What We’re Reading

Septimus Heap, Book Two: Flyte | Angie Sage

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Picking up where we left off in Magyk, Septimus is reunited with his family, and apprenticed to the ExtraOrindary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand. Princess Jenna is now living in the castle, with a guard of ghosts. Simon, angry at not being chose apprentice himself, has been missing for a year, during which time, it turns out, he’s been up to no good.

Having decided his family was against him, Simon took up with DomDaniel and learned the Dark Arts. With him, he plots to overthrow the ExtraOrdinary Wizard. But his kidnap attempt goes awry when Jenna escapes and steals his horse. Meanwhile, Septimus and brother Nicko set off to find her–luckily, their paths converge at the Port.

After an even luckier escape from their room in a witch coven’s house, the lot sets off for the marshes,to see their aunt. Simon catches up with them here, and unending trouble ensues. The depths of Simon’s darkness will soon be uncovered, as Jenna fights to save life as she knows it, and Septimus fights to save his mentor from destruction. Will they succeed?

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The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book Three: Ptolemy’s Gate | Jonathan Stroud

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First and foremost, if you haven’t read the first two books of this trilogy (The Amulet of Samarkand, The Golem’s Eye), I wouldn’t start with this one. Without all the back-story there’s a lot to miss. That being said, I think this might have been the best of the three.

We’re back in London, after the downfall of the Lovelace affair, and Nathaniel/Jonathan Mandrake, is now Information Minister. The Commoners are growing restless, the war in America is going poorly, and Bartimaeus has been kept in service for so long that his powers are all but gone. The government is beginning to split into factions, everyone is always looking over their shoulders, and the lower magicians seem to be plotting something.

It turns out the elusive Hopkins is returned. Finding him becomes top priority. In the meantime, Mandrake also learns that Kitty Jones is not, as he had thought, dead. Finding her then becomes his top priority. And just when it seems like things might be falling into place….everything comes apart.

The entire government is kidnapped, the streets overflow with commoners who’ve noticed a lack of government response, and Mandrake and Kitty have fallen into the middle of a most sordid plot.

This was the quickest read of the trilogy, for me, and even though I knew it was winding down, in the end I harbor hopes that perhaps there will be another story someday.

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Children of the Red King, Book 5: Charlie Bone and the Hidden King | Jenny Nimmo

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The trouble in and around Bloor’s Academy grows even greater, as the Children of the Red King struggle on with their fight. All the town’s animals have disappeared over night, and no one knows why. With the help of Billy’s rat Rembrandt, Charlie Bone uncovers the answer. And with the help of a mysterious girl named Naren, is able to find the animals and bring some back. But as he only brings his friends’ animals back, he then finds himself to blame for the rest of them being missing. Having sworn never to tell the secret of Naren’s family, he can only hope that the rest of the animals will return on their own. Luckily, they do.

Meanwhile, there are rumors circulating of a mysterious Shadow. One which Rembrandt tried to warn them about, but the boys could make no sense of his cryptic message. While it’s widely known that there was someone called the Shadow who tore the Red King’s family apart, there is almost nothing to be found about him, outside of travel journals written by Bartholomew Bloor, which he gets to Charlie, and which Charlie must then hide, once he’s read them and discovered all he can.

And if that’s not enough, his best friend’s parents have been sneaking around Bloor’s, his mother has been bewitched and is forgetting his father, and the nicest teacher at the Academy has turned out to be an enemy. Armed with a charm that can free the King and the knowledge of where his father is, Charlie aims to set his life straight.

A fun and fast read that’s rather difficult to write well about without giving it all away.

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