Angie Sage

Magyk by Angie Sage contains some wonderfully whimsical and humorous ideas, such as the Supreme Custodian's diabolical plans seemingly only working out when formulated from within the women's restroom due to ghost restrictions. However, I wish the author leaned more into the bizarre and whimsical nature of the world she created.

This book has a tendency to underdevelop characters and details while also overexplaining things. I likely would have found the repetition and simplification as well as the use of bolding and capitalization juvenile even as a young child. The characters do not have distinct voices, and most do not have unique personalities. The dialogue is strange and the phrasing unnatural, making the first half of the book very difficult to get through (ex: "He had broken his fifth metacarpal. His little finger."). Random things are constantly added into the story, such as a magical dragon-boat, which could have worked if the bizarre and whimsical aspects of the world were consistently part of more of the story. If that were the case, this could have been a wonderful Alice-in-Wonderland-esque children's book. Instead, each addition feels like it was not thought through, with no connection to earlier in the book, as if the author just added things in as they came to mind.

I thought the plot was very predictable, but I enjoyed the tie-in of the book's cover design and Septimus' apprentice journal at the end. I found myself looking forward to the illustrations at the start of each chapter, and the seamless perspective switches between characters and even creatures were fun.… (altro)

{My thoughts} – Araminta and Wanda are on yet another nice little adventure. This time they are questing to find Wanda’s dads missing frogs. Apparently his frogs have gone missing and Araminta is the first to be blamed. However, she didn’t take them so she’s decided to open up a detectives agency in an attempt to try and find them for him.

Their quest leads them lots of different places, eventually Araminta discovers where they might really be. She ends up requesting the help of Sir Horace and he proves to make the adventure just a little more entertaining in my opinion.

I do think that any child interested in the paranormal, mystery type books would enjoy reading these. I am looking forward to beginning the next book in the series very soon.… (altro)

{My thoughts} – Araminta and Wanda are still attending Gargoyle Hall and they are getting ready to go on a field trip to a place called Skeleton Island. Araminta is looking forward to this field trip because she has been there before with her Uncle Drac and he had given her a map that is suppose to lead her to a Pirate’s Treasure. She has only shared this information with Wanda but they both seem interested in meeting some pirate’s and having fun on their trip.

Once they get to the Island they are all paired off into groups of four and they end up with two other girls that neither Araminta or Wanda want to be paired with. However, when one of the two other girls asks to change groups they are told that isn’t a possibility and that it is the luck of the draw they they were placed with those two girls.

The trip goes smoothly for the most part, they are meant to find different rocks and different types of grass together for their assignment. However, Aramenta gets this idea in her head that she’d like to scare the two girls they are working with and well let’s just say the outcome isn’t what either of the girls would have expected.

If you’d like to know what happens you will need to read the book. I have come to love how these books have a bit of humor, paranormal and mystery all wrapped up into them. I also love how they can draw the reader in and are for the most part nice and fast reads that you can knock out in a couple of hours.

I do recommend these books for any child that enjoys mystery, paranormal and humor in their books. I am certain that they will enjoy these books as much as I have enjoyed reading them. I plan to give the entire series to date to my children as soon as I am through posting this review.… (altro)

{My thoughts} – Araminta is excited because her birthday is coming up and she is looking forward to celebrating. However, her Aunt Tabby wins a contest and all the adults go on a trip leaving the children behind in the care of other adults.

It turns out that her Great Aunt can’t make it to babysit, but her cousin does. Her cousin and Wanda then plan a surprise prefer Araminta without her every figuring out a thing about it.

While Araminta is sad about not being able to celebrate her birthday the way she wanted to she decides to help Sir Horace. Sir Horace’s castle is up for auction and she’s determined to get it back for him.

The end of the book blends both situations together and wraps it all up in a neat little bow.

I am sure any child that likes a bit of mystery and paranormal mixed together can easily enjoy this series as much as I have been. I really am enjoying this series and am looking forward to starting the next book.… (altro)