Book Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Book Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black | Series no. 04

The Ironwood Tree front cover

Title: The Spiderwick Chronicles - The Ironwood Tree
Author: Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black
Book Series No. 04
ISBN: 043970040X
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Publication Date: May 01, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Genre: Children's Literature, Fantasy
Suitable Age: 7 and up

Characters:
- Jared Grace
- Simon Grace
- Mallory Grace
- Helen Grace
- The Not-Jared (Mulgarath)
- The Korting
- The Knocker

This is the fourth second to last of my review for the Spiderwick Chronicles. If you want a recap, here are my previous reviews of the Spiderwick Chronicles series:

(click "Read more" to view full review / scroll down for the full review)

The Ironwood Tree back cover

The Ironwood Tree book spine

The Ironwood Tree title page

The Spiderwick Chronicles' The Ironwood Tree Summary

* summary contains spoiler, you may skip ahead and read my opinionated review

While Mallory is on a fencing match, Jared saw someone ransacking his sister's bag. He knows something is going wrong so he decided to approach the suspicious girl, but Mallory's coach blocked him as the ground is limited only to participants of the fencing event. Getting back frustrated, Jared decided to go to the bathroom to avert his mother's suspicion that he's up to something again. As he about to enter the hallway to the bathroom, to his surprise, he saw a boy who looks like to be his clone, back at the bench approaching the coach who interfered him. The boy confronted the coach and did something - trouble.

The Ironwood Tree sample page

As they were looking for their sister Mallory, they found their sister's medal and accompanying riddle on where to find her. The twin sibling went to Quarry and found a mystical passage to Dwarf's den. They fall inside and met the king of Dwarfs, Korting. Korting presented their Ironwood Tree and their vision for the world when Mulgarath will take over it. The twin sibling along with their sister Mallory who is locked inside the casket were imprisoned. But they manage to trick again the warden dwarf and escape. While escaping the dwarf's den, the mechanical dogs, to Jared's amazement, Simon was able to tame them. With many obstacles on their escape, they were helped by the Knocker.

At the end, they were able to sneak out of the den. They saw Mulgarath coming with an unidentified prisoner. The dwarf handed over the "fake" Field Guide to Mulgarath as an offering, taken from Jared without the Dwarf knowing it is fake. With Mulgarath disappointment about the fake Field Guide, he commanded his Goblins to massacre Korting and his dwarfs. End of story.

NOTE: some part of the story was intentionally omitted in the above summary.

* end of spoiler / summary

* * * * *

For me, the ending of the Ironwood Tree is truly tragic. Imagine the weapon works of the Dwarves then eventually, they'll just be killed by the leader they hail. Also, the Ironwood Tree is a story of trust, care and friendship.