The Woven Path

The Woven Path is the first book in the compelling Wyrd Museum trilogy. All readers will be drawn in by the gripping storytelling of Robin Jarvis, where the fantastical elements combine with the seriously chilling. In a grimy alley in the East End of London stands the Wyrd Museum, cared for by the stranger Webster sisters and scene of even stranger events. Wandering through the museum, Neil Chapman, son of the new caretaker, discovers it is a sinister place crammed with secrets both dark and deadly. Forced to journey back to the past, he finds himself pitted against an ancient and terrifying evil, something which is growing stronger as it feeds on the destruction around it. Dare to enter the chilling and fantastical world of the Wyrd Museum in this first book of a compelling trilogy. From School Library Journal Gr 8 Up-Neil's father has accepted a live-in job as the caretaker of the Wyrd Museum, an old house full of strange and macabre objects that is owned by three elderly sisters who are as disconcerting and fearful as the exhibits. While roaming in the Special Collections Room, Neil encounters a talking teddy bear that blackmails him into traveling back to the Blitz in London in order to rescue his four-year-old brother, Josh, who had been tricked by the magical bear. As Neil and Ted maneuver around London, meeting American soldiers, local people, and even a German spy, a demon breaks loose from the museum into the past as well, and, suddenly, in order to save the future and change the past, they must recapture it. Jarvis tries to do too many things with this story and ends up not doing any of them well. Time-travel fantasy and family drama are mixed in with horror-the descriptions of those killed by the demon are very graphic-and a dose of Nordic mythology and sentimentality. Hints are dropped about the origins and identities of the museum's owners, but only readers with a background in mythology will understand the references to weaving that they make. The plot involving Josh is dropped almost completely until the book's end when he magically reappears, and making one of the female characters an ambitious German spy pushes the whole thing just too far over the edge. *Lisa Prolman, Greenfield Public Library, * Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Review For lovers of extravagant words and action charged with mystery and passion, Mr Jarvis must be hard to beat. TES * If you enjoyed the Deptford Mice trilogy, you'll love this magical new adventure. Young Telegraph Pag : 385