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hedyharper's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, Bullying, Classism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Medical trauma, Hate crime, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder
caitcosentino's review
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Obsessed with this world! The paragons & marvels at ATI are so unique and interesting. Ella's a strong main character.
I guessed most of the twists but still enjoyed it. I do wish the villian was a little more compelling.
I need to know more and why Mr Durand was with Gia.
I guessed most of the twists but still enjoyed it. I do wish the villian was a little more compelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Kidnapping and Blood
Minor: Death
alliemikennareads's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Well, I’ve stumbled upon yet another really great middle grade fantasy series! I love the story world/ world building here. I could see where the story was headed as an adult, but the threads are so well done - I would have absolutely loved the mysteries in this book as a kid and would have been guessing all along with less certainty. Immediately hopped to book two after finishing!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
aliciawhatsthestory's review
adventurous
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Dhonielle Clayton has created a magical school series with a truly unique magic system. Throw in some excellent world building, an interesting villain, and some real world issues, and The Marvellers is a definite winner.
The way that Ella is treated as she starts as the the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute in the clouds draws a clear parallel to real world prejudice and the ways that “politeness” and “tradition” are weaponized against marginalized people. Despite this clear commentary, the story stays focused on Ella, her experiences, her positive attitude, and her excellence. It highlights the importance of uplifting differences, rather than shying away from and othering them.
Through their friendship, Ella, Brigit, and Jason show bravery, heroism, and the great things that can be achieved with acceptance and collaboration. This is a truly magical world that I am excited to revisit in the second installment.
The one small annoyance was that the author seems to conflate knitting, quilting, and crochet, which are three different crafts. I am hoping for an explanation in the next book.
The way that Ella is treated as she starts as the the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute in the clouds draws a clear parallel to real world prejudice and the ways that “politeness” and “tradition” are weaponized against marginalized people. Despite this clear commentary, the story stays focused on Ella, her experiences, her positive attitude, and her excellence. It highlights the importance of uplifting differences, rather than shying away from and othering them.
Through their friendship, Ella, Brigit, and Jason show bravery, heroism, and the great things that can be achieved with acceptance and collaboration. This is a truly magical world that I am excited to revisit in the second installment.
The one small annoyance was that the author seems to conflate knitting, quilting, and crochet, which are three different crafts. I am hoping for an explanation in the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Minor: Child death, Death, and Blood
qrschulte's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this book!!! If you’re looking for a Harry Potter dupe that actually has diversity (race, gender, sexuality, disability) you have to pick this up. I loved all the nods to other authors in the “background” characters’s names; a very fun addition. AND I CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR WHAT HAPPENS NEXT TO MY SWEET BABIES!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Classism, Racism, Gaslighting, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Blood, Kidnapping, Confinement, Abandonment, Child abuse, Hate crime, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Murder, Torture, Medical content, Stalking, Injury/Injury detail, Outing, and Child death
scorpstar77's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Mental illness
clarabooksit's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Bullying, and Racism
Minor: Violence, Slavery, and Murder
ejthephoenix's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
The book is actually 401 pages long. Its an amazing read and as a fan of Harry Potter I loved it. This book is so magical and inclusive and I wish this were real so bad. I want to be part of this world. All of the characters are so diverse and I feel like many people are represented through this book. I can't wait for the second one
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Child death, Classism, and Racism
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I can definitely see the overwhelming potential for this series and I will be continuing with it, but unfortunately this first book fell a little flat for me.
Let's start with the positives! Clayton has created an incredibly rich magical world. I liked the steampunk vibes and how this played into the types of transport featured. In terms of the Arcanum Training Institute, it was clear a lot of thought had gone into the Paragons and what magic could do, and it was cool seeing this reflected in the classes that Ella took. My absolute favourite part of the worldbuilding was the shops and foods that Clayton envisioned. It's these little details that really bring worlds to life for me!
As well as this, the main character Ella was a lovely one to follow. I liked her determination and curiosity. Finally, I thought it was sweet that Clayton named so many minor characters after her author friends - it was a nice touch.
Now time for the negatives. My biggest one is that you are really thrown in the deep end regarding worldbuilding - names and terminology are thrown at you in a kind of info-dumpy way so that for the first wee while I was a bit lost and overwhelmed. I still don't fully understand the difference between Conjuring and Marvelling, and why the latter shunned the former (maybe I missed something important??).
My other major issue with the book was pacing. I am being fully serious when I say that an actual plot directly involving the MC doesn't begin until you are over 60% of the way through the book. Prior to this Ella is finding her footing at the ATI, which is an important part of the story, but means that the overarching plot that is mentioned in the synopsis is pushed into the last third of the book and rushed through. I also found the way the climax was written to be quite anti-climactic. I will say that when the plot did kick in I was enjoying my time with the book much more, which gives me lots of hope for the next instalment in the series.
