The Ragwitch

By Garth Nix

From the author of Abhorsen comes classic fantasy set in a world dominated by the Ragwitch, a being of sinister, destructive intent.

An ancient spirit wreaks death and destruction on the world that sought to cripple her powers.

“Julia turned around – and Paul skidded to a stop in shock. He felt like he’d been winded, struck so hard he couldn’t breathe at all. For the person in front of him wasn’t Julia at all, but a hideous mixture of girl and doll: half flesh, half cloth, and the eyes and face had nothing of Julia left at all, only the evil features of the doll.”

When Julia finds the ugly doll in the strange ball of feathers on the beach, Paul instinctively knows that his sister has meddled with something that is going to cause trouble. But already it’s too late –the power behind the doll already has his sister in its thrall and, later that night, the Ragwitch claims Julia for its own.

Fighting against his natural urge to run from this hideous being, Paul is drawn into the creature’s own world. Can he save his sister –or even himself?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jun 24, 2010
• ISBN: 9780007375455

Garth Nix

Garth Nix is a New York Times bestselling novelist and has been a full-time writer since 2001 but has also worked as a literary agent, marketing consultant, book editor, book publicist, book sales representative, bookseller, and part-time soldier in the Australian Army Reserve. Garth’s many books include the Old Kingdom fantasy series, beginning with Sabriel and continuing to Goldenhand; the sci-fi novels Shade’s Children and A Confusion of Princes; the Regency romance with magic Newt’s Emerald; and novels for children including The Ragwitch, the Seventh Tower series, the Keys to the Kingdom series, and Frogkisser!, which is now in development as a feature film with Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios. Garth has written numerous short stories, some of which are collected in Across the Wall and To Hold the Bridge. He has also cowritten several children’s book series with Sean Williams, including TroubleTwisters and Have Sword, Will Travel. More than six million copies of his books have been sold around the world and his work has been translated into forty-two languages.

Reviews for The Ragwitch

[ilirwen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Exciting, but not as excellent as the Sabriel series.

[madam_razz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's pretty rare that a young adult novel can actually scare me, but the beginning of this book deals with possession and Nix really weaves a scary description of what's going on and how. It's very sinister and I loved feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up a little bit and that little twinge of paranoia that made me want to look behind me, even though I've already read this book at least a couple of times now. Never fails!The characters in this book are all rich and interesting and feel as though they come to life, as though you might know people like some of them, and you're glad that most of them exist within the story for our young heroes. But, I think my favorite characters, at least as far as portrayal goes, are the ones that you'd expect to be the most fleshed out anyway. Julia and Paul. They're younger than most kids in young adult novels are, not even quite 12 yet it seems. I don't remember if it was actually mentioned anywhere in the book how old they are, but one character was forced to guesstimate Paul's age and he put Paul at 11 at the oldest.I like that Nix portrays both kids as just that. Kids. They're young and naive and used to the comforts of home, taken out of their elements and dropped into new and impossible situations in a strange world without any of the conveniences they're used to. They handle it probably better than a lot of us would've handled something like that, certainly better than I think I would have, but it isn't without complaint. I think a lot of people would ordinarily be frustrated with Paul, most of all, because he whines and he more than once wishes that he could just give up his quest and go home even if that means leaving his sister, but ultimately he knows he can't bring himself to do such a thing because the entire reason he's here is to save her.Paul being the one we follow throughout most of the beginning of the book (and the one who gets the majority of the romping-around adventure) is interesting and I enjoyed it quite a bit because it was made very apparently just how far out of his element and depth he was, and just how scared he was. He's not used to being the hero, Julia is the adventurous and brave one, she's the leader, he's the one who follows and often has to come to his defense when her friends tease him. She's the one with the big ideas and the follow-through. But here, Paul has to be the leader. He has to be the one to make the decisions and be adventurous and many times he asks himself what Julia would do if she were here instead of him. Many times, he wishes that their roles were reversed and she were the one on this quest to save him from the Ragwitch instead, because at least then he would know that someone who knows what they're doing and who he can depend on to get it done would be in charge.But, Paul does rise to the challenge, despite his own misgivings and issues of self-confidence, and somewhere along the line his goal changes. He's not just here to save Julia, anymore, although that's still a main goal, but he knows that he can't leave all of the new friends he's made who help him in the lurch either. Even if he could just go home, even if he could snap his fingers and both he and Julia would be at home, safe and sound, he can't leave his friends to deal with the Ragwitch alone.It was good to see Paul's character development throughout the entire book, and it was good to see the moment when he realized himself that his goals had shifted a bit. To see how brave he was when even he didn't think he could be and had no idea what he was doing.With Julia, I liked that we got to see that even though she was the one that Paul thought was the fearless adventurer who always knew what to do...she really wasn't. She was adventurous, yes, and stubborn and ready to resist the Ragwitch, but she was also just a kid herself and she was scared too, and uncertain, and we got to see that and feel that right along with her.Most of the supporting characters were adults, and I liked that each of them realized that Paul and Julia were just children and thrust into situations that were really not meant for kids. I don't feel as though they were babied, because the situation called for Julia and Paul to have to do things and make decisions that no kids should have to and they were allowed to, but Nix never really lets you forget just how young Paul and Julia really were. And as such, I didn't feel any of the same annoyance that I might have felt with someone in the middle or late teens or early adulthood with the same attitudes as these kids had.I find this to be fresh and interesting, and to really put the danger that the characters are into stark relief. It makes things feel more dangerous and you can really feel the stakes. And it makes the villains and the dangers and the pitfalls, which might otherwise have seemed silly if given to characters who are older, feel a lot scarier and bigger. I think it puts things into a perspective that you wouldn't get if the main characters were older.I also really liked that Julia had two women helping her after awhile. I liked the character of Mirran, and I'm glad that we got to know him, but I don't think anything would've felt the same if we hadn't had Lyssa and Anhyvar.The character of Tanboule was perhaps a particular favorite, and I have to wonder how and Julia might've interacted had they had the chance to meet. But, I loved his interactions with Paul, and later also with Quigin, and I loved his outlook. I wish we'd gotten more about his backstory, though, just because I'm so interested in his character and the hints and tidbits we did get to find out about him left me wondering what the whole story behind that was. Then again, maybe Nix gave us all we need to know to figure that out on our own in full and I just am not smart enough to do it while everyone else who read the book did. That's possible! But, I'd sure be down to read an entire book about him.I absolutely would reread this book, yet again, and probably will at some point. I have thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think just about anybody who reads it will, too. Anyone who likes young adult fiction should enjoy this book, I think. Even if whiny characters are the bane of your existence, I think that in this case you will find yourself making a happy exception for Paul.

