Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

Published: August 30th 2016 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it’s been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she’s about to embark on one to find the other.

But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she’ll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit–and with a liar by her side in a land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice’s wits (and every limb she’s got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself–and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.

Let’s start off by saying that the cover is GORGEOUS!!! I absolutely love it! I want a poster. Secondly, I really enjoyed this story. It took a while to get used to the writing style, but once you got there, it was a unique read and definitely one you would want to read over and over again! Mafi had no issues breaking the fourth wall (a drama term) and spoke directly to the reader outside of the story. I loved it!

Likes:

• The writing style. It was extremely unique! Sunlight, became Rainlight, and most things became the opposite of what they were in real life! I loved the fact that the author actually spoke to the reader directly and gave little insights here and there where you would normally either not get them at all or get them much later in the book! It was extremely well done and I definitely want more!
• The world. The world building was magical! I wanted to actually be there, even if Furthermore is pretty dang creepy! The descriptions were rich and full of life and I could have definitely said that the world was around me as I was reading!
• I loved Alice and her character growth throughout the book! She definitely had a hard time at home and pretty much everywhere she went because of the way she looked and because of the fact that her father went missing, but she learns throughout the book that it doesn’t matter what other people think. As long as she is happy with herself, it doesn’t matter if anyone else thinks differently. I loved the message that this sent especially because people are so often shamed about how they look etc! It sends a positive message across to the reader that they can look and be anyone they want to be and it doesn’t matter what anyone else says!
• The friendship growth between Oliver and Alice. Ugh, they were so cute! I just wanted to adopt them both. I’m so glad they managed to become friends because they are definitely cute together!

Dislikes:

• I don’t really have much to gripe about, but the ending was a little disappointing! It was wrapped up within a few pages and I felt like it was too abrupt. I wanted a little more out of the ending. After everything they went through, I think it would have been better had the ending been a little bit more challenging… because I’m mean and the characters need to face more life threatening situations!

All in all, I really enjoyed this book! I would love for this book to have a sequel – especially if we’re going to follow Alice’s surrender!! I have this book 4/5 stars!

Have you read this book yet? Did you enjoy it?

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