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Walking the Tree
Botanica is an island, but almost all of the island is taken up by the Tree.
Little knowing how they came to be here, small communities live around the coast line. The Tree provides them shelter, kindling, medicine-and a place of legends, for there are ghosts within the trees who snatch children and the dying.
Lillah has come of age and is now ready to leave her community and walk the tree for five years, learning all Botanica has to teach her. Before setting off, Lillah is asked by the dying mother of a young boy to take him with her. In a country where a plague killed half the population, Morace will otherwise be killed in case he has the same disease. But can Lillah keep the boy's secret, or will she have to resort to breaking the oldest taboo on Botanica?
Little knowing how they came to be here, small communities live around the coast line. The Tree provides them shelter, kindling, medicine-and a place of legends, for there are ghosts within the trees who snatch children and the dying.
Lillah has come of age and is now ready to leave her community and walk the tree for five years, learning all Botanica has to teach her. Before setting off, Lillah is asked by the dying mother of a young boy to take him with her. In a country where a plague killed half the population, Morace will otherwise be killed in case he has the same disease. But can Lillah keep the boy's secret, or will she have to resort to breaking the oldest taboo on Botanica?
528 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2010
About the author
Kaaron Warren
147 books184 followersI wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and wrote my first proper short story at 14. I also wrote a novel that year, called “Skin Deep”‘, which I really need to type up.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 70 short stories, two short story collections and three novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 70 short stories, two short story collections and three novels.
I’m an avid and broad reader but I also like reality TV so don’t always expect intelligent conversation from me.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
July 17, 2010
When I first started reading this, I got pretty excited. The writing was spectacular, and I couldn't wait for Lillah to start exploring the other communities around the island. I thought it would be so interesting to read about the different traditions and habits in each community, and to a point it was, but not in the way that I wanted it to be.
It felt at times like the story skipped around a bit, almost to the point where I went back to see if I had skipped a page or something. It was a pretty fast moving, quick read, especially for it's size. By the time I finished, I wasn't quite as excited about the book as when I began, but I still liked it a lot. It was very imaginative and original, and I think it's only fault is that at some point in the story, things began to get a little tedious, and I found myself waiting for something to happen.
I really liked Lillah, but besides her and Morace, I had a hard time keeping any of the characters straight. I found most of the time when reading a name, I would assume the person was of a certain sex, only to find out I was wrong just about every time. The other characters came and went so often that I stopped trying to keep track of who was who and where they were from.
So, while this book did have some minor flaws, I would highly recommend it, and will be looking for more by this author. If you're looking for something completely different, with highly imaginative world-building, this book is for you.
It felt at times like the story skipped around a bit, almost to the point where I went back to see if I had skipped a page or something. It was a pretty fast moving, quick read, especially for it's size. By the time I finished, I wasn't quite as excited about the book as when I began, but I still liked it a lot. It was very imaginative and original, and I think it's only fault is that at some point in the story, things began to get a little tedious, and I found myself waiting for something to happen.
I really liked Lillah, but besides her and Morace, I had a hard time keeping any of the characters straight. I found most of the time when reading a name, I would assume the person was of a certain sex, only to find out I was wrong just about every time. The other characters came and went so often that I stopped trying to keep track of who was who and where they were from.
So, while this book did have some minor flaws, I would highly recommend it, and will be looking for more by this author. If you're looking for something completely different, with highly imaginative world-building, this book is for you.
July 17, 2022
It’s interesting to read something so openly Ursula LeGuin inspired. It’s a unique universe and style but the anthropological focus and lack of a conventional plot make it something of an oddity. In this, the journey is of learning and how experience and education can change a person. Conversely it is a book about traditions and social norms and how they can lead to stagnation. I wasn’t sure what to make of it until the last 20% when it started to come together.
A young woman, a teacher, in a community on what seems to be an alien world, goes on a journey with other teachers and a group of children. They visit primitive communities along what appears to be an absurdly large tree. Are they tiny? Why do the flora vary with each community? Why is each culture so unique? What is the mysterious illness they keep mentioning? It’s a sort of travelogue where each community brings a new learning experience and the main character grows and learns to ask questions herself. She becomes protective of a child, and begins to question some of the conventional wisdom.
It’s an interesting and socially insightful book. The ending answers some questions but leaves other open. Ultimately, I liked the poetic nature of the observations and the way it felt like Lillah’s growth and understanding of her world evolved as the mysteries were slowly revealed to the reader as well. Not for everyone but very nicely written and thoughtful gentle fantasy.
A young woman, a teacher, in a community on what seems to be an alien world, goes on a journey with other teachers and a group of children. They visit primitive communities along what appears to be an absurdly large tree. Are they tiny? Why do the flora vary with each community? Why is each culture so unique? What is the mysterious illness they keep mentioning? It’s a sort of travelogue where each community brings a new learning experience and the main character grows and learns to ask questions herself. She becomes protective of a child, and begins to question some of the conventional wisdom.
It’s an interesting and socially insightful book. The ending answers some questions but leaves other open. Ultimately, I liked the poetic nature of the observations and the way it felt like Lillah’s growth and understanding of her world evolved as the mysteries were slowly revealed to the reader as well. Not for everyone but very nicely written and thoughtful gentle fantasy.
February 3, 2013
I’m more than partial with the novel’s concept and therefore with the cover itself. Vegetation and the color green excite me. I admit I’m not an active outdoorsman, but I can’t help but smile whenever I see either –usually both – and what Greg Bridges here is very beautiful. Notice how incorporeal the Tree looks. Considering how the Tree affects the lives of the islanders and acts as the fundamental deity and central figure in the cumulative core of Botanica’s culture. I think this is more of a technical decision to allow more light and better contrast for the school. It still fits though, because ultimately the Tree is a god for the islander. And deities are more often than not incorporeal.
Review: What Kaaron Warren did with Slights – one of my top 2009 novels – applies here as well, if not twice as much. Warren wrote a story, which could not fit any genre, because it is bigger than any genre definition to hold it down. Warren couldn’t have written this novel. To it felt as if she planted seeds of ideas in ash from burnt pages and manure from leather, then watered it with ink and let the story grow roots. Then a stem. Then veins that wind around the reader, blossoms that digest his mind body, dissolve his mind and absorb his soul into its core. Walking the Tree is too organic to be called a story. Warren birthed a world as realistic as it is fantastical. Warren birthed life.
If by any chance there are faults in this book, I don’t think I would have spotted them – apart from minor pacing issues during the middle. My thoughts on the book will mostly consist of why Walking the Tree resonated so heavily with me, unlike any book in the past two or so years [I’m excluding Vandermeer’s Monstrous Creatures as it is a non-fiction collection].
