Skip to main content

Gift of the Unmage

By
Gift of the Unmage
By Alma Alexander
Enos, 2007. 389 pgs. Chapter book.

If any book could be called the complete opposite of Harry Potter, this is that book.

A celebrity from the moment of her birth, Thea is the seventh child of two seventh children. By all rights she should be one of the most powerful mages ever born. Much to the embarrassment of herself and her powerful parents, Thea shows not the faintest glimmer of magic. It looks like she will have to attend The Wandless School, a unique institution that teaches its students how to get along without magic in a completely magical world.

Overall I found this book enjoyable. Though it was a little slow getting started, I was soon drawn into the story as it got going. Once Thea got to The Wandless School the plot became even more exciting. I do wish I could have learned more about the school and Thea’s fellow students. This group of friends don’t really show up until the last third of the book, so there wasn’t much time to focus on their backgrounds. Of course, this is only the first book so I guess there is plenty of series left to flesh out more about these extremely interesting kids who each have a different reason for attending a school completely devoid of magic. I look forward to reading future installments.

Kids who love the Harry Potter and Charlie Bone series will find this a fascinating read.
Labels:

Comments

curlyq said…
I thought this was a fun book. The beginning is a tad slow but then it picks up. I love the imagery that describes the magic involved. The ending is a little bizarre but I liked the different take on this magical tale.
September 5, 2007 at 1:49 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

By
KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Memory Spinner

By
The Memory Spinner Written by C.M. Cornwell New York : Delacorte Press, 2025. Fiction. 281 pages. Fantasy is a genre that I don't often read. When I finish a good fantasy book, I always ask myself why I don't read more of them! This book made me ask myself that exact question. Lavender is a young girl who is struggling after the death of her mother. Her father doesn't like talking about the family's loss, and Lavender feels very alone in knowing how to grieve and cope with her feelings. Making the grieving process even harder for Lavender is the fact that she is struggling to hold on to memories of her mother.  The family runs an apothecary shop where Lavender is an apprentice. She has dreamed of her apprenticeship for a long time, putting in a lot of work to show her father she is a valuable asset. Unfortunately, while working side by side with her father, Lavender starts to notice that memories of her mother aren't the only thing she is having a hard time recallin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: Kareem Between

By
  Kareem Between By Shifa Saltagi Safadi New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2024. Fiction. 324 pages.  Kareem loves football and as he gets ready to start seventh grade he dreams of someday becoming the first Syrian American NFL player. Seventh grade is not off to a great start for Kareem, after football tryouts don't go as he had planned, his best friend moves away, and his mom returns to Syria to help bring his sick grandfather to the US for treatment. So when Austin, the quarterback and coach's son, offers to talk to his dad and get Kareem on the football team in the spring, if he will cheat and do his homework for him, Kareem agrees. Kareem really wants to fit in at school and he is desperate to find a friend, but deep down he knows that doing Austin's homework isn't the right thing to do. And to make things harder, Kareem's mom asks him to be a friend to Fadi, a Syrian Christian refugee. He knows he should stand up for Fadi and help him adjust to the new school,...
Post a Comment
Read more