Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner - Ages 10+

Into The Woods
Book 1

What's the Story?

Storm, Aurora, and Anything Eden live in a decaying mansion on the edge of the wilds with their erstwhile father and indolent mother. When an accident leaves them orphaned and at the mercy of the sinister Dr. DeWilde, these three courageous and eccentric sisters are forced to flee into the woods, where they encounter kidnappers, sweets-filled orphanages, mountains of ice, diamond mines, and some ravenously hungry wolves.

Taking inspiration from numerous fairy tales and weaving them into a wholly original story, Into the Woods is a whirlwind of a novel, full of imaginative happenings and dastardly deeds.

What's the Buzz?

"...  although the book has three female characters as leads, it is a very boy-friendly book, from the adventure aspect of it all, along with the creepiness that sometimes rears its head. And there is fighting and explosions." - My Favourite Books

"It was so much fun to put all the pieces together and guess the fairytale being depicted. Especially to guess which character is from which tale. To fully appreciate the nuances of the plot I think you need a good knowledge of traditional fairy-tales." - Book Angel Booktopia

"Into the Woods could be classified as a fantasy family fiction and might be a good book for the animated film industry to consider." - Curled Up Kids

"...with Into the Woods, the magic just really didn’t seem to be there. The novel was too busy, trying too hard, too derivative, and, apparently for me, lacking that je ne sais quoi. That is, apparently, French for “an ending that isn’t so cheesy it makes me want to hurl.” - Too Cool For School Books

"This book, if it is about one thing in particular, is about the way in which an appetite, whether for sweets, stories, love or home, can send one off on adventures that lead, quite often, back to the place where the characters (and the reader) first started. There's a hint too, that this book may have a sequel - the words "The End" are followed by a question mark, and I'd be interested to see if Gardner could sustain the same intertextual mix for a sequel." - Scholar's Blog