This story and the effervescent writing pulled me in right away-what a talented writer. I was loving this tale of a girl who is discovering her talent for magic under the tutelage of "the dragon." (That's what they call the powerful wizard who is teaching her). Magic is the only thing that can keep "the Wood" contained from spreading all of its evil and corrupting people (which kills them). 
 I liked the idea of The Wood: the source of evil which is mysterious, and intangible, represented by an enchanted, sinister forest. So I was disappointed when Evil, in the last part of the book, had a face-- (view spoiler)[all of a sudden the source was just a vengeful queen. That shattered some of the magical quality of the book for me. Why does evil have to be a woman? Better to have kept it an elusive force (hide spoiler)]. 
 For a long stretch, the "dragon" was out of the story for a long stretch of the middle. I was glad when he reappeared; but then the end took forever! There was a huge battle that went on and then more fighting, the end dragged on way too long and got repetitive. 3.5 stars. I would read more by this author.