book reviews

Book Review: Magic’s Most Wanted

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Magic's Most Wanted by Tyler Whitesides

Magic’s Most Wanted
byTyler Whitesides

4.5 out of 5 stars

Mason is confused when he opens up an ordinary music box and his entire class and teacher are magically transported to Antarctica. Magix agents show up to arrest him for crimes involving magic, but Mason swears that he doesn’t know anything about magic.
He learns that the world is divided into Igs and Eds (people who are Ignorant or Educated about magic). The only way to access magical power is to be Educated and have the knowledge of what different magical items are capable of doing. If you are Ignorant, you could handle magical items (like a transportation music box) and be unable to use the magic within. But Mason was able to use the music box, therefore the court argues that he must be a criminal with knowledge of magic.

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Book Review: Museum of Thieves

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Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner

Museum of Thieves (The Keepers, #1)
by Lian Tanner(Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Rebellious Goldie is tired of being chained to adults for her entire childhood. The law says all children under the age of 12 must be attached by a small chain to an adult for their own protection, but now Goldie is looking forward to being released from her chain on Separation Day. However, the Blessed Guardians of the City cancel the Separation Day ceremonies, and Goldie cuts herself loose and runs away. She hides in the mysterious Museum, where she learns that she has a unique talent for navigating the shifting rooms and the magic currents that run through the building. The City is in danger, and only a group of benevolent thieves can protect them from the evil within their walls.

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Book Review: The Unchosen One

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The Unchosen One by Amy Sparkes

The Unchosen One
by Amy Sparkes(Goodreads Author)

4 out of 5 stars

Tassie is dismayed to find out that she is The Chosen One, who must recite an ancient spell to stop an evil sorceress named the Shadow from returning. But when she can’t read the ancient language on the ancient scroll, they begin to suspect that someone else must be the real Chosen One. Tassie and her friend Spin, a griffin, set off on a quest to find the real Chosen One and get them to recite the spell and save their island home.

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Book Reviews: Samantha Mysteries

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The Curse of Ravenscourt by Sarah Masters Buckey

The Curse of Ravenscourt: A Samantha Mystery (American Girl Mysteries)
by Sarah Masters Buckey,\ Jean Paul Tibbles (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Samantha and her adopted sister Nelly go with Uncle Gard and Aunt Cornelia to live in an apartment in New York for a few weeks. The Ravenscourt Apartments are the height of luxury in the big city, but everything keeps going wrong in the building. The furnace breaks down, rats get into the walls, and a service elevator breaks and falls down the shaft. Some people think that the owner, Mr. Raven, must be cursed because he is such a harsh landlord to poor tenants in other buildings that he owns. Samantha and Nelly begin to investigate the strange occurrences around the building, determined to prove that the curse it not real, and someone must be targeting Mr. Raven.

Clue in the Castle Tower by Sarah Masters Buckey

Clue in the Castle Tower (American Girl Samantha Mysteries #4)
by Sarah Masters Buckey (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Samantha and Nelly are touring through England with Grandmary and the Admiral. They visit an old friend of the Admiral’s who lives in a grand manor house with a ruined castle on the grounds. There are rumors of a ghost in the manor, but Samantha and Nelly don’t believe in ghosts. However, when it’s discovered that some rare books have been stolen, they begin to wonder if someone has been using the ghost as a smokescreen for crime. The girls befriend two mischievous boys who live in the manor, and together they start to investigate the thefts.

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Book Review: The Sword and the Circle

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The Sword and the Circle by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Sword and the Circle: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (King Arthur Trilogy #1)
by  Rosemary Sutcliff

This book chronicles King Arthur’s ascent to the throne by taking the Sword from the Stone and the creation of the Round Table of the Knights of Camelot. We hear the legends of famous sword fights and adventures and quests. Sir Lancelot arrives in Camelot, and Sir Gawain confronts the Green Knight. Beaumains serves in the kitchen before anyone knows his true royal lineage. Lancelot is tricked and seduced by Elaine, and Tristan tells his sad history with his uncle’s bride, Iseult. Sir Gawain marries the Loathely Lady, but breaks the magic spell that made her ugly. And this book finishes with the mysterious arrival of Percival, a knight who wanders in from the wild.
(To read more about Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere, and their tragic fate, you would have to read the rest of the series.)

