Starred review from December 1, 2019
In this series opener from Septimus Heap creator Sage, an oracle's accidentally truthful prophecy feeds a monarch's paranoia and prompts his magically enforced ban on Enchanters. Ten years ago, unable to escape themselves, Alex's parents handed her to a woman with two daughters on the last train out of Rekadom. Now 11, Alex endures life as Mirram's foster daughter and bullied household drudge. Secretly reading cards in the Luma marketplace yields her spending money--also danger; Sentinels are everywhere, enforcing the city's ban on Enchanters and their magic. Alex fears she's been seen reading for her last customer, Benn. Instead, Mirram's youngest daughter Names not only Alex, but her own mother and little brother, Louie, to the Sentinels. Dire consequences ensue. Fleeing with Louie and the family's pet pokkle, Alex is spotted by King Belamus' magical enforcers: the enormous Hawke and its novice Flyer, who, fortunately, can't bring himself to shoot them or his next Quarry, an old man in the forest. Once again, Sage offers intricate worldbuilding, richly evocative settings, nuanced characters (all have flaws and don't always manifest their good intentions), deftly woven plotting, and wry humor. The downside to eating dried snake is revealed; the royal ex-Enchanter offers caustic comments on the king's penchant for alliteration; and visitors making the arduous climb to question the Oracle are confronted with a "No Picnicking" sign. Characters are default white. An unmitigated delight. (Fantasy. 10-13)
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January 27, 2020
In this fast-paced fantasy, first in a duology, Sage (the Septimus Heap series) weaves an engaging tale of constant danger and capricious magic. When Alex, 11, an Enchanter, is betrayed by her foster sister for the crime of possessing Enchanted cards, she’s forced to flee Luma for her life with foster brother Louie in tow. Now they must survive in a land where Enchanters and their works are illegal, and terrifying creatures called Hauntings hunt them at every turn. Determined to fight back against the system that imprisoned her birth parents, Alex goes in search of clues to her identity. Meanwhile, Danny Dark, a young man responsible for hunting down Enchanters, has a change of heart and partners with the King’s former Enchanter, who’s also determined to stop this persecution. Sage’s world is inventive and weird, featuring creatures such as the enormous Enchanter-hunting Hawke and the talkative pokkle (a parrot/gecko mix). Following multiple viewpoints, including those of Alex, Danny, and a goat named Howard, the overlapping, interweaving narrative allows for a panoramic experience with an almost madcap intensity. Ages 8–12.
Starred review from February 1, 2020
Gr 4-7-Sage kicks off the first book in her "Enchanter's Child" duology with a prologue that describes how the King's Enchanter gave up his baby daughter to an unknown woman in order to save her. Ten years later in the city of Luma, Alex knows nothing of her true parents; only the drudgery of doing household chores while her stepmother and foster sisters boss her around. She does have two comforts-her younger brother Louie and her hexagonal cards that can foretell the future. But Luma has banned magic and when one sister betrays her to the Sentinels, Alex and Louie must flee. They escape to a forest but are pursued by deadly Twilight Hauntings including river snakes, stinging butterflies, a giant Hawke, and the suffocating Gray Walker. Meanwhile, the ex-Enchanter Hagos Ravenstarr forms an alliance with the Hawke's former Flyer, Danny. They start searching for the magical items needed to destroy the Hauntings; the same quest Alex also undertakes. Sage has built a fully realized world populated by intriguing characters and terrifying monsters. She skillfully builds tension using plot twists that include friendship and betrayal, good intentions and misunderstandings, fearsome attacks and daring escapes, and family dramas of various sorts. VERDICT Fans of fantasy and adventure will snap this up and eagerly await the sequel. A first purchase.-Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT
Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
December 15, 2019
Grades 4-7 Ten years after Enchanters and their children were outlawed in the kingdom of Rekadom, 11-year-old Alex and her enchanted cards are reported to the authorities?by her own foster sister, no less. Making a narrow escape with her younger foster brother and the family pokkle (a hilarious lizard-parrot creature), Alex sets out to discover just who she is and where she belongs, with the cards as her only clue. She is pursued everywhere she goes by Twilight Hauntings?curses and creatures meant to hunt down and rid Rekadom of those who practice magic?but she is helped, too, by a colorful cast of friends old and new. Readers know from the start who Alex's father is, and roughly half the narrative follows his attempts to find her. The plot relies heavily on drawing out this miscommunication-driven goose chase, but it's a charming, if sometimes frustrating, chase to watch unfold. This duology opener will surely find fans among readers of Sage's own popular Septimus Heap books, as well as Patrick Carman's Land of Elyon series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)