Warren cross-pollinates a simple written language with complex and heavy laden information about the different settlements on the island, captured in vivid and potent imagery. The best examples are when Lillah maps every settlement on her map, summarizing her stay in a few, but well chosen words. In a sense, Lillah captures the essence of each place she visits and it were those tiny bits at the end of every visit – also acting as chapters – that made this all the more worthwhile of my time. Here are my favorite excerpts:
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: Jasmine smelling far too much, clever oiling from the flower, clever thinking brain using fear of spiderwebs, danger for those who have caught child.
Here, the Tree grows Jasmine, the leaves are dark and the Bark is oily.
---
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: the stories are true about these men; they are bred cool but dive for sea sponges. They say they tell true stories but is it truth to terrify us? Do we need to know such truth? And why do they want to steal what would be freely given?
Here, the Tree grows bitter fruit and rich, perfumed flowers. The leaves are pale green and huge, the Bark run through with more insects than I can count.
---
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: Pandana broken legs, fish so good you eat too much trap the teachers let them go.
Here, the Tree grows cruel pictures, awful babies and pawpaw. The leaves are blood red and the Bark weeps.
In this part of the review, I won’t speak about the worldbuilding, because I’ve too much to say there – probably more than it’s needed – so I’ll talk more about plot, pacing and the school as it travels around the Tree. Walking the Tree doesn’t have a plot per se or at least it has a string of short term goals, which is why I maintain my opinion that Kaaron Warren doesn’t write a fictitious tale, but documents real people and real occurrences. The beginning preoccupies the central character Lillah with preparations for her evaluation of whether she will or won’t be allowed to join the school as a teacher and walk the tree. This is where I fell in love with the prose, the direction of the story and effortless exposition of an entire world.
It’s during the actual journey, when I had small issues keeping my enthusiasm as strong as it was in the beginning – although I still loved it – and it had a lot to do with Lillah’s goal being largely to function as a trustworthy teacher, find a lover and continue her people’s tradition. I grew tired of the repetitive construction of these visits, even though they provided nuances to keep the reader’s interest. Here is the right moment to mention that Walking the Tree isn’t for everybody as it grows in every direction and then wander, always exploring and winding.
There are several spikes that jar the reader to attention. The sudden appearance of a ghost and the men in Douglas and rescuing Morace from receiving the treatment being just a few, but I did not detect any definite direction. Through the bulk of the school’s journey Walking the Tree functions more as a travelogue rather than as a novel, which isn’t fatal, but different. The transition to this state is natural and the switch from Lillah’s preparations to meet her Elders’ requirements as a teacher to Lillah’s journey – a journey for the sake of the journey as well as for soul searching – barely registers.
This sort-of aimless approach can be attributed to characterization as well. Walking the Tree features an extensive cast of main, secondary and episodic characters. I can’t say that what it’s a character driven – or plot driven – novel, since Warren manages to spotlight everybody, but does so only fleetingly. Only when their appearance’s important to Lillah’s growth, when they happen to be near her or when they are central to an unusual event. It’s a much more true to the story approach, but it also reduces characters to names on the page. Today’s market is pro character and character driven novels climb to the bestseller chart, so this touch-and-go merry go round can be off putting for some. Personally, I indulged in the worldbuilding.
Where Warren truly impressed me is how he crossed over from this nomadic fantasy into the territory of science fiction / post-apocalyptic as Lillah explores the inside of the Tree and then learns the true nature of it as well as of their whole island. This is a spoiler area, so I won’t be doing any sharing.
Review: What Kaaron Warren did with Slights – one of my top 2009 novels – applies here as well, if not twice as much. Warren wrote a story, which could not fit any genre, because it is bigger than any genre definition to hold it down. Warren couldn’t have written this novel. To it felt as if she planted seeds of ideas in ash from burnt pages and manure from leather, then watered it with ink and let the story grow roots. Then a stem. Then veins that wind around the reader, blossoms that digest his mind body, dissolve his mind and absorb his soul into its core. Walking the Tree is too organic to be called a story. Warren birthed a world as realistic as it is fantastical. Warren birthed life.
If by any chance there are faults in this book, I don’t think I would have spotted them – apart from minor pacing issues during the middle. My thoughts on the book will mostly consist of why Walking the Tree resonated so heavily with me, unlike any book in the past two or so years [I’m excluding Vandermeer’s Monstrous Creatures as it is a non-fiction collection].
Warren cross-pollinates a simple written language with complex and heavy laden information about the different settlements on the island, captured in vivid and potent imagery. The best examples are when Lillah maps every settlement on her map, summarizing her stay in a few, but well chosen words. In a sense, Lillah captures the essence of each place she visits and it were those tiny bits at the end of every visit – also acting as chapters – that made this all the more worthwhile of my time. Here are my favorite excerpts:
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: Jasmine smelling far too much, clever oiling from the flower, clever thinking brain using fear of spiderwebs, danger for those who have caught child.
Here, the Tree grows Jasmine, the leaves are dark and the Bark is oily.
---
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: the stories are true about these men; they are bred cool but dive for sea sponges. They say they tell true stories but is it truth to terrify us? Do we need to know such truth? And why do they want to steal what would be freely given?
Here, the Tree grows bitter fruit and rich, perfumed flowers. The leaves are pale green and huge, the Bark run through with more insects than I can count.
---
In her mapping, Lillah told the Tree: Pandana broken legs, fish so good you eat too much trap the teachers let them go.
Here, the Tree grows cruel pictures, awful babies and pawpaw. The leaves are blood red and the Bark weeps.
In this part of the review, I won’t speak about the worldbuilding, because I’ve too much to say there – probably more than it’s needed – so I’ll talk more about plot, pacing and the school as it travels around the Tree. Walking the Tree doesn’t have a plot per se or at least it has a string of short term goals, which is why I maintain my opinion that Kaaron Warren doesn’t write a fictitious tale, but documents real people and real occurrences. The beginning preoccupies the central character Lillah with preparations for her evaluation of whether she will or won’t be allowed to join the school as a teacher and walk the tree. This is where I fell in love with the prose, the direction of the story and effortless exposition of an entire world.
It’s during the actual journey, when I had small issues keeping my enthusiasm as strong as it was in the beginning – although I still loved it – and it had a lot to do with Lillah’s goal being largely to function as a trustworthy teacher, find a lover and continue her people’s tradition. I grew tired of the repetitive construction of these visits, even though they provided nuances to keep the reader’s interest. Here is the right moment to mention that Walking the Tree isn’t for everybody as it grows in every direction and then wander, always exploring and winding.
