Dandelion Fire

1/18/25: today I took two steps outside of nora's door tripped on ice and fell rather dramatically and managed to kind of shatter my phone screen protector because I was trying to read this book while walking DON'T do that I'm pretty sure there's still pavement in my knees (girl who still hasn't learned her lesson about ice lmao)

I was screenshotting like every other page sending them like this is my favorite so like yes this book is very much special to me in many ways. it is all over the place this is true but dandelions thoughts this time around (assembled from a lot of dms sorry to the person who received them at two thirty am):
- TWELVE YEARS IS A V E R Y LONG TIME!!! (girl who's still thinking about hy and the twins)
- the pacing is show more still so insanely funny to me what in the absolute universe is happening
- the entire second sight saga is visceral. owie
- Henrietta is still dumb you can't be doing all that you are SO INSANELY LUCKY caleb found eli
- LOOL yea I have a lot of the same questions from last read. The big ones include the FitzFaeren relics (man WHAT) + the "magic system" (so greenery isn't magic and magic is for wizards whatever nothings ever actually explained and it's all hinged on this really vague idea of life and death which fiineeee with the second sight grower stuff but what in the heckadoodle do wizards truly do like ever other than serve the evil guys and cause chaos (Monmouth doesn't count bro is a seventh) LIKE NECROMANCY? RITE OF SKULLS? WHATTTT IS HAPPENING)
- love random kids and an entire police sergeant accidentally getting embroiled in this flaming mess. hello Zeke and Richard (who were already involved) and Ken Simmons guess yall go here now (me when shotguns in fantasy world) (Mordecai got his grapes Caleb got his bow Frank got his shotgun yeehee)
- the Darius (fred) saga is WILDINGGGG LMAOOOOOO it's just unhinged and I don't know what else to even say about it. TOADSTOOLS. the stupid glamour. warpspasms and sons and nimiane i guess. THE WORD THAT MEANS EITHER "OPEN" OR "SHUT" man okay once again the 'magic' system strikes but like that was awesome. um I think the saga's kind of stupid but whatever everything in here is simultaneously kind of dumb yet REALLY awesome
- there is always one injury in wilson series that sticks with me in a bad way and for this series it's the stupid fricken CUTS ON HENRYS STOMACH STOPPPPPPP
- CALEB *DOES* HAVE FARAMIR VIBES i know im not crazy about this!!! also if you were to ask me my favorite character in 100c it would be him without hesitation
- im obsessed with how everybodys motivation in this book is BECAUSE YOURE MORDECAIS SON like everybodys so incredibly disappointed with henry but desperately trying to a) kill him b) protect him bc he's mordecai's seventh son. it's so silly (mfw gendered magic system (i don't think about it often because. i mean idk what to say about it lol it is how this series works and I unfortunately like it far too much)
- once again the frank saga is insane also ken simmons refusing to give up on kansas and frank willis refusing to give up on hylfing !!!
- the letters to H&H got me losing my entire mind at 2am
- dreamwalking is wild
- monmouth is the g yet again. the henry monmouth scenes are kind of really funny to me too
- NAMING RITUALS are CRAZY - FAERIES SINK!!
- THROW THE KNIFE !!!!
- ya there's a thousand million things happening in this book and all of them are insane on some level and I love it so much it just. Speaks to me. Also life and glory and seeing. And families and loyalty and love and laughter and standing against evil.
- im obsessed with how legalistic the faeren are
- wilson really likes saying "[name] walked"
- henry coming into his own goes crazy yea he's 12 and he's confused and over his head but by golly he will take charge and leverage what he has
- tbh all this time i forget hylfing is really just a small town that the Westmores just happen to reside in
- fat frank thumbs up
- ramoth gilead - there was absolutely no space for it but i wish we could've seen the other reunions beside henry's because ahahahgahjafdsgkssaaaaa
