Janet Crane Barley (Children's Literature)
Makenna must flee for her life after her mother is killed by neighbors who have turned against their hedgewitch and healer. Makenna, who has been learning hedgewitchery from her mother, wreaks a thorough and unmagical vengeance by forcing open the gate to a dam and flooding her village. She lives as a bitter outcast bedeviled by mischievous goblins until she learns how to befriend them. She ends up as their valued leader as they flee fearfully from the humans who persecute them. The story abruptly shifts to Tobin's life. Tobin is a young and honorable knight who is mistakenly branded a traitor. After imprisonment and harsh trial, he is given the choice between living ever after in disgrace or taking the challenge of finding the dangerous sorceress who controls the goblins in Goblin Wood. How can he not accept this quest to help the Bright Ones fight the power of the Dark One? Will a knight, who is wise enough to realize that his knighthood is not so much an honor as a lifelong burden, be able to penetrate the magic? Readers will hate to put this fascinating book down until they find out the fates of Tobin and Makenna and the goblins. Ms. Bell, a reference librarian, has also written Songs of Power and A Matter of Profit, which was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. 2003, HarperCollins Children's Books, $16.99. Ages 10 to Adult.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2003 (Vol. 71, No. 7))
In an exciting fantasy, the author of Songs of Power (2000) and Matter of Profit (2001), creates a world at war, one in which the rulers of a theocracy attempt to exterminate a non-human race as well as those humans with magical powers who aren't priests. That's why 12-year-old Makenna watches her sorcerer mother's drowning on the order of the village priest. Filled with hatred, she escapes into the forest and organizes the goblins into a guerilla force, orchestrating their withdrawal behind a wall that separates the country's south from north. Meanwhile, Tobin, a young aristocrat from the south, is manipulated by the religious authorities and sent to trap Makenna and allow the priests' leaders to break the power of the goblins. As usual, Bell's story is complex, with several subplots, and a surprising, satisfying ending; likewise, the character development is exceptional: the humans are very real and understandable, while the goblins are convincing and sympathetic. This raises questions about the ethics of war, justifications for revenge, and motivations of human conduct. Strong, likable characters and the involving plot make this a surefire winner. 2003, Eos/HarperCollins, $16.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 13 up. Starred Review. © 2003 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ruth E. Cox (Library Media Connection, January 2004)
Today's world, where the un-commonalities amongst people are headline news, is reflected in Bell's artfully written fantasy tale of good vs. evil. After the villagers murder her mother, Makenna, a young hedgewitch, flees into the forest. Seeking revenge against the humans, she joins forces with the mischievous goblins that employ guerilla warfare tactics in an attempt to save themselves from extinction. Five years later Makenna leads the goblins in their final stand behind the great northern wall. At this point, the young dishonored knight Tobin arrives to clear his name by killing Makenna. The priests say she is the sorceress who keeps the Hierach from relocating the people of the Realm behind the wall to protect them from the quickly advancing barbarians. Tobin joins forces with Makenna and, in the end, chooses to follow her and the goblins into the Otherworld. But, not all of the goblins have given up the fight for their wood. For you see, "humans and goblins had shared the world since the beginning. It seemed a shame to let things change too much." On the surface this is a fast paced adventure with a feisty heroine, but it is so much more. Bell, through adept weaving of subplots, has written a stunning and sometimes stark tale of prejudice against and fear of those unlike ourselves in a world where learning to live together is imperative. Highly Recommended. 2003, HarperCollins, 294pp., $17.89 hc. Ages 11 to 16.

Janice M. Del Negro (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June 2003 (Vol. 56, No. 10))
Makenna is eleven years old when her mother, a hedgewitch, is drowned in the village pond as a result of the Decree of Bright Magic passed by the religious (and sorcerous) Hierarch. In revenge for her mother’s death, the girl floods the fields and houses of her former neighbors, after which she flees deep into the woods; there she encounters the goblins who are being driven from their homes by the decree. Five years later, Makenna is the general of an army of goblins that besieges settlers from the Hierarch, driving them from the wood. Concurrently, in the City of Steps, a mistakenly dishonored knight named Tobin is determined to clear himself. To that end he undertakes a task for Master Lazur, a leading Hierarch priest, intending to seek out and destroy the sorceress who bespells and enslaves the goblins harassing the settlers. Hedgewitch and knight race toward collision in Bell’s intricate fantasy. The goblins capture Tobin, and his imprisonment causes him to rethink all he has taken as truth. His prejudices against both girl and goblins fade when he is the recipient of their gruff kindness and witness to their loyalty and camaraderie. The roaring action here is supported by strong characterizations grounded in understandable (if not always laudable) motivations. Well-rounded main characters fight a morally complex villain over ethical issues of unusual nuance for this type of fast-paced adventure fantasy. The goblin characters are neatly rendered, and the contrast between their size and their heroism makes them truly memorable. The low-key potential romance between Tobin and Makenna in no way undercuts the tension or pace, and the final outcome is in question until the bittersweet conclusion. Readers who enjoy being swept up in intelligent action will leap right in. Review Code: R -- Recommended. (c) Copyright 2003, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2003, EOS/HarperCollins, 294p, $17.89 and $16.99. Grades 6-9.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Fall 2003)
Makenna, a hedgewitch, is allied with the goblins against human efforts to exterminate them. In a losing war, young Sir Tobin is wrongly arrested for treason; to redeem his name, Tobin agrees to capture or kill the "sorceress" leading the goblins. Makenna and Tobin meet; wits are matched. The addition of political motivations to a genre dominated by a good/evil dichotomy is a pleasing surprise. A rousing fantasy adventure. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2003, HarperCollins/Eos, 294pp, $16.99, $17.89. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Caitlin Augusta (VOYA, August 2003 (Vol. 26, No. 3))
Chaos reigns in the Realm of the Bright Gods, and twelve-year-old Makenna is caught in the conflict. Fleeing the village where government priests unfairly executed her mother as a sorceress, Makenna employs her brilliant tactical mind and her own minimal hedgewitch magic to survive. Watching the torment the priests inflict on magical creatures, Makenna vows revenge, enlisting the equally persecuted goblins for their array of enchantments. Five years later, Makenna's clan resides in the north, behind the highly fortified Goblin Wall where they fight to oust the encroaching settlers of the Realm. Determined to defeat the goblins, the government sends a knight, Tobin, to carry out a destructive mission, but Tobin's meeting with Makenna and the goblins forces both sides to alter their plans. Bell delivers an intricate fantasy starring the memorable Makenna and Tobin, and who can resist the fascinating idiosyncrasies of a hoard of goblins? On opposite sides of a war, Makenna and Tobin grapple with conflicting loyalties and make decisions that imbue the story with a natural momentum that makes for a tightly knit plot and enjoyable reading. As in her other books, Bell unflinchingly confronts the inevitability of human conflict, including death and despair, underscoring the honor and determination of the main characters and ensuring that the reader will stick with Makenna until the last page. Readers of Tamora Pierce's Wild Magic series or Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted (HarperCollins, 1997/VOYA August 1997) will want to add this book to their stacks. This title is strongly recommended for school and public libraries. PLB $17.89. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P M J (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003, HarperCollins, 320p, $16.99. Ages 11 to 15.