The Worlds We Leave Behind
By A.F. Harrold
Blurb
An extraordinary story about friendship and betrayal. Of revenge and retribution but also redemption. Perfect for 11+ readers who enjoy Stranger Things.
Hex never meant for the girl to follow him and his friend Tommo into the woods. He never meant for her to fall off the rope swing and break her arm. When the finger of blame is pointed at him, Hex runs deep into the woods and his fierce sense of injustice leads him to a strange clearing in the woods – a clearing that has never been there before – where an old lady in a cottage offers him a deal. She’ll rid the world of those who wronged him and Hex can carry on his life with them all forgotten and as if nothing ever happened. But what Hex doesn’t know is someone else has been offered the same deal.
When Hex’s best friend Tommo wakes up the next day, he is in a completely different world but he only has murmurs of memories of the world before. Moments of deja vu that feel like Tommo’s lived this day before.
Can Tommo put the world right again? Back to how it was? Or can he find a way to make a new world that could be better for them all?
Our Review
The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harold is a magnificent piece of work and the illustrations of Levi Pinfold are breathtaking.
The Worlds We Leave Behind is rightly billed as being ideal for teenage fans of the Stranger Things series. It is incredible.
"Hex wasn't entirely sure how the girl had come to be hurt."
Hex and his friend Tommo have been friends basically since birth. They are inseperable, even if Hex sometimes catches Tommo wincing at some his more ill-advised ventures. Then a young girl follows them into the woods one day and ends up with a broken home. Hex feels incredibly guilty and he knows Tommo is unhappy with his actions. Hex finds himself being blamed for it all and runs off seething into the woods.
"They hadn't invited her, hadn't forced her, hadn't wanted her to come but there she was, a little suddenly in their care.
And now they were in the woods and it had all gone wrong."
In the woods he stumbles upon a cottage and a strange woman offers him a deal - a deal in which she will erase the existance of those who wronged him. At this point every part of me was screaming at Hex not to take the deal, to get the hell out of there. What Hex doesn't realise is that someone else has been offerred the deal.
"One word from you and we shall clip them from the world. That is Leafy's girt to you.Our gift to you. A simple thing."
Tommo wakes up the next morning to find that he is the only one who remembers Hex ever existed. Can he make things right again?
The Worlds We Leave Behind is seriously epic. I cannot explain how much I loved it. There was a real Stand By Me feel to this book, the feel of a childhood friendship put to the test. Loyalty is upmost.
"After ten years or so they were still best mates. Hex and Tommo. Tommo and Hex. Although neither of them would have said it, they loved one another like brothers."
This spooked me as a an adult but would have terrified me a teenager...and I would have loved it!
I read this as an E-copy but I bet the physical book is a wonder to behold. Don't miss out on reading this!
Our Final Rating...
Read & Shared 34 Times.
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