Starfell. Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale by Dominique Valente.

Starfell. Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale by Dominique Valente. Pub. HarperCollins, 2020.

Its good to read children’s fantasy again and this is very suitable for primary and intermediate readers especially girls but not exclusively so.

It is set in a double sided land. Starfell is on top and contains such thought provoking places as the Mists of Mitlaire, the Lake of the Undead and Wisperia a place where you are never safe especially if you are a witch.

The bottom land and the dark reverse of Wisperia and Starfell is Netherfell. The answers to all Starfell’s problems lie in Netherfell which has the answer to the Forgotten tale.

Willow Moss is a witch with the talent of being able to find lost things but her magic has struck problems and things keep disappearing. Willow and her Kobold, a cat like creature with the habit of saying “my greedy aunt” set off with Willow’s broom stick Whisper to find a friend, Nolin Sometimes who has sent Willow a distress call. On the way she meets a boy called Sprig who can turn into a raven.

Their travels will take them into Wisperia through the Mists of Mitlaire to the Netherfell where they learn of the Forgotten Tale. Complicated in parts but the action keeps happening.

There is a map at the start so you can follow Willows journey. Willow is a good role model.

The Strange Sagas of Sabrina Summers Pt2. The Uncomfortable Glass Slippers by Michele Clark McConnochie.

The Strange Sagas of Sabrina Summers Pt2. The Uncomfortable Glass Slippers by Michele Clark McConnochie. Pub. Morgan James Publishing, 2019.

The second book in a trilogy is often the hardest to write because it hasn’t got the surprise wow factor of the first book nor the drama of the conclusion in the third.

This novel is more of the same that the first brought but it does fill in gaps and broaden the nature of the conflict in the magical land of Dralfynia. We find out more about Sabrina’s stepmother Bridget and her relationship with the bad witch, witchy Wu who has slipped through the magic barrier from Dralfynia to become a teacher at Melas school (Salem spelt backwards) where Sabrina and her friends Persis and Olive go.

We find out more of the 8 fingered Beast who wants the crown of Dralfynia and the nature of the conflict and my favourite character the horse Clyde who becomes a unicorn in Dralfynia.

The action moves along in short chapters  and there is a cleverness about the reworking of the story of Cinderella and the glass slippers. She needs rescuing in this story.

Good values for primary and intermediate readers especially girls who understand the nature of girlie relationships. I look forward to the conclusion.

Nightmares by Jason Segal and Kirsten Miller

Nightmares by Jason Segal and Kirsten Miller.  Pub. Penguin, Random House, 2014.

It is said that nightmares and dreams are manifestations of events in our real lives. Could this be true in this novel?

Charlie’s mum died 3 years ago and his father meets a woman called Charllote DeChant with flaming red hair and bohemian dress. They marry and move in together at a big purple house that sits on the highest hill in the town of Cypress Creek. The house is scary like a haunted house and at the top is a tower with no curtains at the windows. At night an eerie light shines from the tower.

As soon as Charlie moves into the house he starts having nightmares about a witch who wants to lock him up in a cage and keep him in the netherworld.

Charlie can’t sleep and this soon becomes apparent to his friends and teachers at school. Charlie is not looking good and things start to suffer. His little brother Jack is quite keen on his new stepmother and Charlie has a realistic dream that the witch wants to eat him. he has to save Jack.

He tries to tell his teachers and friends but no=one believes him. Then he starts to have a more sinister nightmare. A presence is following him and the nightmares want to drag him forever into the Netherworld.

Co-written by the man who wrote Despicable Me and by Kirsten Miller who wrote the Kiki Strike books and does the illustrations.

Part one of a new series that will appeal to primary and intermediate children. It is scary and adventurous and it is about family, friends and school. All the things important in kids lives.

Hexed by Michelle Krys.

Hexed by Michelle Krys. Pub.  Random House, 2014.

A novel about witches and sorcerors and a very good one.

Indigo is an ordinary American High School student with a mass of frizzy hair and good looks that have matched her with the captain of the school football team. Indigo’s mother has always claimed to be a witch, but she’s not, and Indigo was brought up believing that aliens, witches and vampires exist. They do.

Centuries before a feud started  after a death of a witch,between Witches and Sorcerers. Witches were slaughtered in their 100’s until an ingenious witch cast a powerful spell that meant if a sorcerer killed a witch it lost all of it’s powers. Safety for a while. Then a powerful sorcerer worked out how to bypass the witches spell and he wrote it down in an old Bible. The witches stole the Bible and it has resided with Indigo’s mother for some time.

The sorcerers find out about this  and steal it. Is the slaughter on again?

Indigo is contacted by a boy witch who is a bit of a hunk. Indigo is impressed by what she learns from him but she also finds out that after 200 full moons she to will develop the powers of a witch and become part of the struggle. Wow you just gotta find out more by reading it.

