The Empty Place is the kind of magical adventure that pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Henry is such a relatable, brave protagonist—when her father mysteriously reappears after a year missing, you feel her frustration and determination to get real answers. Her journey into the eerie forest leads to a mind-bending world full of surprises, danger, and heart. It’s a story about loss, courage, and growing up, but also about hope and finding your way home in more ways than one. This book is perfect for kids (and adults!) who love getting lost in fantastical places with brave, unforgettable heroes.

It is more me than the book. Made a couple goes at it but the writing style made it a little difficult for me to enjoy or really just want to keep reading.

*** I will post my review on publication date 11/12/24 in my book blog***

From the Publisher: A powerful and imaginative story about a girl fighting to find her way back home from a mind-bending land of the lost.When Henry’s father goes missing in the forest on her tenth birthday, her entire world shatters. The last thing she expects is for him to emerge from the trees exactly one year later, unharmed and bearing a gift for her—a strange necklace. Everyone says her father’s reappearance is a miracle, but Henry wants real answers to her questions. Where did her father go? How did he get back? And what’s the truth behind his gift? Wearing the necklace and carrying only a simple map, Henry enters the same forest that swallowed her father. But beyond the trees, she finds a world more incredible and dangerous than she ever imagined. It’s a place for all who are lost, and there’s no clear method of escape. As Henry follows in her father’s footsteps and searches for a way home, she discovers that the truth she’s seeking isn’t as simple as she hoped, and if she wants to leave this world, she’ll have to be braver than she’s ever been.

My Thoughts:
This was such an interesting read! It was a sweet warm story exploring grief when losing someone, losing yourself in grief but also finding yourself. I loved the Alice in wonderland vibes in terms of how Henry finds her way to This Place or the group finds their way to Enola/Witch. The foresty background and secret people/town gave me the Wildwood vibe. The whole story felt like I was searching for myself in a maze. The writting was engaging and magical from the beginning and kept me hooked till the end!
I liked how the whole story was about Henry searching for herself, her exploring grief and anger towards her father and trying to handle these complex conflicting emotions. The description of the town, the places were so vivid! Every character from brave Wolfson, Ndidi to Angie was engaging. I also was liked the disorienting nature of magic in This Place. For example how Christopher changes his size, inside out animals or having two suns. At times it gave me a Neil Gaiman's story vibes, which are some of my favorites!

However, there were some ideas I would have liked to see more of. First, I wish besides Wolfson and Ndidi, the other characters were also flushed out in detail. I would have loved to know how Christopher and Emilia got lost and why. What happended to them in their real life? What about sweet warm Angie? Most importantly, I would have liked to know more of the back story of Henry's father and what was he looking for? I felt a little confused with his character-was he the type of person who was selfish about his own adventures and like ignorant youtubers with lack of respect or was he actually looking for something or had a good reason. We never saw his perspective. But it could be that the author wanted readers to feel confused as Henry does. The other thing I felt was that the book ended rather abruptly. Maybe I loved the world of This Place too much so it could just be me🤩 I was so much invested into the story: I wanted to see a conversation between Henry and her dad afterwards. But out of the blue it just ended 😭 I also felt the climax nearing the ending was too abrupt- from meeting the witch till Henry finding her way back. I think there is a lot of potential to make this book into a series! Finally I understand why the title is "Empty Place" as it reflects the story's main idea but I felt maybe it could have been mentioned more in the story instead of "This Place"? After finishing the story, I was confused by the title for a moment if I missed something 😂

Either way I loved the writing style by the writer, the lush descriptions that made me feel I was in This Place and the forest. Overall a great read. Thank you so much Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for the Kindle Arc! All opinions are my own.

This was a really interesting book. It bucks several standard Middle Grade tropes and mixes a lot of influences. Those choices don't always work but the book is never not intriguing. It's the kind of book I get lost in both story-wise and from a lit-analysis angle.