Prequels worry me - will I care, since I already know the end of the story? I needn't have worried here. In the opening scene, the Smith family is driving along a crumbling Pacific coast road in a rainstorm with a man tied up in the trunk of their car. Wilson tells a rich story, with mystery, adventure, and real good and evil. although which actions are right and wise is not always clear. I confess that I did go back to 100 Cupboards to remind myself who Hyacinth Smith would become, which also reminded me of details that put this prequel in context. However, if you haven't read 100 Cupboards, I recommend reading this book first, before you continue on into Wilson's compelling series.

With all the wickedness that any reader should come to expect from a book connected with the 100 Cupboards series, this book delivers on a great adventure with memorable characters, intense pacing, and moral conundrums galore. However, paramount to all of those wonderful qualities, N.D. Wilson's mastery of language is the most captivating aspect of this middle grade read. With descriptions so vivid that if it were possible to close your eyes and read at the same time, you could see the characters reaching out to touch you, this will leave readers enraptured. Middle grade fantasy rarely feels so rich and fully imagined. For readers that have already been introduced to the 100 Cupboards series, this will be like the perfect dessert after a very satisfying meal. For readers who are reading this as an introduction to the series to come after, this will certainly whet the appetite for more. Highly recommended.

I have been a fan of N.D. Wilson's writings since reading 100 Cupboards back in 2009. When I found out that he was writing a prequel to the 100 Cupboards series I could not wait to read it. But even if you have not read that series this book in a wonderful read. In fact I really hope this book is the first in a new series. This book opens with these words:

"Trees keep time the way time is meant to be kept.
They wrap the years around themselves in ringed layers,
expanding as the ages do. And when time forks,
so do the trees, stretching branches into cousin futures,
plunging roots into sister pasts, binding
every leaf into the one story, the only story.
The story that began. The story that cannot end,
because it can never stop growing."

This is a story about family, about bonds, about friendship, and about magic. In the vein of the Lord of the Rings, or better yet the Narnia Chronicles. Like C.S. Lewis, N.D. Wilson is going back and telling the origin story after the first three books were published, and like Lewis this origin story is packed full of adventure. One of the main focuses of the book is a powerful young woman named Hyacinth Smith. She can stop dogs in their tracks, she can grow plans, and she sees what others miss. Her father inherits a house from a distant relative. Everything starts to go sideways when they get to this house. For her great aunt has been playing with powers well beyond her control. She has collected a forest of trees that were struck by lightning and has used them to create doorways into other worlds.

When one of these doors open two boys tumble through, but so does a creature of great evil, the queen witch Nimiane. And the battle begins. Hyacinth, her brother, and the strange boys must find a way to stop the witch or she will not only destroy our world but all the worlds she can reach through the doors.

Like Wilson's other books this story has a great pace. Incredible characters, and a whole lot of adventure. I love the strong female character and cannot wait to read this book with my girls when they are a little older. I greatly enjoyed this book, and really hope that Wilson blesses us with more.

I was so excited to go back to the world of 100 cupboards! I loved the original series and hoped that this prequel would give some insight into the creation of the cupboards, what came before in the worlds that we previously visited, and a load of others from Wilson’s fantastical world. Unfortunately, this fell way short.
Hyacinth was a very flat character to me. I never got into her story and felt that it needed a stronger character for the lead. All of the other characters, obviously, fell quite flat as well. The action was there, but, it too, was highly muted. Most action tended to happen in the background or as an aside rather than the main characters blazing through difficult issues and conquering their fears.
All the answers that I was hoping to find were, for the most part, still left unanswered. The production of the doors was glimpsed, but never explained in any detail. I had wished that the “aunt” would have more to do with the story, and maybe even bring Hyacinth and her family into the creating, instead of pushing them away and leaving the reader with even more unanswered questions about her life. In the end, there was no connection with the future wall of cupboards that would have solidified this as a genuine prequel. It simply seemed like a mediocre adventure into the same fantasy world.