Fourteen-year-old Naya feels stifled by her family. She spends most of her time at school or helping out at her mother and grandmother’s fashion business run from their home. Whenever she is allowed out, she isn’t allowed to venture far. Her loved ones’ protective tendencies are warranted, though. All three of them share a gift—the ability to see other individuals’ pasts and their potential pathways in the future—and historically, their kind has not always fared well once discovered. 

 

Something big is about to happen. Naya can feel it coming, but she can’t see what it is. 

 

This coming-of-age, part-urban fantasy, part-magical realism tale has an interesting premise. Based on the descriptions, I could picture how Naya and her family can see that alternate world of threads connecting people to each other, their pasts, and their futures. 

 

We get to see the family dynamics at play and how family history plays into how Naya is raised. We get to see Naya exploring who she will become within her family and friend group, where she can grow in her ability to walk people’s timelines, and how she values art but wants to pursue science, much to her family’s consternation and dismay. 

 

After the day-to-day exposition in the story, events begin occurring that force Naya to reevaluate her perspective on her own past, present, and future. 

 

***Spoilers below*** 

 

The first half-to-two-thirds of the book are heavy on exposition. There is a lot of day-to-day content with brief interjections from the villain watching Naya along the way. 

 

Then there is an active shooter, and it almost feels like we step into a different novel. (Given the target age for this book, I do wish there had been more discussion around how people  responded to and coped with this event.) 

 

The cast of characters is still the same, but at this point, multiple major events start happening in the story. 

 

The villain feels very one-note, and there are a few references to him being raised in the foster care system. I feel uncomfortable with the implication that having been a foster child may be the reason he turned out the way he is. There doesn’t seem to be another reason for the words “foster care” to be included in his backstory. 

 

Overall, Walk the Web Lightly has an interesting premise, but I didn’t find myself as engrossed in the novel as I had hoped to be. 

 

I received a copy of the book from BookSparks. All review opinions are my own.