There are several spikes that jar the reader to attention. The sudden appearance of a ghost and the men in Douglas and rescuing Morace from receiving the treatment being just a few, but I did not detect any definite direction. Through the bulk of the school’s journey Walking the Tree functions more as a travelogue rather than as a novel, which isn’t fatal, but different. The transition to this state is natural and the switch from Lillah’s preparations to meet her Elders’ requirements as a teacher to Lillah’s journey – a journey for the sake of the journey as well as for soul searching – barely registers.
This sort-of aimless approach can be attributed to characterization as well. Walking the Tree features an extensive cast of main, secondary and episodic characters. I can’t say that what it’s a character driven – or plot driven – novel, since Warren manages to spotlight everybody, but does so only fleetingly. Only when their appearance’s important to Lillah’s growth, when they happen to be near her or when they are central to an unusual event. It’s a much more true to the story approach, but it also reduces characters to names on the page. Today’s market is pro character and character driven novels climb to the bestseller chart, so this touch-and-go merry go round can be off putting for some. Personally, I indulged in the worldbuilding.
Where Warren truly impressed me is how he crossed over from this nomadic fantasy into the territory of science fiction / post-apocalyptic as Lillah explores the inside of the Tree and then learns the true nature of it as well as of their whole island. This is a spoiler area, so I won’t be doing any sharing.
March 5, 2012
I’ve heard a lot about the publisher, Angry Robot, spoken of with enthusiasm and maybe a little awe by the likes of Alisa Krasnostein of Twelfth Planet Press and Tasmanian writer, Tansy Rayner Roberts. I had no idea Walking the Tree was an Angry Robot book, so I was killed two curiosity-birds with one e-purchase. The main reason for the purchase was to find out more about Kaaron Warren, who was also spoken of with much admiration.
Walking the Tree tells of a group of women who chosen to be ‘teachers’, who take a group of kids from their home village of Ombu on a pilgrimage around their island home, Botanica. The women are seeking other communities in which to settle and bear children (doing so within their own communities is taboo, because they are too closely related to the menfolk). The children go to learn about their world and the different societies that inhabit it. We see the journey mainly through the eyes of Lillah.
It took a little while to get my head around Walking the Tree. I definitely liked the writing style and the ideas. The world of Botanica was intricately built, both in its people and in the societies that lived around the girth of the giant tree that swallowed up the middle of the island. And when I say ‘giant’, I mean that the characters who go on the traditional pilgrimage around the tree know it will take five years to do so.
Five years. That’s one big-ass tree.
It took a little while to warm to the voice Warren use to tell the story. It has a quality of fable about it, like a very old fashioned fairy tale or Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia. The story didn’t unfold the way I expected it to, either. I’ve was expected an adventure story, following Lillah’s journey of self-discovery, perhaps. And it’s not that there isn’t one of those. But while Lillah seems to be at the centre of the story, she’s actually just the eyes through which we see the centre. Which is the tree and all the societies around it.
And about half way through the book, I got it. The purpose of the story is not to unravel and delve into the person of Lillah – it’s to unravel the world.
Walking the Tree is not one woman’s ‘adventure’. It’s more like a modern Chaucer’s Tales or The Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s a science fiction fable.
The quality of the writing and the vividly drawn world kept me involved even when I wasn’t sure what kind of story I was reading. And once I cottoned on, well, the whole book crystallised for me.
Kaaren Warren, in taking us on this pilgrimage around the tree, shows us intricate layers of ideas and meaning about women, relationships, belief and society. Each society has different attitudes to the tree, to men and women, to the ocean and to death, creating a fabulous well that Lillah and the other pilgrims can dip into to unravel the ways that humanity is still, well, very human.
The characters are more than archetypes, though they are less individual, perhaps, than the world they inhabit. Lillah and her young charge, Morace, are intriguing and able guides to the world.
I’m glad I found a way to look at the book that clicked for me. It took my enjoyment of the prose to another level, to enjoy the entire spirit of the book.
Walking the Tree tells of a group of women who chosen to be ‘teachers’, who take a group of kids from their home village of Ombu on a pilgrimage around their island home, Botanica. The women are seeking other communities in which to settle and bear children (doing so within their own communities is taboo, because they are too closely related to the menfolk). The children go to learn about their world and the different societies that inhabit it. We see the journey mainly through the eyes of Lillah.
It took a little while to get my head around Walking the Tree. I definitely liked the writing style and the ideas. The world of Botanica was intricately built, both in its people and in the societies that lived around the girth of the giant tree that swallowed up the middle of the island. And when I say ‘giant’, I mean that the characters who go on the traditional pilgrimage around the tree know it will take five years to do so.
Five years. That’s one big-ass tree.
It took a little while to warm to the voice Warren use to tell the story. It has a quality of fable about it, like a very old fashioned fairy tale or Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia. The story didn’t unfold the way I expected it to, either. I’ve was expected an adventure story, following Lillah’s journey of self-discovery, perhaps. And it’s not that there isn’t one of those. But while Lillah seems to be at the centre of the story, she’s actually just the eyes through which we see the centre. Which is the tree and all the societies around it.
And about half way through the book, I got it. The purpose of the story is not to unravel and delve into the person of Lillah – it’s to unravel the world.
Walking the Tree is not one woman’s ‘adventure’. It’s more like a modern Chaucer’s Tales or The Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s a science fiction fable.
The quality of the writing and the vividly drawn world kept me involved even when I wasn’t sure what kind of story I was reading. And once I cottoned on, well, the whole book crystallised for me.
Kaaren Warren, in taking us on this pilgrimage around the tree, shows us intricate layers of ideas and meaning about women, relationships, belief and society. Each society has different attitudes to the tree, to men and women, to the ocean and to death, creating a fabulous well that Lillah and the other pilgrims can dip into to unravel the ways that humanity is still, well, very human.
The characters are more than archetypes, though they are less individual, perhaps, than the world they inhabit. Lillah and her young charge, Morace, are intriguing and able guides to the world.
I’m glad I found a way to look at the book that clicked for me. It took my enjoyment of the prose to another level, to enjoy the entire spirit of the book.
May 29, 2010
Island fantasy? Sorry, I don't think so. This isn't fantasy, it's the story of a life after a devastating plague. A group of survivors come to an island to rebuild a simpler life, living off the land and the enormous tree at the heart of the island. When the young women reach 18 they leave home to walk to the tree to find a husband and have children. Having children is at the heart of this culture, as well as a deep fear of the disease that devastated humanity. The story follows Lillah on her journey around the island.
