The Wildwood Chronicles: Wildwood Imperium

Wildwood Imperium is the third and final book in the Wildwood Chronicles triology. It tells the story of Prue and Curtis as they fight to unite Wildwood and revive Alexei Svik, and introduces new villains, including the vicious Synod cult and the revived Alexandra Svik in the form of The Verdant Empress.

Part One
Alister, the new Head Elder Mystic, travels with a group of others to hang a flag on the Ossuary Tree for the late Iphigenia. He notices a spiral pattern leading away from the tree and follows it. At the center of the spiral stands a young sapling with three branches, yet only one gives leaves. Alister is swallowed by the earth and is never seen again.

Spring has come to Wildwood. The May Queen, Zita, performs a ritual to summon a ghost called The Verdant Empress. Instead, she summons the late Alexandra Svik, who has become one with the ivy and still desires to enact revenge on the entire wood. She gives Zita ten days to bring her three items, the first two being an eagle feather and a pebble from Rocking Chair Creek. During the latter’s retrieval, she wanders into the Ancients’ Grove and finds the Plinth.

Prue and Esben stay at the McKeel household until Prue recovers from her injuries. He tells her they need to find Carol Grod, a toymaker from the outside who helped him make Alexei. Prue and Esben take the Underwood Tunnels back to Wildwood. Esben stays concealed in the woods while Prue hitches a ride to Pittock Mansion with the same badger who helped her in the first book. The Southwood government, now run by an interim governor-regent, has deteriorated into totalitarianism. A cult named The Synod, and their devout Caliphs, are the only ones off-putting enough to keep order.

The interim governor regent, a possum named Ambrose, and the attaché tell Prue that records of the second maker’s exile might be in the Mansion’s archives. Assisted by a devout supporter named Charlie, she discovers that both files of Esben and Carol have been emptied. In Carol’s file, however, there’s a note from a Caliph that asks Prue to “come to the tree.”

In the Forgotten Place, Rachel, Elsie, and the other Unadoptables have hunkered down in an abandoned building, fending off a hobo and stevedores. Nico, a member of the Chapeux Noirs, a group bent on taking down each of the Titans, hides with the Unadoptables as he’s pursued by stevedores. In return for saving his life, he says the Chaqeux Noirs will help them rescue Martha and Carol from Titan Tower, where they’re being kept by Wigman.

The children meet Jaques Chruschiel, formerly known as the Titan of Science and Research, Jack Kressel, who agrees to help them rescue their friends while they destroy Titan Tower, a plan called Operation Urban Renewal. The hobo arrives at the hideout and is revealed to be an insane Joffery Unthank. Jaques gives Unthank a facelift and the latter agrees to help.

Part Two
A chapter is devoted to a flashback explaining the first death of Alexei Svik. One summer day after his 15th birthday, while riding the horse his father, Grigor, had gifted him, Alexei is bucked off and snaps his neck, killing him instantly. Alexandra buries him and begins consulting necromancers and psychics. Gigor Svik dies of heartache. A old herbalist comes to Pittock Manor and explains that Alexandra needs a near-perfect replica of Alexei’s body and his teeth in order to revive him. Alexandra robs Alexei’s grave and enlists Esben and Carol to begin building a mechanical replica of her son.

Prue visits the Blighted Tree and meets Elgen, the Head Caliph of the Synod. He encourages Prue to join and help them revive Alexei and eat the spongiform that grows on the tree. Prue struggles against Elgen and an indicted Brendan. She avoids eating the spongiform, but as a result, she’s taken on the Jolly Crescent to be imprisoned on the Crag. On the ship, Prue feels the exact moment that Alexandra has been revived.

Zita goes to Alexei’s tomb in South Wood Cemetery to retrieve the final item; Alexei’s teeth. The majority of the residents have been indicted into the Synod. Zita retrieves the teeth and goes back to the Stone House to perform the final ritual. Upon offering the three items, the ivy in the house shapes into the form of a revived and vengeful Alexandra Svik.

The Unadoptables, the Chapeaux Noirs, and Unthank begin their assault of Titan Tower. They succeed in destroying the tower, but Unthank is shot by Wigman, and dies in the arms of Desdemona. In Unthank’s pocket is “an object of great significance” that he tries to give to her. The two die when the tower explodes. Meanwhile, the Unadoptables manage to extract Martha, but not Carol, who has been taken by Roger Swindon into the Impassable Wilderness to be rejoined with Esben and rebuild Alexei. The Unadoptables give chase and pursue them into Wildwood.

