Cultural appreciation/cultural appropriation. It's a fine line, and a subjective one.



Unfortunately, this book ended up on the wrong side of that line, at least in my opinion. There was a definite Noble Savage vibe to much of the story. Which is too bad -- I really liked the main character, her frustration with being unable to live up to her family's expectations and her eventual acceptance of herself as she is. She doesn't have to change who she is to like herself, and that's a rare message. ( )

Galathea Winthrop is the seventh child of a seventh daughter and a seventh son, and she is expected to be a prodigy of a mage. Her birth is front-page news. Everyone awaits the news of her first signs of the great magic that will surely be hers.

Little Thea proves to be a "magidim," i.e., apparently no magic at all. Ars Magica is the only subject she doesn't excel in at school.

Finally, as a teenager, after years of special classes and special teachers, her parents conclude they have no choice. Her father arranges one last "summer camp" of special tutoring, hoping to knock her magic loose at last, and if that doesn't work, she'll have to go to Wandless Academy, the school for those with no magic at all.

"Summer camp" gets moved up to April, and is nothing like what she expected.

When it's done and she returns home, her ideas have changed a lot, along with her feelings about going to Wandless Academy. And what she finds at Wandless brings new revelations.

This is a story of a teenager who has grown up disappointing the impossible expectations all around her, and discovering who she really is. Along the way, she also learns a lot more about her parents, her aunt, and the other adults around her.

It's a good plot, and good character development. I'd love to talk more about the "summer camp" experience, but what I'd say would be spoilerific, so I refrain.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook. ( )

A unique fantasy that had me hooked start to finish. ( )

Thea is 14 years old. She's the seventh child of two seventh children, which means she is to be very powerful. Thea wants to go to the best magical University when she gets older. But, there is one thing holding her back...she doesn't have the magical touch, at all. She's not able to perform any magical projects. She feels she's letting her parents down. They have tried everything they can to help Thea find her magical nitch. Now, there is only one thing left to try and her father will call in a huge favor to try it.

In her eavesdropping Thea knows her parents have plans for her and if these plans with some private lessons don't work, she will be sent to that place next year. That place is The Wandless Academy, where non-magical children go to school. Non-magical children and schools are the minority and she feels she will become nothing in a magical world without magical powers.

This is a world where magic exists in a big way, and in many different specialities and levels. If you don't have magic, you don't amount to much of anything here, or as Thea feels. There is a big world starting to be created here with endless magical possibilities; from our traditional telepathy between family members to traditional magic with music or shepherd mages and different levels of mages. We even have portals to travel to different places and through time.

This young adult read is not one for lots of violence or intimacy of boyfriend/girlfriend, but what I did enjoy from it was the American Indian mythology usage. This was a great mythology to set with this world. Alma relates the things Thea learns my using the beliefs to the current time and place Thea lives in.

Thea starts off as a typical teenage child who in a way feels sorry for herself and guilty for her lack of powers, in relation to her parents. She has a wonderful and open relationship with her Aunt. As she is close with her parents, it's just she feels she has let them down, being expected to be so powerful. Thea really grows greatly through this book with what she learns while with Chevery. Then how she uses it when she returns home to willingly go to the Wardless Academy. Thea makes some wonderful and unusual friends there at the school. But it is a time she will never forget, for the things she accomplishes. I enjoyed the journeys Thea takes to understand herself. Through the beliefs and teachings Thea goes through she learns she has to be patient and the understanding will come ~ a great lesson to be learned by both children and adults alike.

I enjoyed this first book, and will be reading the next book as well. I would suggest this book to a Young adult who likes to read of magic and Americal Indian mythology. I feel this book was a nice break from lots of fighting and violence and even the drooling love scenes. This is a nice read for a younger adult to sit back and enjoy, and the parents not worring what is in those pages. ( )

The seventh kid of two seventh kids, the main character whose name I've already forgotten is supposed to have a ton of magic. But she doesn't. So her father sends her away to study with an Anasazi spiritual guide or something and she finds herself and talks with a Spider Goddess who isn't Anansi, because the trickster in the story is a wolf.But eventually she goes off to a school for people with no magical ability (which is a real rarity in the world, as there only seems to be one school in the whole world). And the school is the reason I selected this book with Novelist as a tool. So I was glad she finally got there.I'm not sure what I think of the inclusion of Native American elements. For the most part, it just didn't interest me. But I don't know enough to know if it was handled well, with knowledge and care, or not.After reading this and Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb, I came to the conclusion that I don't like spiritual journeys with a tutor/guide/teacher/whatever. Too much talking and perhaps magic I'm not comfortable with. Or just bored by.So, not bad, once she finally got to the school. But I'm not ready to put in an ILL request for the next book in the series either. ( )