Thorn Ogres of Hagwood: The Hagwood Trilogy, Book 1

The Hagwood Trilogy #1

by Robin Jarvis, Jenna Berk (Narrator)

Dark forces are brewing in Hagwood

The werlings of Hagwood live peacefully in the trees of the forest - overlooked and unbothered while they leisurely perfect the art of wergling (shape-changing). But unlike his fellow werlings, the bumbling Gamaliel Tumpin can’t manage to wergle into even the simplest of forms - a mouse - like his peers. He’s tormented by his sister, Kernella, and teased by his classmates. And he envies star student Finnen Lufkin, who can transform into almost any creature.

But wergling will soon be the least of Gamaliel’s troubles. The evil elf queen Rhiannon, the High Lady of the Hollow Hill, is desperately seeking a precious possession that was stolen long ago. Her evil knows no bounds, and with her army of monstrous thorn ogres, she will not stop until it’s found. The werlings’ peaceful existence is threatened by death and danger - and clumsy, awkward Gamaliel will need to call on the strength within him to fight for his family and his home.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, Fiction, Horror, Middle Grade, High Fantasy

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Robin Jarvis (born May 8, 1963) is a British children's novelist, who writes fantasy novels, often about anthropomorphic rodents and small mammals—especially mice—and Tudor times. A lot of his works are based in London, in and around Deptford and Greenwich where he used to live, or in Whitby.

His first novel—The Dark Portal, featuring the popular Deptford Mice—was the runner up for the Smarties book prize in 1989.

Reviews

[Nymphna]

Crudele, profondo, un libro per bambini (?) fin troppo sottovalutato e dimenticato. All'altezza delle aspettative. Scritto bene. 4.5.

[Ego Thurman]

One of the first books I ever read as a child. It encompasses everything I loved as a boy. It's creepy and has some great gory bits. Unfortunately Robin Jarvis has yet to write the promised sequel.

[Matylda]

Powiewa Hobbitem, jednak nie w ten sam sposób

[Charlotte]

Fab book really spooky but RJ never did the other books which was reallu diappointing. If it came out now id read it.

[K.D. Delgado]

I Absolutly LOVED this book growing up, and have held onto it as I have become a parent. Now my own daughter is reading it.

[Simon Pike]

This book seemed to show up randomly around my house recently, and it turned out to be a childhood read of my wife's that belonged to her grandparents and had somehow resurfaced. It's a fantasy tale with a fairy tale atmosphere, and its described visuals (as well as the book's illustrations) bring to mind Jim Henson movies and weird, 80's fantasy and fantasy horror.

Despite being an example of youth fiction, Thorn Ogres of Hagwood does not shy away from blood and brutality. The opening describes a fox coming to a sticky end, prominent characters are slain mercilessly (and being a child doesn't guarantee safety in this universe) and the final battle between the diminutive, sprite-like Werlings and the titular Thorn Ogres is absolutely brutal and quite the blood bath.

The thing is, I was very intrigued by the plot and the world, and I found myself legitimately interested in tracking down the other books in the series. The imagination on display here is impressive and the book's setting is quite fascinating.

Despite some occasional writing nit-picks (like often referring to the protagonist, Gamaliel, as "Kernella's brother" just because the author didn't want to write his name again too close to having done so already) I found the author's descriptive style enjoyable and evocative. I'll give it 4 stars!

I could really see this story told with puppets and practical effects similar to something like The Dark Crystal, or perhaps in an animated movie similar to the Ralph Bakshi Lord of the Rings adaptation. See what I mean when I said it was evocative?

[Liana]

Reading this book, you'd think that it'd be geared for children the way how the world building is and how plot is set. And it IS a great children's book, if you ignore the PG 13 violence it has. *Laughs* If you're familiar with the Warriors children series by Erin Hunter and the violence those books have, Thorn Ogres Of Hagwood is kind of like that, but maybe a little more frightening.

It's still a great book though. I very much enjoyed the classic 'woodland fantasy' feel that it has. :)

[Anya Bird]

I first read this as a young teen and decided to re-read it now around 17/18 years later. I loved it first time round and still really enjoyed it, although I think I had very high expectations due to my memory of it which were hard to fulfil. I liked the style it was written in, the narration was witty and I found myself caring about the characters quickly. Although it is dark, it is overall aimed as an older kids book but I still enjoyed it and will read the sequel soon!

[Susan]

There were some dark under tones but I found this to be adorable

[Webcowgirl]

I found this far too bloody and full of suffering for my tastes. Also the English is sloppy and overwrought

[Gavin Russell]

fun read

Easy good escapist bit of fun. Nice way to start the year. Somewhat predictable and no strong lead to create momentum.

