Fairy Oak
My first ever Tumblr review! It was kinda long for instagram, and I wanted to get started on here anyways, so here we are!
I'm just gonna start off by saying that I am a sucker for good worldbuilding. And this series, right after the Lord of the Rings, made me realize that. Seriously, though: you could build a perfect, amazing world and set there the most ugly, annoying story; I would still read and love the heck out of it.
Anyway, in this case not only the worldbuilding is amazing, but also the plot makes the series one of the best fantasy sagas I've ever read.
The author of this series is Elisabetta Gnone, mostly famous for writing the W.I.T.C.H. comics saga
One note before I start: I read the book in Italian, so some names and terms might not be accurate to the English translation (I think that Pervinca is called Lavander and Felì Feliz). I don't know if the people who are reading this are actually English or use another main language, so to avoid confusion I figured it would be better to keep the original Italian names/terms
THE STORY
For obvius reasons I'm not going to get into detail, I'm just giving a general idea of the plot.
The story is set in Fairy Oak, a village located in a valley in an unspecified part of the world. This village has something special: there live, in (almost) peace both magical creatures, such as fairies, witches and wizards, and non-magical creatures, humans. The books are told from the point of view of one of the fairies, Felì, who, like many others of her kind, works as the nanny of two youg twin girls who are set to become witches.
Now, there are two kinds of witches and wizards: those with the power of the Dark and those with the power of Light. Those powers are inherited through one's family. Everyone expects the twins, Vaniglia and Pervinca, to inherit the power of Light, like their mother and aunt before them. However, surprisingly, while Vaniglia indeed becomes a Light Witch, Pervinca inherits the power of Darkness.
In the same days, an ancient Enemy attaks the valley. He doesn't have a name, nor a face; all the villagers know is that He wants to destroy all the beauty of the valley, and for Darkness to prevail. In order to do that, He needs to separate the twins: He wants Pervinca to betray her sisters and turn her back to her family.
The main story is told trough the course of three books. In the same universe the author set five other standalone novels (plus one which should come out in autumn 2021), which focus more on side characters and are a little bit more lighthearted.
WHY I RECOMMEND IT
This is perfect for young kids who want an easy introduction to fantasy books. The plot structure is extremely simple, and yet the story that comes out is one of the most amazing I've ever read, one that I come back to every one in a while to fall back into that familiar, relaxing world.
Granted, it isn't perfect: there are a few bits where the plot does't flow as smoothly as it should; for example, side characters that in one book are Light Wizards become Dark Wizards in the next, bits where two people talk for half of a page and then they realize that four hours have passed... Things like that, which I realized only after reading the books a few times, and probably wouldn't bother a kid who reads them for the first time.
If the setting and the plot aren't interesting enough to tempt you, please take a look at the amazing illustration that I left throught the post, made by the amazing Alessia Martusciello. Every book has about 20 pages filled with those coloured illustrations, mostly not related to the plot, but just snapshots of the daily life in the village, family photos, the twins' magic lessons notebooks... Those alone are worth the price of the books!
(PS: here's the link to the website, where you can check out everything about the saga and more illustrations!)