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Book Review: Sir Edmund of the Wild West: Mystery in the Grand Canyon

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Sir Edmund of the Wild West by Dusti Bowling

Sir Edmund of the Wild West: Mystery in the Grand Canyon
by Dusti Bowling (Goodreads Author), Beth Hughes (Illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Edmund is a highly-trained British service dog who can detect seizures. He has a new owner, Willy, who makes videos about tracking down ghosts at historic locations. They hike through the Grand Canyon, searching for clues about what might have happened to some river rafters who disappeared decades before under mysterious circumstances. Although dogs can’t talk to the living, they can see and communicate with the dead ghosts that haunt the canyon. Edmund meets a lot of friendly ghosts who kindly lead him in the right direction to solve the mystery.

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Book Review: Nell O’Dell Hates Quests

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Nell O'Dell Hates Quests by Emily B. Martin

Nell O’Dell Hates Quests (The Golden Crossroads #1)
by Emily B. Martin

5 out of 5 stars

Nell is sick and tired of quests. She works at the crossroads inn where she constantly hears about chosen ones, grand prophecies, and magic weapons. She sneers at all the questers who pass through the crossroads looking for glory and fame. Nell just wants a quiet life at the inn taking care of her chickens and her garden. But when there is a problem with the deed to the inn, Nell’s parents send her on a “journey” (NOT a quest!) to the capital to present the deed at the Exchequer’s office and prove their ownership of the inn. She is joined by an overly-excitable goblin, Midge, who is delighted to be included on the journey (NOT a quest!). Along the way they run into a mysterious thief, a hermit faun, a dragon keeper, and a sad troll whose name has been stolen by an evil fairy. Their journey (NOT a quest!) is fraught with danger and adventure and mystery, but Nell O’Dell hates quests, so it just CAN’T be a quest… can it? If a quest is “just a trip with a goal that’s important to you”, will Nell embrace the questing legends or find a way to complete her quest on her own terms?

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Book Review: The Thing About Giants

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The Thing About Giants by Christopher Galvin

The Thing About Giants
by Christopher Galvin (Goodreads Author)

3 out of 5 stars

Jacq’s parents are giant hunters, but she has always thought the practice was barbaric. Despite growing up in a city literally made from giant bones, Jacq is dismayed when she is chosen to be trained as a giant hunter and follow in her parents footsteps. On her first mission outside the city, Jacq is lost in the wilderness where she meets Corman.
Corman is a young giant travelling with his father to find some medicinal herbs when they are attacked by giant hunters, throwing them all into a dangerous adventure and an awkward friendship that could change both their cultures forever.

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Book Review: Graciela in the Abyss

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Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina

Graciela in the Abyss
by Meg Medina (Goodreads Author), Anna Balbusso (Illustrator), Elena Balbusso (Illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Graciela is only thirteen when she falls off a cliff and dies in the ocean. One hundred years later, she wakes from her death sleep and becomes a ghost. The friendly ghost community welcomes her, and her mentor Amina teaches her about living in the ocean and trains her to be a sea-glass artisan.
Jorge is a living boy from a family of blacksmiths. He discovers that his grandfather created a mystic harpoon capable of killing ghosts and sending them to a final death. He puts his own life at risk in order to destroy the terrible weapon, but he can’t do it alone.

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Book Review: The Floating Island

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The Floating Island by Elizabeth Haydon

The Floating Island (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme, #1)
by Elizabeth Haydon

4 out of 5 stars

Ven’s family are shipbuilders, and when Ven goes on a ship to inspect it, the ship is sunk by Fire Pirates and Ven is left adrift in the ocean. He is rescued by a merrow/mermaid and taken aboard a passing ship on the way to Serendair, an island nation where adventure awaits.

This book has an enchanting fantasy world! There are little variations on different typical fantasy creatures. Ven is a Nain, which is similar to a dwarf. There are merrows, like a mixture of mermaids and selkies. The Spice Folk are like nature fairies or brownies who are invisible. The Lirin are sort of like forest elves. They all have their own characteristics and skills and magical abilities. I was delighted with the details about each culture!

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