Much  of this novel is American High School life and teenage relationships with frightening action and a trick or two at the end. For High school students but I bet Intermediate girls will want to grab this one.

Starblade Chronicles Bk 1: A new Darkness by Joseph Delaney.

Starblade Chronicles Bk 1: A new Darkness by Joseph Delaney. Pub.Random House, 2014.

A spinoff from the Wardstone Chronicles the last of which is reviewed elsewhere on this blog. The Spook of Chipenden was killed in the last of the Wardstone books and now his young apprentice, Thomas Ward is the Spook.

The first half of this book introduces a new, predicted, enemy from the North, the Kobalos. Tom’s first task is to deal with a mage Kobalos who has come south and has killed and drunk the blood of three young girls.

Tom is the 7th son of a 7th son and is immune from much magic but the Kobalos mage is powerful and Tom needs the sword given to him by the witch Grimalkin to deal to it.

In the conflict he is helped by a girl called Jenny the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter who has insightful gifts of her own. She helps him trap the mage but is almost killed herself. Jenny wants to become the apprentice to the Spook  Tom, a situation unheard of before. Will it work?

Tom puts her through some tests and agrees to take her on. But the task against the Kobalos is going to be tough and brutal.

Fantasy horror at it’s best. Well written, continuous tension and action with worthy lead characters who face evil with tenacity.

Junior high and Intermediate students will love this first in a new series.

 

 

 

Half Bad by Sally Green.

Half Bad by Sally Green. Pub.Penguin Group, 2014.

Nathan has a White Witch mother and a Black Witch father and lives in a modern cell phone world which is dominated by White Witches who want to eliminate Black witches and the Half Codes as Nathan’s type are known.

The White witches are controlled by a Council that pass “notifications” that increase the pressure on Nathan. At school he is bullied and grows up illiterate. Within the family he is loved and loathed by his half brothers and sisters but his Gran is the one who keeps him accepted within the family.

At the age of 17 years all witches white and black attend a Giving in which they are given three gifts, drink the blood of a family ancestor and receive the gift or talent that will denote what they do with their lives.

Nathan has the power to heal himself from injury and boy does he need it. He is subjected to very cruel and barbaric treatment from the White Witch community and in the opening part 1 of this novel he is kept outside in a cage and regularly beaten.

Nathan does not realise that he has a path to walk of which he has no choice. He is his father’s son and his father is one of the most powerful and barbaric of  Black Witches. Is it nature or nurture that will guide Nathan’s fate?

A stunning first novel, well written, brilliant idea and compulsive reading. Not for the faint – hearted. High school students and young adults

 

 

The Wardstone Chronicles: The Spooks Revenge by Joseph Delaney

The Wardstone Chronicles: The Spooks Revenge by Joseph Delaney. Pub.Random House, 2013.

This is the thirteenth and last part in this series that seems to have passed me by. I missed it amongst the torrent of novels that come my way. I read it any way and found I could get into the story very easily and while reading the others would have given me some insight, it wasn’t necessary.

Tom Ward is the 7th son of a 7th son with a lamia witches blood in him and this gives him some resistance against dark magecraft which is wielded by those who support the top evil force The Fiend. In a previous book The Fiend has had his head severed off and the two pieces of his body are kept apart.

Tom, who is apprentice to the Spook of Chipenden, has the task of preventing the witch supporters of The Fiend from getting both head and body of the Fiend back together again. This leads to astonishing action in which he calls for help from a powerful Boggart called Kratch, a bloodthirsty character.

In the hills that surround Chipenden there is a hill upon which is a magical stone called the Wardstone. All the forces of good and bad are heading there for Halloween. Will the Fiend be restored or will the Spook get his revenge and beat for ever the forces of the dark.

Simply told in an olde worlde manner which makes this complicated story easy to read and understand. If you have read the others then you must have this, but if you haven’t this novel is as good a witch fantasy as I have read.

Intermediate and secondary student in appeal.

The Cahill Witch Chronicles Book 1: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood. Pub. Razor Bill Penguin, 2012.

Sixteen year old Cate and her sisters Maura and Tess are spirited girls, but they must be careful. They are witches and live in a world dominated by men of the Brotherhood.

They are taught to be subservient to men and not be too opinionated, too educated, too odd or curious. Even the stupidest of men is more intelligent than a woman. Wow!

To do so is to risk being tried as a witch and in the past witches have been tried and killed in their hundreds.

The sister’s mother died in childbirth and she was a witch. She leaves a diary in which is prophesised that three sisters will restore the power of the witches. Are Cate and her sisters those three girls? Read and find out.

Compelling writing and a great start to a new series. This book sees the development of the girls magical powers, their growing awareness of what they are up against, and the astonishing world in which they grow up in. Jane Austen meets Stephenie Myer.

Some would say it is a girlie book. I disagree. I was captivated by it and will certainly be looking for the sequel when it comes out.

For high school students. Lots of titillating romance and concern for a lady’s virtue. Whew!