- who is the Old King. i know it's just a name of legend and lore and meant to be that way but I will forever be curious about this world's lore if oyu're going to place Henry's family line in such importance in it despite just being. idk some guys. bc the more i think about it the funnier it is that henry set loose this chain of events and got himself embroiled in politics all over basically. they're not kings or emperors or rulers, just... hylfing's resident famous guys at this point shrug
- wait yeah i'd also forgotten about the green man bonded to faeren thing and why mordecai was stolen in the first place lol wild
- SO OOOOOO many places and concepts and peoples in these books briefly glossed over i'm like bewildered about it lowkey
- wilson's biblical references tangled with all this random fantasy world lore are always so interesting
- the quasi-formality of the speech over in hylfing still gets me also still don't know why everyone speaks english
- baseball and ketchup you're so real frank willis
- i love roofs. this series is so real for THAT.
--
10/26/22: i got a pretty solid 5 hours of sleep last night because like a fool and a moron i chose to finish this book for the fifth time instead of sleeping knowing full well i’d hate everything in the morning and i did lol oh well it was worth it, as always. DF is so important to me for whatever reason and always will be one of my favorite MG novels for literally no real legitimate reason. i just remembered the first time i read this was the day i almost blacked out during choir practice LOL i was 12. that wasn't a fun day.
i tried to figure out how to boil down my thoughts to readable sentences but i can’t so like here are several of my main thoughts rereading this:
- I LOVE TREES!!!
- this pacing is awful girl what. why do 28475838!5$”” things happen in the last few chapters of the book and meanwhile there are a few chapters that are just like Faerie Committees Suck Lol
- WAIT henry and henrietta are TWELVE AND ELEVEN (fact i keep forgetting until henry brings up wet socks for the second time in a chapter. normal 12 year old
boy activities)
- monmouth is cool why have i never really noticed how cool he is until now. deserved hot dog. bro is like 17 and absolutely BALLING
- this magic system is the wildest thing in the world it is NOT hard and it’s not even soft it’s just like Things Exist. DEAL WITH IT.
- Hylfing’s world is brutal
- CALEB AND HYACINTH AND MORDECAI !!!!!! BEO!!!!! one of my favorite dogs in literature which is saying something
- FAERIES S I N K
- the FitzFaeren relics - I still want to learn more about them, not just the arrow of Ramoth Gilead (cool thing btw but what EVEN???)
- this world, or worlds - I also still want to know more about them and the cupboards in general. multiverse thumbsup if 13 year old me had paid more attention to the letters from the grandfather… she would’ve been completely unbearable about these books. as it is, I’m 18 and slightly less obsessed but still losing my mind over the things I’m only noticing on a FIFTH REREAD (help)
- one of the funniest things about these books is the very subtle like hey these random kids who showed up are part of our family now deal with it (Zeke and Richard and Monmouth even lol)
- FAERIES SINK.
- some baller quotes.
- Wilson’s protagonists are so funny they’re like 12 and literally stupid but also so smart at the same time. 12 year old boys are another level of What Is Going On
- right… dreamwalking is a thing…
- this book does NOT deserve 5 stars but it is one of those things where i'm too nostalgic to change it. lol. thanks baby me!! same vibes as whichever Keepers book it was probably starlit loom tbh.
- someone came by when i was reading this and was like "I LOVE THAT BOOK" so i'm so excited right now
- trees tress TREEEEEESSS
- i really find it funny that Henry's brand is dandelions. little yellow weeds with all their strength. like yeah I get the symbolism and reason for it it is just always unreasonably funny to me. I'd love dandelions if they didn't take over my entire lawn for like 3/4ths of the year
- THROW THE KNIFE
- i have got so many questions it is incredible
- my absolute biggest grievance with these books is the vaguely unexplained idea of everyone speaking English. im not going to elaborate here bc i am so tired but also it has been plaguing me for years
_________