[grapenoggin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I just expected more from Garth Nix, because I love his Abhorsen trilogy, and have been enjoying reading Shade's Children. I feel that the Ragwitch story dragged on and had a lot of unessessary plot additions, and a lot of unbelievablely lucky and slightly annoying circumstances. The main character wasn't even very lovable or even likable. He was always complaining, and I was hoping to see that he grew from his complainyness and became stronger as the story went on, but that didn't seem to happen as effectively as I would have hoped.

If you like Garth Nix, stay away from this one and stick to the previously mentioned books... Even as much as I wanted to like this one due to my love of the author, I had to struggle to finish it. And I only finished it because I love Garth Nix and decided not to review his book until I got to the end of it.

[wealhtheowwylfing · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Two Australian children accidentally free an ancient evil, and are sucked into the magical world she came from. A little young and too travelogue-y for my taste, but the magic is (as always with Nix) fantastically inventive and oftentimes disturbing.

[millilinnea · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Exciting, but not as excellent as the Sabriel series.

[katekf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Paul and Julia are siblings on vacation at the beach when they run across a doll that captures Julia before going to another world. Paul follows after her and works to save her in this fast paced intermediate fantasy novel. The quest in the story doesn't possess any great deviations from the norm but Nix's compelling characters and moments of humor make it a charming read. For a reader who wants more of Nix after The Abhorsen Chronicles, this would be a good next choice as the world is complete and the story fascinating.

[tuckerfrye_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of Garth Nix's more interesting novels. A YA fantasy with some pretty disturbing horror elements in it. A rather simple plot, but entertaining nonetheless. I would recommend this book to any Garth Nix fan.

[elixabook · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I only made it through the first 150 pages then had to skip to the last chapter. Read the last chapter and didn't seem to miss any of the 100 plus pages between. There were several sentences that made no logical sense. Did not enjoy the flow of text as the author continually jumped from one characters point of view in one situation to a different characters point of view in a completely different situation with no indication that a change happened. In one paragraph I'm with the sister in the next I'm in a completely different environment with a brother.

[elizajane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Julia and her brother are playing on the beach when Julia finds an old rag doll. She takes it home with her and starts to act strange. When she leaves the house before the break of dawn one morning, Paul hears her and follows. The doll has taken over Julia's body and become a massive mix between Julia and the doll. The Ragwitch is free! She opens a door to another world and Paul quickly follows. Now Julia must fight from inside the body of the Ragwitch, while Paul is sent on a journey to obtain items from the four Elemental Masters to kill the Ragwitch.I feel a bit guilty for giving this book such a low rating since I just love all of Nix's other work. But this is his first novel and it shows. I really had a hard time staying interesting and forced myself to finish the book. The plot is simple fantasy fare that any voracious reader of fantasy will find mundane. The characters are flat and it was impossible for me to care what happened to them. However, the writing itself is good and dialogue flows nicely, and it is interesting to see how Nix developed as a writer. There are glimpses along the way of what was to come next for him, The Old Kingdom Trilogy.This book does contain the typical Nix darkness and death but not nearly as much as some of his other books and I could easily recommend this book to a younger age group (10+) and as a first fantasy outing this book may please. I do not recommend this as your first Garth Nix read but I do recommend that fans eventually read at some point just to see how his writing has progressed and to catch a glimmer at where his future writing came from.

[maxsumillion · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

the book was fine but nothing compared to garth nix's other works and just like all other children's books pretending to be dark it has a happy ending and no real scary bits in it. not worth picking up, read sabriel instead

[amberwitch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Julia finds a sinister ragdoll on a midden and is soon possessed and then absorbed by it. Paul, her brother, sets out to her as the Ragwitch returns to the world of her origin, freed by Julia. Following the Ragwitch through fire, Paul ends up in Yendre, where he embarks on a quest to collect pieces of the wild magic that has once exiled the Ragwitch, while Julia fight to stay a separate entity within the Ragwitchs memories. Yendre is a peaceful Kingdom with a middleage technological stage, where magic is largely a thing of the past, and evil creatures of the North are kept at bay by border guards. To overcome the Ragwitch Paul has to find the magic of the four elements, and as a traveling companion he has an apprentice 'Friend of Beasts' who can talk to animals.

[translibrarian_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A creepy dark magic story for children.Loved it.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

interesting story about two kids who are pulled into another world when one of them finds a doll on a midden. Both children have to try to defeat the Ragwitch in their own ways.