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booksnorkel's review
This book was ok. I was expecting it to be funny like her Enchanted Forest books but it wasn't until the end. The book is told in the first person, so nothing is really described, I didn't really enjoy the voice. I am going to read the second book but I'm not going to recommend it to anyone.
the_story_girl's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun read! Reminds me of the Little House books, just with a pinch of magic.✨
“This is the most important lesson you must learn about magic," Miss Ochiba went on. "There are many ways of seeing. Each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth. If you limit yourselves to one way of seeing, one truth, you will limit your power. You will also place limits on the kinds of spells you can cast, as well as their strength. To be a good magician, you must see in many ways. You must be flexible. You must be willing to learn from different sources. And you must always remember that the truths you see are incomplete.”
4 stars✨
Book 32/52
~The Story Girl
“This is the most important lesson you must learn about magic," Miss Ochiba went on. "There are many ways of seeing. Each has an element of truth, but none is the whole truth. If you limit yourselves to one way of seeing, one truth, you will limit your power. You will also place limits on the kinds of spells you can cast, as well as their strength. To be a good magician, you must see in many ways. You must be flexible. You must be willing to learn from different sources. And you must always remember that the truths you see are incomplete.”
4 stars✨
Book 32/52
~The Story Girl
readcover2cover's review
2.0
I have to admit that I only read a little over a third of it, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try it again though, because I've loved other books by Patricia C. Wrede! It wasn't that it was terrible or anything, there were just other books I had that I wanted to read more! After getting over 10 chapters in without feeling like a whole lot was happening, I just decided to take a break.
haley_j_casey's review
3.0
Maybe 3.5 stars? It's been a long time since I read this. I know I liked it, but I couldn't have loved it too much or I'd remember it better.
kayedacus's review against another edition
4.0
What a fun book! I did find myself wondering where it was going and what the point was as there isn't really much of a linear plot to it, but it was engaging enough to overlook that for the most part. The audiobook had a sample of the second book in the series, too, and now I'm really looking forward to that one.
glitterbomb47's review
4.0
Thankfully, Eff (short for Francince) is NOT another modern heroine plopped into the past. Interesting world, believable characters. I'm looking forward to reading the second book.
andydear's review
4.0
Eff is a 13th child and in her world, that makes her bad luck. She grew up being told by her many Aunts and Uncles that she was born evil, devil spawn, an accident waiting to happen. When she had been born it had been insisted on that she be killed, but her parents wouldn't have it and loved her just the same as any of their other children. Despite her parents protection however, Eff was constantly the target of tormenting and abuse from her relatives. When her family finally moves away from her horrible tormenters, Eff is terrified of what she is what horrible things she might do.
I have read around 6 novels by Patricia Wrede and each one proves more than the last what a great author she really is. I envy the way that she is able to make magic seem as simple as riding a bike. I love the way she can make a reader feel like maybe magic is real and we just have to go out to find it. It's these constant themes that make me come back to her books.
And I did come back to her books, a few days a go, to read this. Let me just start by saying that in those early chapters I really wanted to hop into the story and give Eff a hug and give her some reassurances. It was never her fault when anything unfortunate happened and she didn't have to become evil if she didn't want to. Because of the sympathy I felt for Eff, I became attached to her as a character and she quickly became my favorite. So every time Eff gave the slightest hint of hope in her future, I felt like a proud mother.
There was another character, Eff's best friend William, who I think deserves to be talked about. William became Eff's friend because both of their fathers worked as college professors and William's father didn't really think that any of the other children were good enough to play with his son. So Eff became his friend and after a long childhood together they became really close. He was the only one who noticed how she always blamed her self whenever something would go wrong. When she was sick, he would go visit her everyday for a year. He never teased her or tormented her and when he found out about her being a 13th child he insisted it was nothing. He was practically apart of her family. The thing is, I don't want them to be family. I want them to be married. In fact, I want them to be best friends turned husband and wife and I want them to get a big house and have children who will be taught magic and be happy.
But the thing is, Patricia Wrede is very big about not making romance the center of attention in her books. She likes to make her female protagonists very strong with out a male influence. Not that I mind that at all, it's amazing!! She creates all of these witches and princesses who make it a point that they don't need a husband to be successful or happy. It makes me stupidly happy as a feminist. But still, I really wanted them to get married. At least a hint that it would happen! In the entire book they were my only ship (Ship meaning: characters I think should be in a relationship), and the fact that they weren't cannon (cannon meaning, an idea that is confirmed to be true by author/writer) just about destroyed me. I was in despair at the end of the book when I realized that I would never know if they really did get married or not. But I suppose I can live with that. Maybe one day she will attend the festival of books in L.A. and I can ask her myself, what happened.
So to wrap it up, I will recommend this book to anybody who has a thirst for fantasy and loves to read about strong female leads. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and if you would like to read other books like it I would recommend the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Graceling.
I have read around 6 novels by Patricia Wrede and each one proves more than the last what a great author she really is. I envy the way that she is able to make magic seem as simple as riding a bike. I love the way she can make a reader feel like maybe magic is real and we just have to go out to find it. It's these constant themes that make me come back to her books.