[Alice]

Some interesting worldbuilding. A lot more gruesome than I was expecting. Not in a rush to read the next one; will probably pick it up later.

[Matthew Hodge]

Re-read in March 2018 (and now read to my boys in 2024).

Jarvis was my favourite author from my childhood days but I struggled to find time to read him once university, full-time work and toddlers took over. Almost as if he was waiting for me, he slowed down his output as well.

But suddenly, in the last five years, he has come back with a vengeance, cranking out the darkly brilliant Dancing Jax books for older teenagers and and his new series set in Whitby which has just come out (as at July 2016).

So feeling the need to step up my game a bit and start catching up, I went back to this book, one of the ones I didn't get to read when it came out, the first volume in the (still ongoing) Hagwood Trilogy. The first book was published years ago but went out of print rather quickly. (Sadly, a bit too common with some of Mr Jarvis' books.)

But now, more than a decade later, he has been able to revisit the Hagwood series in ebook form and so the trilogy has started to move on with a second book released and a third one on the way.

This first book introduces a fictional wood where a group of small creatures live called Werlings. Their specialty is being able to transform themselves into small animals.

Well, all except for one short, dumpy werling called Gamaliel, who just can't get the hang of it all ...

From its decepticely charming beginnings, the story very quickly escalates until it has just as much foul villainy, evil creatures, and tragic deaths of good characters as the other Jarvis classics like his Depftford and Whitby books.

Because of its length (it's one of the shortest of his books), I found it didn't have quite the character resonance of the others, but the big set-pieces - all delivered in Jarvis' trademark cinematic prose - are just as violent and high-stakes as always. And some of the ideas (especially the werling tree burials and the Frighty Aggie sequence) are brilliant. His ability to craft an entire world with its own mythology is still very much on display here.

Well and truly looking forward to Book 2.

[Mark Buxton]

My name is Gamaliel, and I can't even succeed at wergling into a mouse. Changing into different animals is the key to our survival, and I'm thankful that Finnen is trying to help me. No one can wergle better than him; it's almost unnatural. Later, I'd only heard stories about the High Lady, but Finnen took me along to secretly see her and her army of terrifying creatures. They really exist, and Frighty Aggie too! Frighty Aggie bit me and I almost died, but I think the poison has affected me in some strange way. Smith, the Pucca who saved me, told us about the High Lady's growing power, and he says he has a way to stop her. However, the death of Mufus has changed everything. Finnen has been exiled, and the other wergles don't believe the great danger that will soon befall them. I must do something to help my friend, and save my village.

Hopefully you won't mind animals as characters. This book is much better than I anticipated, and I'd like to read the next book in the trilogy. Gamaliel is just like other inept main characters who turn out to be heroes. He can't learn to wergle until his life depends on it, and then the results are very unexpected. Finnen's character had many of the same issues as Gamaliel, but he took a shortcut to help with his wergling. Now, he regrets the decision, and his secret makes him a reluctant hero. Strangely, Frighty Aggie, a fearsome creature of legend, takes an interest in him. The author kept a nice pace to the plot and included enough action to keep readers engaged. Besides several skirmishes, there are some larger fights with Frighty Aggie and the High Lady's secret army. The climax to the book is the battle with the army, and the wergles accidentally figure out a way overcome the overwhelming odds. I recommend you give this book a shot!

[Tom]

I found this buried in a dusty box of childrens books in St. Peter's church in the town of Sandwich in Kent. My copy is stamped with 'Ellington and Hereford School'. I'm pretty sure I read this in the distant past - the cover looks familiar anyhow.

This tale follows the exploits of Gamaliel, who is a wereling. This means he is able to shapeshift into a mouse or hedgehog or other small woodland creature. The story starts out with him learning how to morph for the very first time, but he is a denizen of Hagwood and soon he is csught up in all kinds of chaos!

I love Jarvis' use of language and creativity with worldbuilding and strange mutant creatures. This is aimed at older children and whilst the story isn't difficult there are numerous more challenging words, which I liked. Jarvis' is obviously someone who loves language, and gets satisfaction from the sounds and feel of certain words - the text abounds with maloderous, truncated, rancorous, ulcerous, putrid, cankerous... and that's just one chapter!

Also, he doesn't shy away from really revolting and disgusting descriptions, vile malicious characters and really horrid creatures. In fact he revels in the grotesque. I like that.

