A review by foggy_rosamund
Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones

3.0

A blend of sci-fi and fantasy, this is a complex novel with sophisticated ideas that doesn't quite hold all of its threads together. Ann wanders into the nearby copse and discovers it's actually a huge wood with weather all its own. There she meets the mysterious boy Hume and his guardian Mordian. Meanwhile, we learn of Hexwood, a dangerous machine that has been placed on earth by distant aliens. These two things are tied together somehow, but Ann doesn't have many of the puzzle pieces. It's hard to summarise this book without spoiling it, but it's an interesting web of mysteries, surprises and reveals. I enjoyed some of it very much, because Jones' realism and compelling narrative voice kept me hooked, but there are places where the story drags or doesn't entirely add up. There's so much in this story that these days it would probably have been published as a trilogy - the dense storytelling sometimes makes it very engaging, and sometimes means it's hard to care about or keep track of the characters. Interesting, but only for DWJ fans.