A Lamp Post Parcel Book Review

  Echo North 

 Story Synopsis

This story is about a girl named Echo. She lives with her father (whom she is very close with), brother, and stepmother. Whilst wandering in the forest as a child, Echo made an attempt to help free a wolf from a trap, and her face was attacked. The scars on her face never let her forget how different she looked and was treated, compared to everyone else in the town. And her unkind stepmother certainly didn’t help.

Echo ends up working in her father’s bookshop, the books and cobwebs her sole company (aside from the odd customer here and there). She dreams of attending the university to become a doctor, but is dismayed and hurt when she gets into a disagreement with her stepmother and Echo’s application letter gets tossed into the fireplace.

One blizzard-y winter day, Echo stumbles upon a wolf in the forest - the same one who attacked her face when she was a child. It turns out he can talk, and he strikes a bargain with her, in order for her to save her father who is in trouble. Amidst Echo’s confusion and panic, the wolf’s bargain seems to be the only way to save her dear father. The bargain is sealed, and now it must be fulfilled. Echo is bound to her agreement, and if she tries to escape, well…there would not only be the wolf to reckon with, but the forest. Echo must live with the wolf in his manor within the deep forest for a full year.  The house always needs a keeper…

 Likes: 

The library/book mirrors: the descriptions were so beautiful and whimsical, it made me want to jump into the book! The idea of a magical library full of mirrors that act as portals into stories…ahhh I love!

The beautiful nature scenes: The way in which Meyer describes some of the scenes is so beautiful! It feels so immersive if you take an afternoon stroll through the forest while there’s a light drizzle! 

The wood is quiet as we walk, but not like before. There are birds singing in the trees, a flash of a deer’s white tail, a squirrel nibbling a nut on a fallen oak. The red flowers are gone. In their place grow tangles of honeysuckle and peonies and twists of wild roses, and they make the wood smell sweet. A track still winds between the trees, but it’s no longer paved with stones.
{Chapter 39, p. 371}

We stand in a quiet patch of forest, overshadowed by stars.
{Chapter 38, p. 366}

See? What did I tell you. OH – and the mirror book library!!

I stood in a huge, airy room. High paneled ceilings stretched twenty feet or more above my head, illuminated by a dozen sparkling chandeliers.
{Chapter 8, p 73}

The wood is quiet as we walk, but not like before. There are birds singing in the trees, a flash of a deer’s white tail, a squirrel nibbling a nut on a fallen oak. The red flowers are gone. In their place grow tangles of honeysuckle and peonies and twists of wild roses, and they make the wood smell sweet. A track still winds between the trees, but it’s no longer paved with stones.
{Chapter 39, p. 371}

I noticed that every mirror had a little gold description plate…book spines – they reminded me of book spines. I peered at a few of the description plates, which said things like: The Doorway to All Things: In Which a Magical Hat Causes Much Havoc. {Chapter --, p.--}

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

The mirror-book adventures: I can’t describe too much, or I’ll spoil it! But I loved the whimsical adventures Echo and Hal had inside the mirror-books! It made me want to get up and go with them! Echo could literally step into a mirror and into a completely different world of fantasy. If you’ve ever read or watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, chances are we both can’t deny the fact that the thought had crossed both our minds to try. Or at least, imagine. Anyhoo, the mirror-book adventures sounded so…adventurous! I just love that this particular aspect reminds me so much of C.S Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe! 

    Dislikes: 

The odd timeline: There were a few points in the book where the timeline felt a little jarring. In the beginning, the pace is quite quick as we’re introduced to the characters. I didn’t get to build much of a strong bond or connection to the characters, and I found Echo’s character to be a bit shallow in the beginning. 

The character relationships: In the beginning of the book, we are told that Echo and her father are very close, we are never shown how close they are. I wish we would’ve seen some glimpses of close, sweet father-daughter moments or conversations. The only instance we are really given a glimpse of this is