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A review by lakecake
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede
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.