The Light Between Worlds

After saving the world, the heroes come back home, but they can’t get used to being back. This premise is brilliant; its execution, though, is not. The Light Between Worlds suffers from showing both too much and too little. Too much because if it hadn’t shown the Woodlands at all, my imagination would take over and fill in the blanks with adventure and danger and loss. Too little because what it did show of the Woodlands isn’t enough to explain why the siblings get so attached to it and so quickly. This is a crucial piece that didn’t work from me. Evie is desperate to go back, so bad that’s she’s severely depressed and even suicidal. I don’t understand why she loves it so much that she’s devastated when she comes to our world, when she comes home. I did love Philippa. She’s an amazing girl who’d do anything for her little sister. Her half of the book is beautiful, with her trying to figure out what happened to Evie while putting herself back together. The Woodland flashbacks were boring and bland. They don’t belong with everything else. There’s barely a story there, and it’s both predictable and disjointed. The book doesn’t need it and the would be better off without it. The present story is the way more interesting and the flashbacks only harm the sister’s characterization. However, the writing is stunning, and the character study is fascinating. With everything combined, it was just an okay book to me. I honestly feel like there’s a metaphor I’m not seeing and that’s why I don’t get it.