The Forest in the Hallway (review)

There's not much fourteen-year-old Beatriz can do to control her own fate after her parents mysteriously disappear, and thus she's shipped off to her uncle's New York apartment. On top of her existing woes, Beatriz has also started hearing voices that direct her to the nineteenth floor of the apartment building. When she complies with the orders, Beatriz is transported into an enchanted world and ordered by Death to stop a woman who is breaking all of the magical regulations: if she does so, he suggests, she will also find her parents. In a well-developed and cool twist, two of the companions Beatriz gathers along her journey (every quest needs faithful sidekicks) turn out to be much more familiar than she first thought; the reader will likely be as shocked as Beatriz to discover that the two amnesiac teens are actually her parents. With a bit of luck and some quick thinking, Beatriz will be able to save her temporarily youthful parents, restore the magical equilibrium in this alternative world, and be back in Iowa in time for bed. Readers will likely be confused by several of the story's plot gaps: how can Beatriz go in from New York and emerge in Iowa, how can photographs age some people and make others younger, and what are the solutions for all of the unanswered riddles in the text? In addition, the endless narrative loops and twists make the novel feel like someone's relation of a complicated dream, with several characters and entire scenes shoehorned into the main plot to little effect. However, the setting is intriguing, and Beatriz is an appealing protagonist who relies on her own snark, cunning, and acuity more than the second-hand magic that surrounds her. Readers may therefore cheer her successes, and savvy fantasy fans will enjoy spotting the literary allusions sprinkled in throughout the novel.