Review of Willowmena's Quest

[Alexander C Schmoock]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Willowmena's Quest" by Sandra Rhea.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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Willowmena’s Quest by Sandra Rhea follows the adventures of a young and vibrant twelve-year-old girl in the Land of Bleak named Willowmena. The Land of the Bleak is one of the most desolate places; it’s dry, lifeless, and dangerous. Willowmena is a girl destined to be the light of the Land of the Bleak. Regardless of the fact that she doesn’t have many memories of her past except that her mother passed away at an early age, she remains on her quest to find her destiny and guide those that need her guidance. She meets and makes many friends along the way, which include the fairy princess of The Land Outside, the evil master’s former canine, and the young orphan prince named Oliver.

Many tasks and trials await Willowmena on this journey, but slowly and with the help of many of her friends, she tries to overcome them and lead those who have put their trust in her to a brighter place. Find out if she was successful in her attempts to overcome the challenges her journey presented. This book is divided into three parts, each detailing a specific journey or quest that Willowmena finds herself on.
 
The story is certainly a wholesome one. The characters were very expressive, and that impressed me a lot. Willowmena, in particular, was as precious as they come, and she would have you feeling some form of empathy for whatever she felt at every moment. The author’s description of the pasts of everyone Willowmena came across and befriended was certainly a good plus. You would get curious about the backgrounds of some of these characters and how they got to where they were. I also liked how there were unique and mythical ancient creatures added to the story, along with the generic witches that seem to be in every other fantasy novel. It was nice reading about the Nornae people and the Prairie dogs for a change rather than wizards and dragons, and frankly, I think other readers would appreciate that as well.
 
Something I didn’t quite appreciate while reading was how much the narrator over-explained things, especially in the first half of the book. I understand the book was written from a storyteller-to-listener perspective, but sometimes the narrator would state the obvious multiple times in the same chapter after the reader had already read that section. Though it didn’t happen much after the first part of the book, it’s something worth noting. Also, some of Willowmena’s quests had unrealistic outcomes for a twelve-year-old girl, but I guess it wouldn’t be a fantasy story without that. Other than the points in this paragraph, I have no other complaints about the book. It was professionally edited and a good read overall.
 
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. I would have removed a star because of the repetition of already apparent points in the first part of the book, which made that part of the story monotonous, but the fact that this is a children’s book and emphasis is vital to help children remember better, made me understand why the narrator had to repeat certain points. Willowmena’s Quest is a wholesome read with very expressive characters, and I enjoyed reading it.
 
On the audience the book is best suited for, I must say that it is best for children between the ages of seven and twelve. They will have a lot of fun reading this fantasy story.

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Willowmena's Quest
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[Ogechi Okonkwo]

This is an interesting and a fascinating review. I loved how you captured every aspect of the book. I did enjoy reading your review. This is an interesting one.

[Mhiz Vyi Vyan]

The zeal of Willowmena to fulfill her destiny is admirable. Nice review, well done.