I have to say that when I first picked up 'The Various' around age ten, I found the book rather tedious despite my love of the subject matter - fairies, or 'the little people'. I, however, persisted, and made my way through 'Celandine', the prequel to 'The Various' and 'Winetr Wood'. I enjoyed 'Celandine' much more than 'The Various' yet failed to pick up a copy of 'Winter Wood' until sometime earlier this year. Having reread the first two books in the trilogy, I can now appreciate the near-flawless writing stlye, somewhat let down by the simple plot line. 'Celandine' still remains the best of the three by far, and, while 'Winter Wood' is also better than 'The Various', one feels it tries a little too hard to be mysterious and complex, focusing too much on the theme of reincarnation with a slight anticlimax followed by several tying of loose ends.Overall, I would recommed this book to slightly older readers than one would expect, so as the writing style can be properly appreciated. This is not to say I did not enjoy the trilogy - 'Celandine', at least, is a brilliant read - I just felt it could have been better. Nevertheless, I am sure many young girls will enjoy these books, rewarding the trilogy a four overall. Well, I finally finished this series. Book 3 was much like Book 1, which was not a good thing. If I could pick one word to describe it, besides disappointing, it would be tedious. It really could have been such a good series. It had such an interesting storyline, but it got lost in overly emphasizing it's descriptions of landscape, backdrop, and irrelevant detail, leaving the reading of it to feel tedious and bogged down. I longed to get to the real story, but it never took me back there. Just piled on the endless, useless descriptions and forgot all about the character development, the relationships, and the very unique plot; All being nearly non-existent until the last 50 or so pages (in a 1200 page series). And even then not enough was given of what really mattered - the connections between the family and the little folk, and the struggles of both. I really didn't care about page after page of descriptions of brambles and hedges, yards, houses, and train stations. I wanted the characters - to know them, to understand them. I wanted their story. And so here the trilogy just totally missed it's own possible brilliance. It is still an adventure story of sort, if you like backdrop detail. But, it could have been so much more. For all these reasons, and even though I liked book 2, I would be hard pressed to recommend it.
What do You think about Winter Wood (2008)?
Great story by Steve Augarde. Enjoyed the three stories in the series.
—Kaj
Wonderfully crafted conclusion to a beautiful and memorable trilogy!
—jano4ka777
Great story, loved the imagination put into it :)
—Ara82
