Blogmas Book Review: Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi

GoodReads Summary:
Alice Alexis Queensmeadow 12 rates three things most important: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. Father disappeared from Ferenwood with only a ruler, almost three years ago. But she will have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is Oliver whose own magic is based in lies and deceit. Alice must first find herself—and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss.
Review:
Furthermore is the story of Alice finding adventure. She lives in the town of Ferenwood where color is everything. It’s a magical town, where the people care for the land and the land cares for the people. Alice’s father disappeared a few years ago and since then Alice’s life has only gotten worse. Her mother is not outright neglectful, but she’s certainly not super caring and attentive. So, Alice spend much time on her own. She loves her town of Ferenwood, but she longs for adventure.
When Oliver comes to her and asks her to help him, she refuses because when they were in school together, he said something mean about her and she doesn’t want to help him. She is also very focused on her Surrender, a presentation of abilities that the children of Ferenwood participate in. They can be tasked with something. Alice thinks this will be the adventure she’s been waiting for. But when her Surrender doesn’t go the way she’d hoped, she’s left with the possibility of helping Oliver.
The two set off on an adventure outside of Ferenwood. When the two leave is when the story really gets started. I don’t want to talk too much about what they’re actually trying to do because figuring out their journey is most of the fun of this story. I do want to talk about Alice and Oliver. Oliver grows and develops so much in this book and I loved it. He really learned some lessons and did his best to grow from those lessons and do better. I really enjoyed that we got to see that. Alice was so brave. She jumps into this adventure head first, with no regard for the things she doesn’t know. I adore Alice.
I also really enjoyed the magic. It wasn’t super clear what exactly the magic did aside from each person’s special ability. But once Alice and Oliver leave Ferenwood, we see different types of magic and it was fascinating to see all the different ways that magic was used in the place that they travel to.
Overall, I adored this book. I don’t know why I put off reading it for so long. I loved every page and I flew through the story. I loved Alice and eventually loved Oliver. I want more books set in this world please Tahereh Mafi, pretty please.

Keep on reading lovelies, Amanda.