A review by mellhay
Spellspam by Alma Alexander

4.0

It's the next year with everyone back at the Wandless Academy. A girl, LaTasha, runs screaming from the Library. To Thea she looked like she had no skin on her face just the muscles. Thea finds the spam email LaTasha read still on the computer screen; guaranteeing clearer skin than you can image. Could there be a spell involved? Here at the Wandless Academy where no one can do magic. And from through the computers where magic can't affect any one... Is Thea going to be the one blamed for all these spellspams since the principle knows what she can do?

This book is an excellent second book. It focuses on the wonderful story more than the setup of the characters and magical world. I felt there were two additional climaxes to the storyline that went with the main story, almost like two bonus short stories added in. The spellspams were fun as the way they were worded made me chuckle and as the story went on I wanted to figure out what the spell would affect before I knew the results of it.

Thea and her friends are curious about what they did with the computers last year, as they are a group on magicless kids in a world full of magic - and last year seemed like magic. They start to investigate more into the unique computer magic. Thea had thought she was the only person that could touch computers in a magical way, but these new spellspams leave her wondering if there is someone else out there like her.

In this book Thea's powers start to grow. It is also very nice to see Thea stand on her own two feet when it comes to her magical abilities. She is starting to get better control of what she can do, when to ask for help, and who to ask. Thea is a young girl starting to grow up. We also take Thea out of her safe zone of the Wandless Academy which opens up a door to more danger. The Alphiri are still a shadow in the back of Thea's mind that could jump out and take her at any time.

I enjoyed the characters in this book as well. Thea's aunt is one of my favorites for the way she talks and her magic. But I enjoyed the way all the characters interact with each other. Alma is great at picking up children's views of happenings around them.

This book is great for Young Readers and Young Adults as there is no gory violence and not sexual content.