The Fox's Tower by Sam Thompson

When Willow witnesses her animal-loving father, Silas, get kidnapped by a group of foxes and a huge wolf-like creature, she pursues them into the woods. There she meets wolves who tell her they know her father. Together they boldly enter the enormous tower the foxes have built deep in the forest. In the tower Willow discovers the dark project of the chief fox, Reynard, to create new life forms from magical clay buried in the Deep Forest where few can enter. To rescue her dad Willow must brave the Deep Forest and dig deep in herself to foil Reynard’s evil scheme to remake the world – but she also finds herself siding with the foxes against their new oppressor, the charismatic but wicked lion Noble.

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Wolfstongue, the first book in this series, was one of my favourites of last year. Sam has taken characters from medieval literature, given them personalities and human foils and set them loose. Some of the original characters are sadly not in this one, as it's set a generation after the first one, but there are new amazing ones to take their place - and there are still characters from the medieval stories that haven't been used yet, so I have hope for still more stories!

Willow is a different kind of hero than Silas was, but it's lovely to see what he's like as an adult and as a father. Likewise, they're facing a slightly different kind of villain and need slightly different allies, and it's all brought to life so beautifully. I was gasping and laughing as I read. (I may also have been crying a little.)

I hope there's many more to come in this series; I could keep reading it for a long time. I'll definitely be recommending it.

The Fox's Tower publishes on the 6th of October, 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.