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erebus53's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I read this book as part of a reading marathon on the last day of the year, so I may not have engaged with it as deeply as I should. It's the story of a girl who is living in a boarding school because her mother is missing. She is given the news that her mother is now "legally" considered dead, but she refuses to believe it, and would rather go questing to find her mother than wind up in care... and besides there are children going missing...
The start of the book is less like Harry Potter, but it starts to feel that way as she lucks into a talking cat who helps her find her way to her aunt who runs a school for witches. In her travels she encounters various fairy creatures, and the fae encounters in the book all feel very familiar, as I have encountered their like in other books dealing with UK faerie lore; such as Utterly Dark & The Heart of the Wild (Phillip Reeve), Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Garth Nix), and the classic, King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany). This book feels a little less scary than those books.
I'm keen to read more of the books in the series and I am definitely recommending this one to my daughter who is in that pre-teen age group that this book is clearly aimed at.
The start of the book is less like Harry Potter, but it starts to feel that way as she lucks into a talking cat who helps her find her way to her aunt who runs a school for witches. In her travels she encounters various fairy creatures, and the fae encounters in the book all feel very familiar, as I have encountered their like in other books dealing with UK faerie lore; such as Utterly Dark & The Heart of the Wild (Phillip Reeve), Left-Handed Booksellers of London (Garth Nix), and the classic, King of Elfland's Daughter (Lord Dunsany). This book feels a little less scary than those books.
I'm keen to read more of the books in the series and I am definitely recommending this one to my daughter who is in that pre-teen age group that this book is clearly aimed at.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, and Kidnapping
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