I found Walking the Tree to be like a study in Anthropology. The humans living on the island are separated by some distance and form their own individual cultures. As the characters come upon each Order they learn about the customs and lifestyle of its citizens. All of this was fascinating, but it did seem to go on and on. At times I felt unclear about the story's main plot.
By the time the climax was revealed the story had lost its steam. I give it 3 stars. I did enjoy reading most of it, but somewhere along the line it fizzled.
I found Walking the Tree to be like a study in Anthropology. The humans living on the island are separated by some distance and form their own individual cultures. As the characters come upon each Order they learn about the customs and lifestyle of its citizens. All of this was fascinating, but it did seem to go on and on. At times I felt unclear about the story's main plot.
By the time the climax was revealed the story had lost its steam. I give it 3 stars. I did enjoy reading most of it, but somewhere along the line it fizzled.
December 1, 2012
File this under: partially read.
In one way it's a fascinating book: there's an interesting world, which we get to see a lot of due to the fact that the characters are travelling through the whole of it. You build up your picture of the world gradually, adding little details with every stop the characters make. And there's an interesting permissiveness about it, too: the travelling girls are expected and encouraged to have sex, some of it casual, and settle where they wish to -- or not, if they don't wish to. Sex is a natural part of their world, neither stigmatised nor made too much of: the girls are eager to find out about it, what it's like, but they don't worry too much about it (for the most part, anyway).
In another way, I never got close to the characters or the cultures they passed through because it was so episodic, because they stopped in each place only briefly. I felt like the narrative did that with the characters as much as the characters did that with the world, if that makes sense. I didn't really feel like I got to know anyone, not even Lillah, who is apparently the main character.
Interesting concepts, but... a bit meh. This review is a good one if you want to read about the book in more depth: here, at Strange Horizons.
In one way it's a fascinating book: there's an interesting world, which we get to see a lot of due to the fact that the characters are travelling through the whole of it. You build up your picture of the world gradually, adding little details with every stop the characters make. And there's an interesting permissiveness about it, too: the travelling girls are expected and encouraged to have sex, some of it casual, and settle where they wish to -- or not, if they don't wish to. Sex is a natural part of their world, neither stigmatised nor made too much of: the girls are eager to find out about it, what it's like, but they don't worry too much about it (for the most part, anyway).
In another way, I never got close to the characters or the cultures they passed through because it was so episodic, because they stopped in each place only briefly. I felt like the narrative did that with the characters as much as the characters did that with the world, if that makes sense. I didn't really feel like I got to know anyone, not even Lillah, who is apparently the main character.
Interesting concepts, but... a bit meh. This review is a good one if you want to read about the book in more depth: here, at Strange Horizons.
Shelved as 'xx-dnf-skim-reference'
September 22, 2020A lot in here. I notice none of the other reviews note that it's also a feminist manifesto, and a commentary on living closer to the earth. Intelligent teen girls are probably more likely to love it. I found the writing style painfully awkward, and the fantasy vibe awkward, and I wish the cast of characters was at the beginning. Maybe in another mood I'd like it anyway, but another problem for me is that it looks, at p. 110, that it's going to get darker and slower throughout the middle. So I read a bit towards the end, and the note (spoilery, but in a good way imo) about the island afterwards.
April 14, 2012
3.5 - 4 stars.
I loved the worldbuilding in this book. I loved the different communities, different mythologies of the Tree, the hints to a past that is our future. I found Lillah to be an interesting character. I was hoping for some big climax, some twist or turn of plot to give it extra zing but as another reviewer has said this is not that kind of book. I waver between 3.5 and 4 stars because I loved the setting and many of the ideas, but I wanted a little more from the plot.
I loved the worldbuilding in this book. I loved the different communities, different mythologies of the Tree, the hints to a past that is our future. I found Lillah to be an interesting character. I was hoping for some big climax, some twist or turn of plot to give it extra zing but as another reviewer has said this is not that kind of book. I waver between 3.5 and 4 stars because I loved the setting and many of the ideas, but I wanted a little more from the plot.
August 7, 2021
This is currently free with the audible plus membership.
I originally picked this up because the title made me think of someone putting a collar and leash on a tree and taking it for a walk, but instead of wheels on the pot, the roots worked as legs, kinda like an octopus. It was adorable.
That's not what the book is about, though.
There isn't really a story to this book, other than to explore the world and learn to know it. The whole book is world-building, practically. It had a lot of characters and names and places, all with different customs or individual versions of the same customs.
It was interesting from an author standpoint to read this and see how they explored the world. Almost like a ''master class'' or something one would read in a class. Both about world building, but also about the ''hero's journey''.
Because this book reminded me a lot of some ''classic'' fantasy books out there, where the whole plot is following the MC as - usually - he goes around exploring the world and growing until he's ready to fight the bad guy. That was the case with this book here, but the MC is a girl and she sets out on a journey to discover sex - I just loved that idea of it!
It's a very long book, and considering the general lack of plot and storyline, I'm surprised to have found it as interesting as I did. Part of that may be the author in me, part of it may be the book was actually good in a very original and seldom seen way.
It did drag a little toward the end, feeling like it tried to repeat some things that didn't need repeating.
The language is good.
All of this said, note that I added it to my sci-fi shelf, not fantasy, for there aren't any really fantastical elements to it.
I originally picked this up because the title made me think of someone putting a collar and leash on a tree and taking it for a walk, but instead of wheels on the pot, the roots worked as legs, kinda like an octopus. It was adorable.
That's not what the book is about, though.
There isn't really a story to this book, other than to explore the world and learn to know it. The whole book is world-building, practically. It had a lot of characters and names and places, all with different customs or individual versions of the same customs.
It was interesting from an author standpoint to read this and see how they explored the world. Almost like a ''master class'' or something one would read in a class. Both about world building, but also about the ''hero's journey''.
Because this book reminded me a lot of some ''classic'' fantasy books out there, where the whole plot is following the MC as - usually - he goes around exploring the world and growing until he's ready to fight the bad guy. That was the case with this book here, but the MC is a girl and she sets out on a journey to discover sex - I just loved that idea of it!
It's a very long book, and considering the general lack of plot and storyline, I'm surprised to have found it as interesting as I did. Part of that may be the author in me, part of it may be the book was actually good in a very original and seldom seen way.
It did drag a little toward the end, feeling like it tried to repeat some things that didn't need repeating.
The language is good.
All of this said, note that I added it to my sci-fi shelf, not fantasy, for there aren't any really fantastical elements to it.
