  The story is told from alternating points of view, in the first person from Lucy and Soli’s perspective.  The plot is simple and a bit predictable, but I’m eager to see what happens next. One of the best things about the book is the amazingly beautiful illustrations, like the one on the right. Overall, Wish: Faerieground is a short, entertaining read.

About the cover: The cover is really pretty, as are all the illustrations in the book.