Note:
The title of this book has been translated into English by me for the
reading comprehension of this blog's viewers as the book itself isn't
available in English (yet). The original title reads In de machts van de wolfheks.
For once, the reason I'm revisiting this book is not because it's about wolves. I actually read this book only once before as a kid, and for whatever reason it left a huge impact on me. I thought it was genuinely one of the most exciting books I read back then. And I mean it when I say I was young. This was way before I got into Warriors at age twelve, for example. I think I was like nine or ten years old at the latest when I got into this.
Ah well, now that I managed to obtain a ridiculously cheap second-hand copy of the book (apparently it's not being published anymore these days) I can take a look at it. Does it hold up? Spoilers ahead.
A young boy named Michiel and his sickly sister Wendy are staying at a local farm, where they like exploring the woods. One day, Wendy vanishes when Michiel isn't looking for a moment, and in her place is instead now a she-wolf, who answers to the villainous Wolfwitch. A dwarf tells Michiel what happened: Wendy's soul has been taken by the Witch and her body has become the wolf. In order to defeat the witch and save Wendy before she turns into a wolf for good, Michiel must make a perilous journey to retrieve his sister's soul and get her back into her body on time.
Okay, so, obviously, this is a book for young kids. I'm generally not opposed to reading book for younger readers whatsoever; otherwise so many of my reviews wouldn't be the Erin Hunter books and other books aimed at early teenagers, right? But this one is definitely one of the books aimed at the youngest audience I've reviewed on here.
That said, it's still good. Of course, it's nowhere near as exciting and memorable now that I'm revisiting it as an adult. Back then it made a huge impact in me because I thought the Wolfwitch was genuinely scary, turning people into mindless wolves to do her killing like that, and trapping their souls in glass containers. And Michiel's journey made an impact on me, too, because he came across so many different fantastical creatures along his way.
Looking at it now, it's really nothing special, but I still had a lot of fun reading it. Of course the pacing is really fast with this being a thin children's book, so Michiel's journey feels like it's over in a jiffy, but it's still pretty memorable. I like how the moon seems to have an influence on some of the creatures he comes across on his journey, and how Michiel must use his logic and wit in order to defeat the Wolfwitch.
It doesn't shy away from being pretty gruesome, either. One of Michiel's tasks includes killing the wolf Wendy has turned into. Which, while having a good outcome, is still pretty dark because despite her now being a mindless beast, it's still his dear sister. The Witch also gets both of her eyes melted in a pretty gruesome way before being defeated. I mean, I know this is a Van Loon book and he likes including scary elements in his children's books, but it still caught me a bit by surprise.
So overall this is not really a great book for adults, but I definitely recommend it to kids as it left a huge impact on me as a kid for just how kind of scary it is. I never read the Goosebumps books as a kid because horror, even for kids, isn't my thing (or at least, wasn't back then. I'm currently not sure about my stance on the genre). But this book, despite mostly being just about a fantastical journey, does have some darker elements, which work.
I also just like the journey Michiel takes, although it's brief. He comes across some interesting beings on his way, such as a tree that can turn into a dwarf (or vice versa), a troll who likes to pay tricks on people and some light-beam-esque beings.
For children of the right age, I think this can be a fun and imaginative yet pretty intense read. Don't recommend it for the extremely squeamish, though.
Rating: 4/5
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