review: furthermore

This book gave me so much feels! I am rating Furthermore 4.5 stars! I received it as an ARC and am so, so thankful because it was such a terrific read and the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS. I found myself always closing the book to look at the cover and identify what items were what as i read along. It really did assist my reading, making it easier to imagine certain parts from the book.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The bestselling author of the Shatter Me series takes readers beyond the limits of their imagination in this captivating new middle grade adventure where color is currency, adventure is inevitable, and friendship is found in the most unexpected places.
There are only three things that matter to twelve-year-old Alice Alexis Queensmeadow: Mother, who wouldn't miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. The day Father disappears from Ferenwood he takes nothing but a ruler with him. But it's been almost three years since then, and Alice is determined to find him. She loves her father even more than she loves adventure, and she's about to embark on one to find the other.
But bringing Father home is no small matter. In order to find him she'll have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is a boy named Oliver whose own magical ability is based in lies and deceit--and with a liar by her side in a land where nothing is as it seems, it will take all of Alice's wits (and every limb she's got) to find Father and return home to Ferenwood in one piece. On her quest to find Father, Alice must first find herself--and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss. 

The world building is absolutely phenomenal. I actually rarely read fairytale-ish books but i thought this one painted the world of Ferrenwood and Furthermore quite beautifully. I really hope Tahereh Mafi expands the worlds in future novellas or maybe even a sequel! There's so much potential for more books based on what she's created. It definitely did have an Alice in Wonderland vibe to it(other than the fact that our main character's name is Alice -- wait, is it considered a retelling?), but I can't really judge the similarity because I've only watched the movie and haven't read the book. It wasn't just the world that was magical, the characters' abilities were also so cool and i found the social systems to be pretty interesting.

The writing was simple and had a great flow -- possibly because it's a middle-grade book -- but captured just the right amount of emotion. I'm not sure how Tahereh Mafi pulled it off, but she didn't need to describe in depth about what the characters are feeling, or need her characters to have lengthy conversations for them to bond well. Somehow there were a lot of feels from just short descriptions and actions from the characters. I guess that's the magic of her writing.

I absolutely loved Alice and Oliver's character development individually and how it also developed their friendship. SO MUCH FEELS. If this was a Young Adult i think it probably would have headed into a romantic direction, but since its MG having a cute friendship seemed enough. I love Alice's relationship with her father, and i even liked the one with her mother at the end.

I would definitely recommend this to everyone who enjoys Middle Grade fantasy, or even YA fantasy for that matter. After having read so many YA books it is so refreshing to read something different like Furthermore. I didn't enjoy Mafi's Shatter Me series that much, but Furthermore deserves an applause.