The Forbidden Land (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Forbidden Deborah Stevenson Waite, Judy Forbidden. Atheneum, 2006 [256p] ISBN 0-689-87642-4$16.95 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7-12 Fifteen-year-old Elinor is a devoted adherent of True Cause, dutifully seeking New Joiners and selling their worldly goods to help fund the mission of Howard, the One Saviour. She's startled by her attraction to Jamie, an Outsider boy, whom she secretly meets, and by the awakening memories of her childhood before True Cause; beyond that, she's disturbed by her nagging doubts about True Cause as fellow Followers struggle with ill health and punishments. When Elinor becomes one of Howard's Brides and finds a new home in his mansion, she discovers there Outsider documents that bring into focus her doubts about True Cause—but also about Jamie. This British import is a soundly predictable cult drama with [End Page 289] lots of authorial stacking of the deck to ensure cultish villainy; the Excessive Use of Capital Letters is a cheap device, and there's an unquestioning certainty in the condemnation of the cult and valorization of Outsider life that rivals Elinor's unquestioning acceptance, thus undercutting any message of thoughtful inquiry about life. There's appeal, however, in the fairy-tale story underneath, with Elinor a sleeping princess awakened by her Prince Charming (who, it turns out, was her childhood playmate and who has been long searching for her), and readers may relish the melodramatic sensationalism of the collective of brainwashed beauties. This isn't a genuinely insightful book about religious alliance and self-determination—Haddix's Leaving Fishers (BCCB 11/97) is the one to turn to for that—but the black-and-white morality and elements of horror, mystery, and romance may make it a diverting quick read. Copyright © 2006 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois