Enjoying this book? Help it get discovered by casting your vote!
The Hobbit meets The Reluctant Dragon for a sweet tale about a misfit and a hero coming together to transform the world they know.
This is what we are putting on the jacket leaf about the book:
Gary Mehl’s Enchanted Greenwood is a beautifully-written fairy tale about an elven sprite named Sven who makes a wonderful discovery beyond the hills and valleys of his community. Sven, who feels himself an outcast, ponders his existence and has deep thoughts, qualities of which the other sprites seem incapable. The once industrious and smart sprites had become lazy and unproductive because Elfdom had spirited away their cares and had taken from them their reasoning and wisdom. Sven’s adventures begin one day during his walk when he encounters the beautiful unicorn Graeson. The unicorn leads him to a place of magnificent beauty – a place that inspires Sven to propose a new life of knowledge, productivity and happiness for his people. Mehl’s prose-like descriptions of the beautiful wood and his detailed pen and ink illustrations make this an enjoyable book for all ages. Fantastic characters, a bit of humor, and a few little rhymes make the reading even more entertaining. Hidden in this tale are the values of learning history, appreciating and observing the present, shunning indifference, and finding peaceful solutions.
Enchanted Greenwood is absolutely enchanting! I felt as if I was meandering in a woodsy trail. The heart of the story is adventure. The adventure includes making new friends, moving, trying something new, and a willingness to be different from the crowd.
Sven is an elven sprite and a cute character to walk through the book with. I wish the book would have been solely about him, but we switch to Graeson the Unicorn's perspective at the end. Sven engages readers who feel like they stand out, which most people can relate to, and shows the courage of making friends. Sven did not mind standing out, it is integral to his identity. As a result, the thing that makes him different is essential when he and his people are relocated.
I really enjoyed the friendship between Sven and Graeson. the author highlighted the importance of friendship. But at times it felt awkward. The first meeting with Graeson sticks out in my mind. The author did well showing how to deal with confrontation and anger without violence. Yet, when I was reading, it felt a bit preachy to me. The way they dealt with an uncomfortable situation did not feel like realistic, even for a conscientious adult. Regardless, I think they were good together and brought out the best in one another.
The illustrations were fantastic! Definitely one of my favorite elements. This is where the book shined the brightest for me. The story is filled with interesting settings and characters, so it was fun to see them in the way the author envisioned them. The details were so precise and imaginative, they added a fun element to the story.
I would recommend Enchanted Greenwood to lovers of The Hobbit, Chronicles of Narnia, and The Reluctant Dragon. While Enchanted Greenwood is much shorter than those three books, it has similar aspects of friendship, adventure, and fantasy. This is truly a book for the whole family, it has something for people of every age to enjoy.
By day I am a nonprofit grant writer, by night I am a book reviewer and avid reader. I appreciate Discovery’s mission to promote and empower self-publishing authors. While I try branching into new genres, I typically go to classic literature, contemporary fiction, and social science books.
This is what we are putting on the jacket leaf about the book:
Gary Mehl’s Enchanted Greenwood is a beautifully-written fairy tale about an elven sprite named Sven who makes a wonderful discovery beyond the hills and valleys of his community. Sven, who feels himself an outcast, ponders his existence and has deep thoughts, qualities of which the other sprites seem incapable. The once industrious and smart sprites had become lazy and unproductive because Elfdom had spirited away their cares and had taken from them their reasoning and wisdom. Sven’s adventures begin one day during his walk when he encounters the beautiful unicorn Graeson. The unicorn leads him to a place of magnificent beauty – a place that inspires Sven to propose a new life of knowledge, productivity and happiness for his people. Mehl’s prose-like descriptions of the beautiful wood and his detailed pen and ink illustrations make this an enjoyable book for all ages. Fantastic characters, a bit of humor, and a few little rhymes make the reading even more entertaining. Hidden in this tale are the values of learning history, appreciating and observing the present, shunning indifference, and finding peaceful solutions.
Gary Mehl is talented and funny guy who has excelled in life as a music teacher, composer, pen and ink artist and operatic tenor. Even though it is a fairy tale, Mehl hopes his story will inspire readers to engage more in their own world to help build a better future for themselves and others. view profile
Published on April 01, 2021
Published by
8000 words
Worked with a Reedsy professional 🏆
Genre: Epic Fantasy
or
Or sign up with an
Or sign up with your social account