2021: CALEB AND BEO

EDIT: mmMMMM Ramoth Gilead

i have so many things to say abt this book but they all just straightup left my mind as soon as i opened goodreads so like. goodbye show less

I spent a lot of time being annoyed with it in the beginning - it not only had the same random actions and obscure motivations as 100 Cupboards, it had to add a whole new set of - I don't know quite what to call them. Triggers? Reasons for motivations? The 'dandelion fire' of the title shows up completely randomly, then controls actions for basically all of the book. Bah. However, when all was said and done, it did come to a conclusion and even a sort of happy ending (though the Witch of Endor is still loose). Most motivations are explained, there are a lot of reunions, some solutions to long-standing problems are found, some solutions to immediate problems are found...It's not a wonderful series, and I doubt I'll reread or pick up a show more third book if there should be one (there were enough loose ends that there could be - the Witch, and Richard, for two). Still, I'm glad I read it. By the end of this book I was satisfied with the story I'd been told. I might pick up another by this author, on the assumption that the randomness and obscure motivations were a mark of a new author getting his feet under him. Or I might not...it's not like I need any more books to read! show less

Henry has discovered that the 100 cupboard doors hidden behind his bedroom wall are actually portals to other worlds. Now he must go through the cupboards to find the truth about where he's from and who his real parents are. Along the way, Henry is suddenly struck with a gift of magic--a magic that burns so brightly it attracts unwanted attention. As he discovers the strength of his new powers, he is chased by wizards and faeren and ultimately forced into battle with Nimiane, the evil witch-queen. And this time, the witch is not alone....

Henry has discovered that the 100 cupboard doors hidden behind his bedroom wall are actually portals to other worlds. Now he must go through the cupboards to find the truth about where he's from and who his real parents are. Along the way, Henry is suddenly struck with a gift of magic--a magic that burns so brightly it attracts unwanted attention. As he discovers the strength of his new powers, he is chased by wizards and faeren and ultimately forced into battle with Nimiane, the evil witch-queen. And this time, the witch is not alone....

I didn't like this one as much as the first one, 100 Cupboards, but I still enjoyed this immensely. It's a nice wrap up to the stray ends that were left from the first one. Action packed, and has you rooting for the main characters.

Reviewed by Allison Fraclose for TeensReadToo.com

Only a couple of weeks have passed since Henry York and his cousin, Henrietta, had their adventure in the mysterious cupboards adorning the wall of Henry's attic room.

Since he'd come to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Kansas, Henry discovered the hidden wall of cupboards accidentally, and learned that each one leads to a different time and place. Built by their grandfather, who listed the combinations to the different worlds in his journal, the cupboards can only be traveled through via the large cupboard in Grandfather's room, which had been locked tight until the battle with the witch of Endor.

Henry's aunt and uncle receive a letter from his parent's lawyer saying that Henry show more must return to Boston in two weeks. Henry can't stand the thought of going back, especially now that he might have more of a history in one of the cupboard worlds than he'd ever imagined, and he grows desperate to escape through the door to Badon Hill, which calls to him in his dreams.

Henrietta, who'd stolen the key to Grandfather's bedroom so that she could explore the cupboards on her own, finally relents, and she and Henry go behind the barn to retrieve the key. While Henry keeps watch in the growing storm and Henrietta digs, he spots a curious dandelion that appears to glow. Reaching for it, Henry sees a flash of light and is knocked unconscious, with only a dandelion shaped burn on his hand to indicate what happened.

After a stranger visits him in his dreams, and he awakens blind, Henry knows that he must escape into the cupboards to find a better explanation of what's happening to him. Unfortunately, less compassionate forces are already interested in his growing abilities...

I must admit that I liked this book much better than its forerunner, 100 CUPBOARDS, if only for the fact that I felt much more involved with the characters and that we find out more about the history of the cupboards. Everything comes together in this volume, and, taken as a whole, this original concept makes for an interesting, action-filled story that will keep horror and fantasy lovers on their toes. show less

Second book in the 100 cupboards series. This one concentrates more on action than character development, although both Henry and his cousin Henrietta share equal amount of plot and action. Henry decides he needs to find out where he is from as he is sure that the 100 cupboards have something to do with who is father and mother really are. Henrietta is cross with Henry and believes he has gone into one of the other worlds without her out of spite, and so she attempts to follow him. They end up in completely different worlds and it is a race against time to see if they can find their way back to the house ( which itself has been uprooted and transplanted to another dimension along with all the other cousins, Henry's aunt and uncle , show more Richard the boy who escaped a world in Bk1, a local policeman and the wonderful local boy Zeke!). A wonderful quirky tale about trying to find your place in the world. show less