Greenwild by Pari Thomson

Open the door to a spellbinding world where the wilderness is alive and a deep magic rises from the earth itself . . .

Eleven-year-old Daisy Thistledown is on the run. Her mother has been keeping big, glittering secrets, and now she has vanished. Daisy knows it’s up to her to find Ma―but someone is hunting her across London. Someone determined to stop her from discovering the truth.

So when Daisy flees to safety through a mysterious hidden doorway, she can barely believe her eyes―she has stepped out of the city and into another world.

This is the Greenwild. Bursting with magic and full of amazing natural wonders, it seems too astonishing to be true. But not only is this land of green magic real, it holds the key to finding Daisy’s mother.

And someone wants to destroy it.

Daisy must band together with a botanical genius, a boy who can talk with animals, and a cat with an attitude to uncover the truth about who she really is. Only then can she channel the power that will change her whole world . . . and save the Greenwild itself.

Hardcover, 364 pages

Published June 6, 2023

 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

4/5 stars

Greenwild is a book I stumbled upon in the world of Instagram, purchasing a copy because I loved the cover...and the blurb. It is book one in a series with book 2 recently released entitled the City Beyond the Sea.

This middle grade fantasy isn’t for the faint of heart as it comes in with almost 400 pages. But it is very interesting and a read which I enjoyed. Eleven year old Daisy has been separated from her mother, in fact, she was told that her mother has died in a far away country. But Daisy knows something is up especially when she is followed and forced to go on the run. What follows next is a mysterious doorway, another world, magic and interesting characters. As Daisy becomes friends with kids with special abilities she begins to wonder what her mother has withheld from her.

Greenwild is a story of friendship and determination. It highlights the importance of the environment and taking care of it. This is a well written story with great world building and I am looking forward to reading the next book.

This book was part of my 2024 reading off my shelf challenge