“A Cage of Roots” by Matt Griffin is a story of friendship, courage and adventure. The main character is a teenage girl called Ayla who has many adventures to face and many terrors to suffer. Ayla has been abducted by evil and she is buried in the bowels of the earth. Her stuffy cell made of mud and rock is too hard to dig through. Soon she is brought to the terrifying goblin king made of roots where she struggles very much to live.
Above ground Ayla’s three uncles and three friends, Benny, Sean and Oscar risk their lives to save their friend. They go to many places, times and worlds in the search to track down Ayla. They jump off cliffs, get thrown in stocks and are chased all over the world. Finally they track Ayla down in the Root King’s underground Lair , but what have they done to Ayla? They defeat the Root King and drag Ayla out of the caves. The uncles cure the curse the Root King put on Ayla but they are dying. How does the story end? Read “A Cage of Roots” and find out.
I would give it 8/10 as it is a hard book to get into at first but the plot is wonderful.
By Orla 4th class Belclare N.S
“A Cage of Roots” is an exciting book about ancient Ireland, dark magic, mythical creatures and taking risks for somebody you love. Ayla is born and raised in an orphanage in New York, until one day three large men, who claim to be her uncles find her and take her to Ireland. Ayla has no idea who she really is until one day she is abducted and wakes up underground in a cage of roots.
As her truth begins to unravel, Ayla’s three best friends discover Ayla is the daughter of an evil King and Queen who dabbled with dark powers. When they were defeated they were banished to the bowels of the earth and later they discovered that the Queen was pregnant. Only this child had the power to bring her parents back. For years people searched for this child in hope to bring great evil to the world above ground. Ayla’s three best friends, along with the help of her uncles must go on a treacherous journey to attempt to save Ayla’s life.
This book was enthralling and each character was extremely interesting and important to the storyline. I would recommend this book for children eleven or over as it was very complicated and younger readers might find it difficult to follow. I would give this book 8 out of 10 as it was excellently written and the storyline was brilliant throughout.
Katie, 6th class
