_The Thickety: A Path Begins_ by J. A. White

The title and cover of this book grabbed my son's attention at the library. It kind of looked similar to The Luck Uglies. We were both interested. 

I cannot overstate the following:

I'm SO THANKFUL I read it first.

What is marketed to younger readers simply shouldn't be. It's too darned scary. Folks, only if you want to send your child down a dark, dark path should you place this book in his hands. I'm not joking. Nightmares.

The main character is Kara who, at age 6, witnessed her mother's last twitchings after being hung because of being a witch. That's at the beginning of the book, and it goes downhill from there.

Kara endures many trials and tribulations on account of her magic and witchcraft. Unlike Harry Potter who has friends and hope and where there's a clear right and wrong and good and evil, Kara is simply doomed. The reader is uncertain about what is right or wrong and who is good or evil. The end offers no hope, just a depressing cliffhanger that makes me not even want to read on when the sequel comes out.

If that weren't enough, there's blood and guts violence. And faith-bashing. The group that persecutes the main character is a "cult" that follows the teachings of a dude that lived 2,000 years or so ago who gave up his life to defeat the evil witches and magic. While it's a made-up cult, you'd have to be almost brain-dead not to notice the parallels Mr. White draws between a scary cult and Christianity. If you're okay with that, fine, but there's still the complete despair and bleakness and scariness that pervade this book.

You know, there are some kids' books that should be read by all age groups. They are classics. It just doesn't matter whether the main character is a child or not. Well, this book is the opposite. It's a book about children that should only be read by adults or older teenagers, and then only should it be read by those who like the horror genre.

And if you don't believe me, Mr. White wrote this on his website:

An advanced 8-year-old reader could probably read the book, but that doesn’t mean he or she should. This isn’t the type of kid’s book where everything ends up okay at the end. Terrible things happen.  Characters die in some pretty awful ways.
If that sort of thing doesn’t bother you and your parents are okay with it, I hereby give you permission to read my book.