June 15, 2010
Walking The Tree provides a sense of mystery as each visit to the various communities provides another insight into those who live on the island. The different communities are known as Orders, and each have their own flavour of food that comes from the Tree in that particular location. The Aloe Order makes perfume from the jasmine plants that grow there; the Pinon Order use nuts from the Tree to use as oil or flavouring in their food, and hang their “treated” people from trees; the Sequoia Order were fearful of the sea monsters as some of their community were taken; the ocean had its own effect on many of the Orders where some appreciated the fish and crabs it provided, and the taking of humans who ventured out upon it.
Spikes is the plague that wiped out three-quarters of the population a hundred years before, and each of the Orders have strict methods of keeping disease out of their communities. Any person suspected of having Spikes is ‘treated’, along with whomever is close to them: companion, friend, family. This ensures that Spikes does not reoccur and contaminate the remainder of the population.
Each of the Orders has a Tale-Teller to tell stories of their version of creation, life and superstitions at their location next to the Tree. This provides an insight into the local culture for visiting Schools. As Lillah and her School make their way around the Tree, they encounter good and bad Orders. Lillah promised to make a map of her journey after each encounter with the Orders, commenting on culture and food.
Every visit to a new Order provides another answer in the survival of the Teachers and the children of the School. With the different attitudes toward death, sex and the Tree, Lillah is kept thinking about her own beliefs. Each answer to her questions only fuels more questions that she strives to learn more.
There is an interesting contrast between the people who live in the tribal communities and those who live in the Tree. Those outside the Tree believe there are ‘ghosts’ who inhabit the inner workings of the Tree, and sometimes the ‘dead-but-walking’ venture outside the Tree. To go into further explanation about the Tree dwellers might be construed as spoilers, so I’ll stop now.
For a fantasy, Ms Warren’s attention to detail in her world building is well done. She balances description between the island Botanica, the Tree and the people while focusing the majority of the story on Lillah. It is Lillah’s quest to find her place through her observations and experiences during the five year walk around the Tree. Throughout her journey, complex human issues are explored in relation to the Tree and these are integral to understanding Lillah and her relationships with her friends, Morace and the people in the communities.
A nice touch at the end of the book were the notes Ms Warren made on how she developed Botanica and the story. There were aspects in her notes that should have been in the novel to assist the reader in understanding the story in more detail.
At the end of the story there is an online link to read a novella about Morace, Lillah’s half-brother, and his account of the walking around the Tree. I found this to be a great accompaniment to this interesting novel.
I found this book to be entertaining, though slow in spots due to lack of further development in certain of the Orders. This is my interpretation, and others who read this book may find it exactly to their liking.
Spikes is the plague that wiped out three-quarters of the population a hundred years before, and each of the Orders have strict methods of keeping disease out of their communities. Any person suspected of having Spikes is ‘treated’, along with whomever is close to them: companion, friend, family. This ensures that Spikes does not reoccur and contaminate the remainder of the population.
Each of the Orders has a Tale-Teller to tell stories of their version of creation, life and superstitions at their location next to the Tree. This provides an insight into the local culture for visiting Schools. As Lillah and her School make their way around the Tree, they encounter good and bad Orders. Lillah promised to make a map of her journey after each encounter with the Orders, commenting on culture and food.
Every visit to a new Order provides another answer in the survival of the Teachers and the children of the School. With the different attitudes toward death, sex and the Tree, Lillah is kept thinking about her own beliefs. Each answer to her questions only fuels more questions that she strives to learn more.
There is an interesting contrast between the people who live in the tribal communities and those who live in the Tree. Those outside the Tree believe there are ‘ghosts’ who inhabit the inner workings of the Tree, and sometimes the ‘dead-but-walking’ venture outside the Tree. To go into further explanation about the Tree dwellers might be construed as spoilers, so I’ll stop now.
For a fantasy, Ms Warren’s attention to detail in her world building is well done. She balances description between the island Botanica, the Tree and the people while focusing the majority of the story on Lillah. It is Lillah’s quest to find her place through her observations and experiences during the five year walk around the Tree. Throughout her journey, complex human issues are explored in relation to the Tree and these are integral to understanding Lillah and her relationships with her friends, Morace and the people in the communities.
A nice touch at the end of the book were the notes Ms Warren made on how she developed Botanica and the story. There were aspects in her notes that should have been in the novel to assist the reader in understanding the story in more detail.
At the end of the story there is an online link to read a novella about Morace, Lillah’s half-brother, and his account of the walking around the Tree. I found this to be a great accompaniment to this interesting novel.
I found this book to be entertaining, though slow in spots due to lack of further development in certain of the Orders. This is my interpretation, and others who read this book may find it exactly to their liking.
June 25, 2011
Lillah lives on the island of Botanica and the island is the tree and life revolves around the tree. Now she has come of age and it is her turn to walk around the tree. She sets off on a journey to explore and to learn all that the island has to teach her but at the last minute is talked into taking a small boy with her. But if anybody even suspects that he is carrying a deadly disease then both of their lives could be in danger. Being ill on Botanica is a punishable offence.Punishable by death.
Imagine if somebody wrote a new version of Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree for Adults
and you probably will come up with something like this. It is a highly imaginative and often erotic affair, it's like a wonderful new world in a book. It takes you for an amazing adventure around the island, meeting lots of strange and scary people.
If you like your stories to be imaginative and a form of escape then you would probably love this book. Kaaron Warren creates an impressive and believeable new world full of secrets. In Botanica women have the power ! They are free to travel around the island to their hearts content and can more or less sleep with as many men as they like while the men are stuck in one place doing all the work ! The book also is a tale about different cultures actually living separate but mostly peaceful lives without the threat of war.
I loved the whole idea and this is my kind of book. Perhaps the plot was a bit thin ( some may say non existant) but I enjoyed travelling around this strange and quirky land. A land that is alien but yet strangely familiar.
8/10
Imagine if somebody wrote a new version of Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree for Adults
and you probably will come up with something like this. It is a highly imaginative and often erotic affair, it's like a wonderful new world in a book. It takes you for an amazing adventure around the island, meeting lots of strange and scary people.
If you like your stories to be imaginative and a form of escape then you would probably love this book. Kaaron Warren creates an impressive and believeable new world full of secrets. In Botanica women have the power ! They are free to travel around the island to their hearts content and can more or less sleep with as many men as they like while the men are stuck in one place doing all the work ! The book also is a tale about different cultures actually living separate but mostly peaceful lives without the threat of war.
I loved the whole idea and this is my kind of book. Perhaps the plot was a bit thin ( some may say non existant) but I enjoyed travelling around this strange and quirky land. A land that is alien but yet strangely familiar.