And I did come back to her books, a few days a go, to read this. Let me just start by saying that in those early chapters I really wanted to hop into the story and give Eff a hug and give her some reassurances. It was never her fault when anything unfortunate happened and she didn't have to become evil if she didn't want to. Because of the sympathy I felt for Eff, I became attached to her as a character and she quickly became my favorite. So every time Eff gave the slightest hint of hope in her future, I felt like a proud mother.
There was another character, Eff's best friend William, who I think deserves to be talked about. William became Eff's friend because both of their fathers worked as college professors and William's father didn't really think that any of the other children were good enough to play with his son. So Eff became his friend and after a long childhood together they became really close. He was the only one who noticed how she always blamed her self whenever something would go wrong. When she was sick, he would go visit her everyday for a year. He never teased her or tormented her and when he found out about her being a 13th child he insisted it was nothing. He was practically apart of her family. The thing is, I don't want them to be family. I want them to be married. In fact, I want them to be best friends turned husband and wife and I want them to get a big house and have children who will be taught magic and be happy.
But the thing is, Patricia Wrede is very big about not making romance the center of attention in her books. She likes to make her female protagonists very strong with out a male influence. Not that I mind that at all, it's amazing!! She creates all of these witches and princesses who make it a point that they don't need a husband to be successful or happy. It makes me stupidly happy as a feminist. But still, I really wanted them to get married. At least a hint that it would happen! In the entire book they were my only ship (Ship meaning: characters I think should be in a relationship), and the fact that they weren't cannon (cannon meaning, an idea that is confirmed to be true by author/writer) just about destroyed me. I was in despair at the end of the book when I realized that I would never know if they really did get married or not. But I suppose I can live with that. Maybe one day she will attend the festival of books in L.A. and I can ask her myself, what happened.
So to wrap it up, I will recommend this book to anybody who has a thirst for fantasy and loves to read about strong female leads. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and if you would like to read other books like it I would recommend the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Graceling.
lakecake's review
3.0
Received for free through Goodreads First Reads.
Thirteenth Child is a fantasy novel with a neat twist--it's set in America. Some of the names have been changed, but figuring out where's what and who's who is actually pretty simple. The time period is a bit more difficult..I'd say it's probably 20 years or so after the Civil War give or take. It could be much longer--it's the frontier and settlement period following the war that takes much of the focus. The other difference is, they use magic. For everything. There are magical creatures in the forest, they have hurry-up spells to make their clothes dry faster (I'd like that one, if anyone's listening), spells to help mend clothes, whatever you can think of. Magic is taught at school, and everyone relies on magicians to help protect the settlers from the magical creatures.
Eff, our main character, has been told her whole life that she's unlucky. A hellspawn. And these are the things her family members say! She's thirteenth-born, twin to the seventh-son of a seventh-son--a very lucky magical boy. Eff's life is hard, until her family moves farther into the frontier for her father's job at a land-grant college. The change allows Eff to learn more about herself, others, and magic. The magical backdrop is interesting, but this is really the story of a girl's coming of age and accepting being different. It's well-written and the characters feel like real pepole. I only give this three stars instead of anything higher because it's quite obviously the set-up for bigger things to come--we learn characters and settings, but not too much happens. I'll be really interested in the next book in the series.
Thirteenth Child is a fantasy novel with a neat twist--it's set in America. Some of the names have been changed, but figuring out where's what and who's who is actually pretty simple. The time period is a bit more difficult..I'd say it's probably 20 years or so after the Civil War give or take. It could be much longer--it's the frontier and settlement period following the war that takes much of the focus. The other difference is, they use magic. For everything. There are magical creatures in the forest, they have hurry-up spells to make their clothes dry faster (I'd like that one, if anyone's listening), spells to help mend clothes, whatever you can think of. Magic is taught at school, and everyone relies on magicians to help protect the settlers from the magical creatures.
Eff, our main character, has been told her whole life that she's unlucky. A hellspawn. And these are the things her family members say! She's thirteenth-born, twin to the seventh-son of a seventh-son--a very lucky magical boy. Eff's life is hard, until her family moves farther into the frontier for her father's job at a land-grant college. The change allows Eff to learn more about herself, others, and magic. The magical backdrop is interesting, but this is really the story of a girl's coming of age and accepting being different. It's well-written and the characters feel like real pepole. I only give this three stars instead of anything higher because it's quite obviously the set-up for bigger things to come--we learn characters and settings, but not too much happens. I'll be really interested in the next book in the series.
heidimrogers's review
4.0
This book was a little slow at times, but I really really enjoyed the setting, which I thought was really unusual. It was like "historical new world America," WITH MAGIC. I also enjoyed the characters and loosely identified with stuff the main character was going through familialy.
lorathelibrarian's review
3.0
The story was interesting, but overcomplicated. There with all types of magic definitions, teachings, and magical settings and descriptions that muddled the plot and characters. Getting past that, it was an entertaining read, but not quite memorable. I don't think I'll pick up the next book in the series whenever it comes out.