Begone the Raggedy Witches

Begone the Raggedy Witches was going to be a hard one to beat as my favourite book of the year, and it wasn’t even officially released when I read it! It has the feel of a classic children’s book, with the evil queen and the hero’s quest and will sit well with others such as The Snow Queen, but is also part of a wonderful trend of excellent fantasy books for that 8-12 age range.

The action begins from the moment you open the book with Mup noticing the raggedy witches following them in the trees as they are returning from the hospital.

She has been told not to mention these to her mum, but to tell her aunt if she sees these, but there is a problem… Which I will not give away.

We follow Mup, her mum, little brother (who turns into a dog) in their search through Borough for her dad who has been abducted.

The search also uncovers who the family really are, with twists and turns throughout.

The world that Celine Kiernan conjurs with her writing is both terrific and terrifying in equal measures, with some wonderfully exciting action scenes supported by humour and emotional development of the characters.

I absolutely loved this book, it was so fast-paced that I read it in an evening and wanted more, and hopefully there will be more soon (I know it says it’s a trilogy but I want the others now!)

If I am ever in the position to vote for this book to win anything it will definitely get my vote.