Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to ever be accepted at the Arcanum Training Institute for Marvellers. Her family's "magic" is so different from marvelling, but she holds onto the hope that eventually she will fit in.
Her first year will be fraught with prejudice and misinformation, adventure and mishap. Only someone as hopeful and kind as Ella would have any chance of making it through.
Immediately when I started reading this it struck me as some sort of response to Harry Potter. Having finished it now I think that's a slightly unfair assessment. It is an inclusive entry into the world of fantasy schools, which is as as general rule, pretty undiverse. It's written for little girls and boys who don't see themselves reflected on the covers of fantasy books very often.
I thought Ella and her family were charming, I would love to read a book about their lives in New Orleans before all the the Marveller stuff.
I always struggle a lot with unfairness and injustice in stories, and poor little Ella receives more than her fair share. At points I wondered why she was fighting so hard to stay amongst such prejudiced and horrible people. But of course, she was fighting for access, access to the immense resources of the Arcanum, but also fighting for access to a whole society, to communities and really, a whole world. She was fighting for her family and all Conjurors to be seen as equal and respectable.
As much as I enjoyed the overall feel of this world, there were aspects I found to be too over the top to be believable, in the context of the story. The elaborate and bizarre way meals happened, the magical and whimsical details in every inch of the Arcanum. I don't know, it just didn't quite flow for me. Hopefully that's just an age issue though, I wouldn't be surprised if a younger audience, the actual target audience, would just love all the silly details and wish they were real.
I enjoyed the non-human characters, they were creative and cleverly written.
Overall I liked this book a lot. I would recommend it to ten or eleven year olds in search of a little magic.
Her first year will be fraught with prejudice and misinformation, adventure and mishap. Only someone as hopeful and kind as Ella would have any chance of making it through.
Immediately when I started reading this it struck me as some sort of response to Harry Potter. Having finished it now I think that's a slightly unfair assessment. It is an inclusive entry into the world of fantasy schools, which is as as general rule, pretty undiverse. It's written for little girls and boys who don't see themselves reflected on the covers of fantasy books very often.
I thought Ella and her family were charming, I would love to read a book about their lives in New Orleans before all the the Marveller stuff.
I always struggle a lot with unfairness and injustice in stories, and poor little Ella receives more than her fair share. At points I wondered why she was fighting so hard to stay amongst such prejudiced and horrible people. But of course, she was fighting for access, access to the immense resources of the Arcanum, but also fighting for access to a whole society, to communities and really, a whole world. She was fighting for her family and all Conjurors to be seen as equal and respectable.
As much as I enjoyed the overall feel of this world, there were aspects I found to be too over the top to be believable, in the context of the story. The elaborate and bizarre way meals happened, the magical and whimsical details in every inch of the Arcanum. I don't know, it just didn't quite flow for me. Hopefully that's just an age issue though, I wouldn't be surprised if a younger audience, the actual target audience, would just love all the silly details and wish they were real.
I enjoyed the non-human characters, they were creative and cleverly written.
Overall I liked this book a lot. I would recommend it to ten or eleven year olds in search of a little magic.