8/10
November 19, 2011
This book is about culture, difference and tolerance. Lillah, one of five teachers, is a young woman who takes a group of children aged around 10 on a 5 year journey around the island of Botanica which is dominated entirely by 'the tree'. On her walk she encounters villages which have beliefs sometimes similar and sometimes strange. During the walk some teachers leave to stay in other villages and new teachers join the group. It is this that staves off interbreeding amongst the small populations of the villages. Also it teaches tolerance and new skills to teachers and children alike. Lillah is different as she has to protect a young boy who is thought to be sick and sickness is anathema to the people of Botanica.
I read this in one day. Kaaron writes a fast paced story with characters you love and hate. The whole premise is different and exciting and Lillah grows throughout the book, having a fascination with learning. The other teachers and the variations in culture that she identifies, their behaviour and the reaction of Lillah's group is facinating.
Well worth a read. Now to decide which of Kaaron's novels I buy next.
PS Kaaron signed my book - and if you read this - I'm walking strong :-)
I read this in one day. Kaaron writes a fast paced story with characters you love and hate. The whole premise is different and exciting and Lillah grows throughout the book, having a fascination with learning. The other teachers and the variations in culture that she identifies, their behaviour and the reaction of Lillah's group is facinating.
Well worth a read. Now to decide which of Kaaron's novels I buy next.
PS Kaaron signed my book - and if you read this - I'm walking strong :-)
April 16, 2015
There is so much to love about this novel. The premise alone was enough to hook me:
A tribe lives in the shadow of a giant tree. After training for a series of trials and tests, a group of young women are chosen to circumnavigate the base of the tree. It's a huge responsibility because they'll be taking the tribal children with them and the journey back to where they set out from takes five years. Everything learned along the way will form the children's education.
Ace idea, right? Who or what will they encounter along the way? Will they all make it home?
The story buzzes with mystery right from the outset and all the way through I was wracking my brain to try and work out the book's secrets before I reached the end. All I can tell you is that I didn't manage it and I was glad not to. I read the book on holiday; first book I've been able to read 'properly' for many, many months. The fantasy and wonder Warren conjures contributed to making my time away an absolute joy.
I'm a sucker for trees and the human relationship with nature, so Walking the Tree was right up my street. A lot of Fantasy, a little SF and an ocean possibility; a truly delightful book.
A tribe lives in the shadow of a giant tree. After training for a series of trials and tests, a group of young women are chosen to circumnavigate the base of the tree. It's a huge responsibility because they'll be taking the tribal children with them and the journey back to where they set out from takes five years. Everything learned along the way will form the children's education.
Ace idea, right? Who or what will they encounter along the way? Will they all make it home?
The story buzzes with mystery right from the outset and all the way through I was wracking my brain to try and work out the book's secrets before I reached the end. All I can tell you is that I didn't manage it and I was glad not to. I read the book on holiday; first book I've been able to read 'properly' for many, many months. The fantasy and wonder Warren conjures contributed to making my time away an absolute joy.
I'm a sucker for trees and the human relationship with nature, so Walking the Tree was right up my street. A lot of Fantasy, a little SF and an ocean possibility; a truly delightful book.
August 14, 2011
What a wonderful gift from my hubby - to be able to spend all afternoon on the couch, reading. And what a wonderful gift from Warren and Angry Robot.
'Walking the Tree' is a strange and beautiful book with a complicated, likeable protagonist to keep us company on our journey across the colourful patchwork of her world.
The theme of travel as education, as vital experience, made me yearn momentarily for plains not quite so boundless; for a country not QUITE so girt-by-sea, which sometimes insulates us against cultural difference.
But the book also cautions that journeys are not without hazards. There is often a price to pay.
Although I found the beginning a little slow (start walking already!!) and the large cast/names of all the different Orders initially daunting, I'm horrified to think what I would have missed out on if I hadn't read to the end. 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5. Huzzah!
'Walking the Tree' is a strange and beautiful book with a complicated, likeable protagonist to keep us company on our journey across the colourful patchwork of her world.
The theme of travel as education, as vital experience, made me yearn momentarily for plains not quite so boundless; for a country not QUITE so girt-by-sea, which sometimes insulates us against cultural difference.
But the book also cautions that journeys are not without hazards. There is often a price to pay.
Although I found the beginning a little slow (start walking already!!) and the large cast/names of all the different Orders initially daunting, I'm horrified to think what I would have missed out on if I hadn't read to the end. 4 1/2 stars, rounded up to 5. Huzzah!
August 24, 2011
Warren has the most incredible ability to draw the reader into a story - what looks like the simplest, plainest language folds itself around the characters and the story, subtle and beautiful and crafted in the most wonderful, brilliant way; the art is so subtle, so thoroughly ingrained that you simply never notice just how extraordinary it is... you just fall into the story, and stay there, and wake from it with great puzzlement (and sadness) that it is transient, that it can be over, and there is no more.
That aside: a beautiful, dynamic, constantly surprising story. Her heroines are by no means the most likeable around; they are however interesting - real, vibrant, flawed people - real women, but somehow without all the baggage saying that usually implies. A wonderfully crafted, wonderfully realised vision of an alien and intriguing world, and those who must live in and of it. Thoroughly recommended on every level.
That aside: a beautiful, dynamic, constantly surprising story. Her heroines are by no means the most likeable around; they are however interesting - real, vibrant, flawed people - real women, but somehow without all the baggage saying that usually implies. A wonderfully crafted, wonderfully realised vision of an alien and intriguing world, and those who must live in and of it. Thoroughly recommended on every level.
February 3, 2011
I picked up this book in the fantasy section of my local bookseller. The title and cover caught my eye, and with nothing further to recommend it to me, I started reading. Ms. Warren has crafted a totally believable world in Botanica, and populated it with folks experiencing real life issues. Her social structure and narrative detail offer fascinating insights into a world that might be. I literally read from cover to cover without stopping.
November 4, 2010
Lillah lives on Botanica, an island where life, society and culture is dominated by the giant Tree. She has come of age and is about to embark on her journey around the Tree as a teacher. Walking the Tree is the story of Botanica as seen through Lillah’s experiences.
Read the full review here: http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot....
Read the full review here: http://templelibraryreviews.blogspot....
May 10, 2015
I have been looking for the title of this book for forever! Just happened upon it in Author Joseph D'Lacey's "read" list! I loved this book so much! It's a story of another place & time & family, friends, & coming of age. Wish I could find more like this!