[Sleepingpeonies]

A very well handled YA fantasy with some beautiful, unique imagery, interesting characters and a well paced plot.

My favourite aspect was the world of the Hagwood, in which the book is set; it feels well-realised, and is very well drawn. Dark, and organic, and consciously revealed through plot rather than exposition.

The characters were fairly lightly drawn, but that is to be expected from a short book. They were given enough character to make me feel for them, to a degree, but I don't feel as though I plunged the depths of their psyches. But then, this isn't the sort of book in which I want to do that anyway.

Robin Jarvis has a lovely way with language. He often chooses words that feel right, and has a wonderful ability to evoke atmosphere though the look and sound of the words he opts for.

I did feel as though the book raced a bit. I found it well-paced for what it is, a YA book, but would have enjoyed more time lingering in the different areas of the world. I don't feel as though I know the world of the Hagwood intimately. Perhaps this is addressed in future books in the series.

All in all, an enjoyable adventure that I will return to in subsequent books.

[Edward Davies]

This should really be a four star, but I marked it down for taking so long to get the sequel published. I'm not sure if this was a matter of Jarvis suffering writer's block or of Puffin not agreeing to the sequels, but having read this when I was 21 (pretty old for a kids book), it left me a little peeved that the sequel only came out in 2013, and I don't know if I'll ever get around to reading it as apparently it is only available through print on demand!

[Virginia]

I really enjoyed this read a lot - interesting characters, involved plot and sub-plots are referenced - quite a bit of promise and depth here - but it is the first of a trilogy and was published in 1999 - the rest of the trilogy hasn't been published yet even though the author indicates on his site that he's written book two.

[Zheng]

This book has a really good plot with a fantastic character developement. For example, Frighty Aggie, who was a former werling master but later became a spider because she used a forbidden werling magic...the insect transformations.People of hagwood thinks that the high lady who ruled hagwood was a fair ruler, but she was the one that killed her father and blamed it on her brother.

[Louise Jones]

took me awhile to get into and had to reread it cos a lost it or found it at times slightly confusing took me longer than usual to get into a childrens bbook and at times found it interesting and at other times confusing i would like to know what happens to them in future books but believe very hard to get into

[Judith]

An enthralling story of adorable characters who encounter evil and terrifying adversaries they have to overcome to survive. I cannot wait to read more of the hagwood series and would thoroughly recommend this to children aged ten and above.

[Rose]

JF Jar

[Brittany]

A little bit weird but pretty good!

[Julia]

I'm gonna give this book a big solid meh....

[Bill Tillman]

Wow, very original like another Tolkien universe. Great story, plot and a real page turner.

[Kari Hughes]

Blah

[Josiah MacFarlane]

Creative, entertaining, and a fantastic read for someone looking for a lighthearted battle between good and evil. Balances tension, humor, and sheer creativity very well. 3.5

[Andrew Ayre]

Great young adult fiction for teens who like forestry-related fantasy and transformative elements.

[Sheila]

Quite good! Unique, with good character development and a good plot.

[Aelvana]

Gamaliel Tumpin is pudgy, clumsy, and terrified of taking the class that will teach him the secrets of his race. The werglings can change their form into birds and mammals, but Gamaliel is certain he won't do well. But the forest where they live borders a much darker wood, and it won't be long before the thorn ogres are unleashed on the land . . .

I liked this quite a bit, but I'm tempering my rating and enthusiasm based on the depressing fact that this is clearly setting up a sequel, which has had years to fail to materialize. So it's hard to recommend something that only resolves a small part of the bigger issue and doesn't work all that well as a standalone.

All of the characters are well-drawn, but I liked Finnen, an older student with precocious gifting, much better than any of the kids. In a way this book is really more Finnen's story, as he sees in his mentorship a chance to give Gamaliel what he lacked as a student, and possibly turn Gamaliel down a different road than the one he chose. And when his choices are revealed, and he has to bear the consequences, he still chooses the hero's path to combat the greater evil. Even if he has to do it all by himself. Where Gamaliel's character arc is retreading a familiar path, Finnen's isn't as clear, so it was a lot easier for me to get involved with Finnen's struggles.

Really, the lack of a sequel is the biggest downside. The world teases some interesting bits of magic and mystery, which would presumably reveal more later. Gamaliel and those who survived have drawn the ire of creatures much larger and more powerful---but like the thorn ogres, not without their weaknesses. And if the characters continued to mature and grow into their strengths, it could easily surpass this book. But again, this is just the beginning of a quest that never quite takes off. I rate this book Neutral.

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