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mellhay's review
3.0
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.
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.
telemwill's review
2.0
This book seemed to be two stories in one, one contemporary set in an alternate universe and one mythological .I liked the contemporary part of the story. It was about the struggle to overcome limitations. In this case, a girl, Thea, without magic living in a world that depends on it. She is dealing with expectations of being a double seventh, a child who was supposed to have great magical powers. She feels she is a disappointment to her family even though they love her just as she is. I didn't enjoy the mythological part of the story. It didn't ring true for me, and I was unable to suspend disbelief. Perhaps it was just a little too woo woo. I will probably give the second book a chance in the hopes that it will spend more time at Wandless Academy, the school for non-magicians where Thea is to be sent next semester.
stuhlsem's review
3.0
I was expecting some really cool fantasy, and I guess it's pretty cool, but it's all computer-connected. Not my fave.
iffer's review
3.0
I'm surprised that I had never heard of this book before. It was a surprisingly good first volume of fantasy for young readers that successfully used American Indian mythology in a way that captured the essence of the stories without blatantly co-opting them or being offensive.
lyndiane's review
4.0
Fairly well written but some long-winded descriptions of scenery and convoluted philosophy render the story somewhat tedious in several places.
meganmassey's review
2.0
Didn't finish. Great start but it got dull very quickly. Also, did I miss something?? I feel like the author skipped a step by not ever explaining how she learned magic?
juliemawesome's review
3.0
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.
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.
megant713's review
2.0
I did not really enjoy this one.
:(
A weird mix of fantasy elements and contemporary that almost makes a magical realism story?
I hated our main character. She was annoying, whiny, and didn't really have much personality. Because I couldn't connect with her I didn't care about this story at all.
:(
A weird mix of fantasy elements and contemporary that almost makes a magical realism story?
I hated our main character. She was annoying, whiny, and didn't really have much personality. Because I couldn't connect with her I didn't care about this story at all.