Part Three
The Unadoptables, Nico, Roger and Carol are ensnared by traps set by Curtis, who has since rebuilt a new bandit hideout in the trees with Septimus called Deerskull Dragonfighter. The Mehlbergs reunite and take Roger prisoner. Curtis plans to walk them to Southwood, where, hopefully, Prue and Esben are, so that the two makers can rebuild Alexei.

Prue communicates with the Spongiform inside the Caliph outside her cell and commands it to exit. The Caliph is revealed to be the bandit Seamus, who was initially responsible for the spread of the spongiform among the bandits and their subsequent disappearance. The two are dropped off at the Crag. There, they are rescued by Owl Rex and the remaining members of the Avian Principality. Owl Rex explains to Prue that Alexandra is back in the form of the Verdant Empress, and she’s commanding the ivy to take over Wildwood. Owl Rex flies them back to the Blighted Meadow, where they awaken the remaining Caliphs, including Brendan and some bandits, and free Esben. Brendan deduces that Alexandra will be moving to the Council Tree next. Prue flies with Owl Rex and some Avians to warn the Mystics. Another group of Avians take Brendan and the Bandits across all of Wildwood to amass an army to make a last stand against Alexandra. Esben and Seamus stay behind to begin working on the Mobius Cog.

Ivy giants created by Alexandra descend on Deerskull Dragonfighter. Curtis, Rachel, and Nico go out to defend the hideout while Elsie, Carol, Martha, and the other Unadoptables hunker down. Curtis witnesses Alexandra herself creating the giants and realizes that she is responsible for the ivy. Nico is swallowed by the ivy and put to sleep. Hearing the ivy coming towards the hideout, they return to Deerskull Dragonfighter, where the Unadoptables tell Curtis they were unable to save Roger. Brendan and the Avian Principality arrive and rescue Curtis and the Unadoptables. Curtis is reunited with his fellow bandits. Brendan explains that the ivy is moving towards the Council Tree, and together, the Unadoptables and the Bandits fly for North Wood. Carol Grod and Martha are flown back to South Wood to finish the Mobius Cog.

Prue makes it to the Council Tree, where the inhabitants of North Wood are preparing for battle. The Mystics, seemingly unaware of the situation, sit around the tree in unbreakable meditation. Prue receives a vision from the dying Council Tree which shows the sapling with three branches in the Ancients’ Grove. She is snapped out of her daze by Sterling Fox, who announces that the Ivy has arrived.

Esben and Carol Grod reunite. They finish the Mobius Cog and send Martha and Seamus to South Wood Cemetery to retrieve Alexei’s body and his teeth. They find Zita crying in the mausoleum, who laments that the return of the Verdant Empress is her fault. Zita, Seamus, and Martha return to Esben and Carol with Alexei’s body and teeth. Zita is forgiven and Alexei is reanimated. He laments being revived, but Zita explains that Alexei is needed to quell his mother’s anger. Alexei agrees to help on the condition that Zita remove the Mobius Cog from him once it’s done. She agrees and the two are flown by a golden eagle to the Council Tree to reunite Alexei with his mother.

The Battle for the Council Tree begins. Prue and the reformed Wildwood Irregulars are unable to hold back the ivy. The Council Tree is destroyed, along with the Periphery Bind, causing the ivy to spill into the Outside. Alexei and Zita arrive, and the latter confronts his mother and forgives her, finally putting Alexandra’s wrath to rest and causing her to dissolve into the ground. Prue and Curtis rejoice, and Prue introduces herself to Alexei and Zita. Prue commands the ivy to recede from the Outside and all of Wildwood, before collapsing over the tree stump, unconscious.

Everyone awakens and takes Prue to be buried, not at the destroyed Ossuary Tree, but at the new sapling Alister found at the beginning of the book. Now, two of the three branches are sprouting leaves. Prue is swallowed by the ground and the third branch sprouts a leaf. The One Tree is finally created, and the Periphery Bind is restored.

Celebrations take place all throughout Wildwood. The Bandits take up residence in Deerskull Dragonfighter. Roger’s cage is empty, but his Caliph robe is found outside the old Coyote Warren weeks later. All of the Unadoptables begin their training as Bandits. Zita and Alexei begin their reign as the new Emperor and Empress of Wildwood. The Mehlbergs return to their home in the Outside for a brief reunion with their parents, who can visit Curtis any time as they’re all half breeds. Prue’s parents mourn the loss of their daughter, until one day, a sapling appears in their backyard. This sapling quickly grows into a tree, which turns into their daughter Prue. Prue tells the story to her parents and all four return inside for hot chocolate.

Characters
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Publication Information
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Art by Carson Ellis
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Trivia
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