Turning, The

by Gillian Chan

A troubled 16 year old learns to deal with his anger as he investigates the strange and ancient mystery that lurks in the wood near his home.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

I am English by birth, Canadian by choice. I live in Dundas, Ontario, with my husband and sometimes my son (he goes to boarding school, and no, it's his choice, not because he is a bad boy!)

I love history, especially anything to do with Norse history and Vikings. Researching any of my historical novels is my idea of fun. I am currently researching the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 to write a book in Scholastic's I Am Canada series from the point of view of a young soldier from Winnipeg.

I also love fantasy and science fiction and still plan to write an epic fantasy based on Norse history and mythology with a few werebears thrown in. I did mention that I love Vikings, didn't I?

Reviews

[Magda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unsettling and unsatisfactory.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked out this book to read for English class in the ninth grade, and I bitterly regret this choice. The writing wasn't necessarily bad; it was the flat plot that made this book a chore to read. When I read the summary at the back of the book, I was intrigued at the possibilities of what the "ancient force in the woods" could be. The beginning of the book was a bit of a drag, but I continued on, waiting for the peak of the book, for something exciting to happen. Yet for me that never came. In my opinion, the execution of this book wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. The book seemed to drag on, and when I finally got to the end the first thing I thought t0 myself was "what just happened?" Honestly, the only good thing that came out of me reading this book was that I got a 97% on the essay I wrote about it.

[Dalia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t like this book at all I read the first page and thought. It was actually interesting being about a boy who is seeing supernatural shadows. Out in the middle of a forest but then discovers that someone or. Something is following him but it actually was really boring it had. No suspense or drama which are things I sometimes look for. In books but this book didn’t catch my attention and I would not recommend.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved this book up to the last few chapters. The final "battle" through to the end were disappointing. But a lot of the earlier bits of the book were really intriguing. I was planning to save it for my son in a few years, but now that I've got to the end, I decided to pass it on, instead.

[Joey Teal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gut wrenching and whimsical.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've come across a few other recent novels referencing the Green Man mythos -- is this a fad? It would be interesting if it were, as the Green Man was also popular in the 19th century. This story isn't otherwise particularly historical; it is set in the present and deals with specifically Northanglian folklore. For the rest it is a standard YA fantasy of blood specialness and contact with the supernatural realm. Overall it was pretty good, and would be a 4-star if it had about 40 more pages to flesh out the final third, which seemed needlessly rushed.

[Addison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grabbed this book from the library because it seemed like it would be a quick and interesting read so I was surprised by how much difficulty I had getting through it. The story seemed to drag on and on despite only being about 200 pages long.

This book was okay. It started out interesting, began to drag in the middle and was basically unraveled at the very end. Not really worth the time it took me to get through it.

[Goldie Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was really weird at first, but I ended up loving it and enjoying it.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very, very interesting book. Lots of magic and suspense.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent story that pulls its readers into a magical and completely believable world.