Overall, while I was a little disappointed by this book I would by no means say it was bad and I'm really looking forward to picking up the next instalment and seeing where Ella goes next.
As a side note, I listened to the audiobook for this one which I definitely would not recommend. The narrator could not do the accents required by the narrative and there were too many mispronunciations (e.g. preening was pronounced as pre-enning, and mimicry was pronounced as me-me-cry). The narrator also didn't follow textual cues (e.g. "she whispered" or "she hollered") and seemed more focussed one enunciation than narrating naturally and with flow.
Let's start with the positives! Clayton has created an incredibly rich magical world. I liked the steampunk vibes and how this played into the types of transport featured. In terms of the Arcanum Training Institute, it was clear a lot of thought had gone into the Paragons and what magic could do, and it was cool seeing this reflected in the classes that Ella took. My absolute favourite part of the worldbuilding was the shops and foods that Clayton envisioned. It's these little details that really bring worlds to life for me!
As well as this, the main character Ella was a lovely one to follow. I liked her determination and curiosity. Finally, I thought it was sweet that Clayton named so many minor characters after her author friends - it was a nice touch.
Now time for the negatives. My biggest one is that you are really thrown in the deep end regarding worldbuilding - names and terminology are thrown at you in a kind of info-dumpy way so that for the first wee while I was a bit lost and overwhelmed. I still don't fully understand the difference between Conjuring and Marvelling, and why the latter shunned the former (maybe I missed something important??).
My other major issue with the book was pacing. I am being fully serious when I say that an actual plot directly involving the MC doesn't begin until you are over 60% of the way through the book. Prior to this Ella is finding her footing at the ATI, which is an important part of the story, but means that the overarching plot that is mentioned in the synopsis is pushed into the last third of the book and rushed through. I also found the way the climax was written to be quite anti-climactic. I will say that when the plot did kick in I was enjoying my time with the book much more, which gives me lots of hope for the next instalment in the series.
Overall, while I was a little disappointed by this book I would by no means say it was bad and I'm really looking forward to picking up the next instalment and seeing where Ella goes next.
As a side note, I listened to the audiobook for this one which I definitely would not recommend. The narrator could not do the accents required by the narrative and there were too many mispronunciations (e.g. preening was pronounced as pre-enning, and mimicry was pronounced as me-me-cry). The narrator also didn't follow textual cues (e.g. "she whispered" or "she hollered") and seemed more focussed one enunciation than narrating naturally and with flow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Bullying, and Racism
Moderate: Violence and Hate crime
Minor: Excrement, Death, Toxic friendship, Blood, Gore, Murder, Police brutality, Confinement, Physical abuse, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Racism, Animal cruelty, and Medical content
Graphic: bigotry. Note: the racism in the graphic warning above refers mostly to ethnic racism. Minor: missing loved one, illness, self-injury, loss of a loved one, imprisonment.rinku's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I was so excited to read The Marvellers since I love magic and boarding school but, in the end, I noticed that MG may not be my genre (excluding Warriors lmao). For me, it was just too childish, and the plot was too simple, but the diverse world was still so amazing.
The plot was just progressing so slowly since the introduction to the world was quite lengthy. Ella is the first of her kind to go to the magic school Arcanum. Since everything is new to her, there was barely anything happening in the first two-thirds of the book which was a bit boring. Additionally, there were big time skips that further slowed down the story. The main event that was described in the synopsis that one of their teachers disappears only takes place after two-thirds of the novel. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this whole event, and the kids became way too obsessed with this teacher they only knew for a few months. Another problem is that the plot goes in circles for a long time which is partly caused by the bad communication between characters. The ending was so predictable as well – but okay, it’s a children’s book.
I really don’t want to give HP any more attention, but the inspirations from it were very obvious at some points. I didn’t like that the general idea of different houses was taken over because it always separates the children in an arbitrary way. Just to list of a few other similarities I noticed: Like Harry, Ella is something special and different from the other students; there’s a mysterious prison that is very isolated and where people break out in the course of the story; there are talking statues of the school founders, similar to the house ghosts; a random sport event is mentioned; there’s one scene where Ella raises her hand but she isn’t called by the teachers even though she’s the only one raising her hand.
But of course, the magic system was quite different. It was a bit complicated at the beginning and I could imagine that children could find it complicated as well. Another problem I had was with the writing style. Like I’ve said, I’m not the target audience, so children may like it, but the humour was so juvenile. There were also some similes that were just weird.
One of my favorite things about The Marvellers and why I still gave it three stars were the characters. I love how diverse not only they were, but also the school and the world itself (e.g., the teachers, the food they eat). Sadly though, I wasn’t able to bound too much with the main characters. I also find it a bit annoying that we still need the cliché mean girls.
With all things considered, I won’t read the next book of The Marvellers series. It’s a great diverse series for children but I’m just not the target audience for it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Bullying