March 6, 2020
Walking the Tree is less a traditional novel with an arc structure, than as a story about stories. The journey is one of discovering the stories that build cultures, and following then Beck to they're roots to discover how history becomes myth. It has the bones of a Bildungsroman, as well, but the growth is almost hidden by the choppy timeline and glacial pace.
There are also overtones of the hero's journey, especially in terms of facing fears as a tool of growth, but there is none of the action that usually entails. The only antagonists are fear, ignorance, and deception.
It's an interesting book, with fascinating world building, but in the end feels somehow half finished.
There are also overtones of the hero's journey, especially in terms of facing fears as a tool of growth, but there is none of the action that usually entails. The only antagonists are fear, ignorance, and deception.
It's an interesting book, with fascinating world building, but in the end feels somehow half finished.
October 3, 2020
Funny that. The cover is so dark and depressing and echoes elements that run through the book - so I applaud the coherence. But the dark and depressing also weighed the book down so that, to me, it never shone. Fascinating concept, well executed, but I was always on alert and never felt settled nor especially happy. I honestly think if the cover tree was beautiful beyond compare, magical, drew you in, the book would have also felt lighter.
July 6, 2017
Readers of Walking the Tree enter a beautifully imagined, entrancing, and vivid world. Conceptually provocative and brilliantly constructed, Warren's attention to social and cultural structures is as precise as an anthropologist's lens. This vibrant world of engaging characters accomplishes much with an insightful narrative that's part hero's quest, part coming of age story.
July 24, 2017
To me it reads as if it were the end of year assignment for a creative writing student. A tick box exercise that fails to engage.
June 3, 2020
What an incredible world Kaaron Warren built. I loved this tale!
March 23, 2021
Loved the cover and concept, but the telling was flat.
June 19, 2021
I just couldn't stop reading this. The author really understands human nature.
August 29, 2017
I liked the lead character, Lillah, and a couple of the others, such as her family members, but so many of the characters were just unlikeable; alot of mean-spirited or downright terrible, people. This made it difficult to like the story more than I did, and there were things about it I did like - their trip around their island and the tree internally, for example. I keep thinking about the book, and how I enjoyed it as I was reading it, but in the end, I just couldn't get invested into people who seemed rather dull, not too bright and with no drive to basically, evolve.
July 7, 2014
Review at: http://bennitheblog.com/bookbiters/wa...
Walking the Tree, despite some insights into the more horrific sides of human nature, does not belong to the horror genre, nor is it plot-driven. In Kaaron Warren’s first book, Slights—one of my favorite horror reads—you’re given puzzle pieces that you’re not even sure belong in the same puzzle, until they come together in the end as a chilling portrait, revealing the dark depths of a truly damaged soul. Walking the Tree, on the other hand, is less about the end reveal as it is about the journey.
Lillah’s primary goals are exploring Botanica’s communities, finding her mother, and protecting her half-brother. It is the exploration that drives the narrative. The group of teachers walk from community to community to hear their stories, learn their trade, and experience potential mates.
The most plot-driven element is Lillah’s promise to protect Morace, to prevent him from being “treated” for his illness, and her decision to deliver him to Gulfweed, Rhizo’s home community, for safe-keeping. This storyline mostly faded into the background during the lengthy journey, only to be abruptly resurrected and resolved. With such minimal investment, I almost wish this book eschewed that storyline altogether and embraced its roots as a science fiction travelogue.
That is because, as a science fiction travelogue, Walking the Tree truly flourishes. The worldbuilding is lush, exquisite, and hypnotizing. It’s rare that a non-plot-driven book can be such a page-turner; each community was so fascinating that I could not wait to see the next.
Anthropology and folklore are part of Kaaron Warren’s storytelling DNA the way nightmares are part of David Lynch’s storytelling DNA. My conscious mind reminds me that Walking the Tree is fiction, but my subconscious mind knows Botanica is real. If you’re tired of plot-heavy books that disappoint you, immerse yourself in the world of Walking the Tree Tree instead.
Review at: http://bennitheblog.com/bookbiters/wa...
Walking the Tree, despite some insights into the more horrific sides of human nature, does not belong to the horror genre, nor is it plot-driven. In Kaaron Warren’s first book, Slights—one of my favorite horror reads—you’re given puzzle pieces that you’re not even sure belong in the same puzzle, until they come together in the end as a chilling portrait, revealing the dark depths of a truly damaged soul. Walking the Tree, on the other hand, is less about the end reveal as it is about the journey.
Lillah’s primary goals are exploring Botanica’s communities, finding her mother, and protecting her half-brother. It is the exploration that drives the narrative. The group of teachers walk from community to community to hear their stories, learn their trade, and experience potential mates.
The most plot-driven element is Lillah’s promise to protect Morace, to prevent him from being “treated” for his illness, and her decision to deliver him to Gulfweed, Rhizo’s home community, for safe-keeping. This storyline mostly faded into the background during the lengthy journey, only to be abruptly resurrected and resolved. With such minimal investment, I almost wish this book eschewed that storyline altogether and embraced its roots as a science fiction travelogue.
That is because, as a science fiction travelogue, Walking the Tree truly flourishes. The worldbuilding is lush, exquisite, and hypnotizing. It’s rare that a non-plot-driven book can be such a page-turner; each community was so fascinating that I could not wait to see the next.
Anthropology and folklore are part of Kaaron Warren’s storytelling DNA the way nightmares are part of David Lynch’s storytelling DNA. My conscious mind reminds me that Walking the Tree is fiction, but my subconscious mind knows Botanica is real. If you’re tired of plot-heavy books that disappoint you, immerse yourself in the world of Walking the Tree Tree instead.
Review at: http://bennitheblog.com/bookbiters/wa...
June 30, 2012
3.5 stars
I was sent this novel as part of a review package for Angry Robot and was particularly interested in this book because it was written by an Australian author.
Walking The Tree is a fantasy novel set on the island of Botanica, where the tree is the centre of life. On the island, when the women become of age, the ‘best’ are selected to be teachers to walk the tree with the children, it’s a five year trek. During the walk, they stay with various communities learning their customs, beliefs and attitudes towards the tree, which has a god-like presence on the island. The purpose of the walk for the teachers, is to find a mate and a community that they wish to start a family in.
The protagonist Lillah, is chosen as a teacher along with her friends Melia and Thea. But just before she sets off on her journey, she finds out she has a half-brother, young Morace who will be accompanying her on the walk. His mother is sick and asks Lillah to protect him. Illness is not tolerated on the island and he may be killed if he is believed to be sick like his mother.
