Can we just discuss for a moment why most of these kinds of books have a character named Periwinkle? Since it's a kid's fantasy book, I guess it wouldn't be complete without twee names like Periwinkle. There seems to be a little bit of a steampunk element to it as well as many of the characters wear victorian garb and there are clockwork devices to measure and trap magical energy, which is a major plot point towards the end of the novel. The wizards in this universe must let a magical object choose them in order to access their powers, but instead of a wand it's a stone called the magilicus locus (which just so happens to work exactly like a wand in Harry Potter). The illustrations on the inside are reminiscent of Mary GrandPré's Potter artwork, yet it does get repetitive as the same pictures are shown over and over again instead of individual designs for each chapter. It's a fun, fluffy book for MG readers who enjoyed the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books. If you enjoy quick-paced, engaging MG fantasy, you won't regret preordering this one. The Magic Thief will be out this June, it's the first of a trilogy, and it's wonderful. I have a weakness for thieves to begin with, but by the end of the first chapter I was grinning idiotically (always a good sign) and I knew that I was going to like Conn very much indeed. The characters in The Magic Thief are realistically flawed and fallible, yet they never lost my interest or (where appropriate) my sympathy I particularly liked the way that Prineas developed a couple of the secondary characters, subverting my expectations of them in a surprising and satisfying way. The invented world in which Conn moves has a Dickensian flair without being merely alt-Victoriana, and its magical system is both well imagined and intriguing. But in Sarah Prineas's hands a story that could have been predictable instead has a wonderful freshness and vitality about it. The Magic Thief has a number of familiar fantasy motifs and character types.
This book made me absurdly and enormously happy.
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