Walking The Tree is both fascinating and bizarre at times. But what Kaaron Warren does so well is creating a vivid fantasy world that can be visualised by the reader. The novel focuses on the world and the concepts of spirituality rather than on plot or character development. Essentially, there’s not much happening at various times of the book, but as a reader I enjoyed following Lillah on her journey through the communities and wondered what was next in store for her. I particularly found fascinating the various belief systems of the communities and their differing views on birth, death, illness and relationships.
It’s a length novel at 488 pages but I read it quite quickly. Despite the slow-paced storyline I was completely absorbed in Lillah’s experience. Walking The Tree is a really unique fantasy novel with intense world-building and an intriguing exploration of culture and social structures.
I was sent this novel as part of a review package for Angry Robot and was particularly interested in this book because it was written by an Australian author.
Walking The Tree is a fantasy novel set on the island of Botanica, where the tree is the centre of life. On the island, when the women become of age, the ‘best’ are selected to be teachers to walk the tree with the children, it’s a five year trek. During the walk, they stay with various communities learning their customs, beliefs and attitudes towards the tree, which has a god-like presence on the island. The purpose of the walk for the teachers, is to find a mate and a community that they wish to start a family in.
The protagonist Lillah, is chosen as a teacher along with her friends Melia and Thea. But just before she sets off on her journey, she finds out she has a half-brother, young Morace who will be accompanying her on the walk. His mother is sick and asks Lillah to protect him. Illness is not tolerated on the island and he may be killed if he is believed to be sick like his mother.
Walking The Tree is both fascinating and bizarre at times. But what Kaaron Warren does so well is creating a vivid fantasy world that can be visualised by the reader. The novel focuses on the world and the concepts of spirituality rather than on plot or character development. Essentially, there’s not much happening at various times of the book, but as a reader I enjoyed following Lillah on her journey through the communities and wondered what was next in store for her. I particularly found fascinating the various belief systems of the communities and their differing views on birth, death, illness and relationships.
It’s a length novel at 488 pages but I read it quite quickly. Despite the slow-paced storyline I was completely absorbed in Lillah’s experience. Walking The Tree is a really unique fantasy novel with intense world-building and an intriguing exploration of culture and social structures.
April 10, 2011
I normally read a book within 48-72 hours; it took me a whole 2 weeks. The concept was original but the story fell flat, the book was about a society who had a biological epidemic and with the last survivors, they moved away from the major cities and settled on an island and with a giant tree.
They called it Botanica and recreated a new society. Resident Evil meets The Time Machine and Epidemic. The population was small so they came up with this tradition/plan to procreate, by creating these groups of females called “Teachers” and they would take a 5 year journey around the tree “teaching the group of students that went with them and having sex” This would avoid incest and repopulate the island, they could settle and get married with other tribes but could not marry within their own tribe. They were allowed to come back pregnant but if they came back not pregnant, they were not allowed to have children or get married they were selected for other duties within the tribe.
This is the story in a whole the journey which had potential almost after the first encounter with other tribes, than it fell flat. I struggled to get through the last 3 chapters only because a sub-culture was introduced because they were on that island for so long, a subculture was created, “Hybrid Human” something like the time machine but not violent and did not eat human flesh. So trust me it was boring and I learned about the hybrids in the last chapters they didn’t go into much detail and the author could have really made this book be a page-turner. I felt something was missing the character where missing depth and I didn't feel even as a fantasy/science-fiction book I was absorb in the book as if the author included me in the story or if a story-teller or narrator pulls you in.
They called it Botanica and recreated a new society. Resident Evil meets The Time Machine and Epidemic. The population was small so they came up with this tradition/plan to procreate, by creating these groups of females called “Teachers” and they would take a 5 year journey around the tree “teaching the group of students that went with them and having sex” This would avoid incest and repopulate the island, they could settle and get married with other tribes but could not marry within their own tribe. They were allowed to come back pregnant but if they came back not pregnant, they were not allowed to have children or get married they were selected for other duties within the tribe.
This is the story in a whole the journey which had potential almost after the first encounter with other tribes, than it fell flat. I struggled to get through the last 3 chapters only because a sub-culture was introduced because they were on that island for so long, a subculture was created, “Hybrid Human” something like the time machine but not violent and did not eat human flesh. So trust me it was boring and I learned about the hybrids in the last chapters they didn’t go into much detail and the author could have really made this book be a page-turner. I felt something was missing the character where missing depth and I didn't feel even as a fantasy/science-fiction book I was absorb in the book as if the author included me in the story or if a story-teller or narrator pulls you in.
April 20, 2012
Walking the Tree is the story of Lilah, a young woman who is chosen by her village to be a 'teacher', one of the young women who will lead a 'school' of children around the vast tree that is their home on the Island of Botanica. Only women may be teachers and usually, they will stop in a far distant village to marry and raise children. Lilah is not like the others, however. She has a secret to protect and the danger will drive her off the traditional path and force her to face her fears...
If you are a fan of crystal-clear fantasy worlds that have been created with the utmost of love and attention, then this is the book for you. Every village has its own beliefs, customs, skills and specialities. The things these people 'take for granted' such as the tradition of sending their young women away to find a mate elsewhere and keeping their men at home - these things are all so unusual yet completely accepted within Botanica's individual societies.
Because of the attention to detail, I found this book a slightly heavier read than some I am used to. It is much more an exploration of a unique society and world than a plot based adventure. That is not to say that it is without adventure, simply that the world takes precedence over character development and relationships. I did not always agree with the central character, Lilah, and occasionally, she actually annoyed me, yet I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know what was inside the tree, what the truth about Botanica really was.
Ultimately, my conclusion was that 'Walking the Tree' is a very unusual read but is the sort of world that sticks in your mind long after the characters fade away. Worth a read if you want to be transported for a while.
If you are a fan of crystal-clear fantasy worlds that have been created with the utmost of love and attention, then this is the book for you. Every village has its own beliefs, customs, skills and specialities. The things these people 'take for granted' such as the tradition of sending their young women away to find a mate elsewhere and keeping their men at home - these things are all so unusual yet completely accepted within Botanica's individual societies.
Because of the attention to detail, I found this book a slightly heavier read than some I am used to. It is much more an exploration of a unique society and world than a plot based adventure. That is not to say that it is without adventure, simply that the world takes precedence over character development and relationships. I did not always agree with the central character, Lilah, and occasionally, she actually annoyed me, yet I couldn't put the book down because I wanted to know what was inside the tree, what the truth about Botanica really was.
Ultimately, my conclusion was that 'Walking the Tree' is a very unusual read but is the sort of world that sticks in your mind long after the characters fade away. Worth a read if you want to be transported for a while.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews