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The Wizards of Waterfire #1
The Guild of the Wizards of Waterfire
This first book of the Wizards of Waterfire series tells the story of Memphis Grey, a teenage girl with an extraordinary secret. Born with a special gift to summon and control the elemental building blocks of nature - Earth, Air, Fire and Water - Memphis and the other members of her ancient guild of wizards have the power to shape these elements and use the resulting energy to weave a form of primordial magic. A seemingly ordinary group of friends on the outside, Memphis and her fellow wizards gather each week to practice their magical skills at the local shopping mall where a clandestine set of stairs leads to a secret room hidden at the top of a decorative lighthouse. Only those in the know can recognize the distinctive image of the lighthouse as a clue to a hidden reality lying just beneath the surface of our everyday world. Hiding in plain sight, each lighthouse marks the hidden meeting place of one of the guilds of the elusive Wizards of Waterfire. But despite their remarkable powers none of them are immortal and after tragedy strikes in a flash of screeching tires and twisted metal, Memphis and the others watch helplessly as their whole world starts to fall apart right in front of their eyes. Faced with the prospect of having to disband their guild unless they can find a new member to join them, Memphis and her friends set out to recruit Flynn, a handsome and mysterious new student at their local high school. He is the perfect choice to restore the elemental balance, but when things don't turn out quite as planned they find themselves swept along on an amazing journey that takes them to the ancient and magical places of the Waterfire guilds, uncovering dark secrets and long-forgotten histories as they go, until finally hurtling them toward a dramatic confrontation with another of the five ancient guilds - the mysterious and powerful guild of the EarthAir wizards.
268 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 26, 2015
I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in return for an honest review.
Also, I'm amending this review a couple of days after I initially wrote it to say that the author reached out to me and promised me that all of the issues I talk about with garbled and nonsense sentences are the result of some Net Galley formatting quirk and not what you'll see if you purchase the published book. So I will stand by my review reflecting what I saw reading this version on a Kindle app on an iPad, but that may well not be what you see if you purchase a different version, and I certainly have greater respect for Mr. Reading's intentions and I don't think he's responsible for indifferently turning out shoddy work.
**
This book rapidly deteriorated from having an interesting premise and real potential into near unreadability. I would not have finished it were it not for the fact that this is my first book that I received from Net Galley, so I wanted to make certain that I did a fair and accurate job in reviewing it. You'll see in my more detailed comments that that my mind was slightly changed as I persevered, but that nonetheless I can't say this book is up to the standards of the books I generally admire.
Here are a few early examples of problem sentences that had me really offended as someone who would have been asked to pay for this book:
"It had been the first weekend of remembered that with absolute clarity. It weekend for anyone with a job, and just past the halfway point of summer with less than a month to go before it was time to head back to school."
Here's another just two pages later:
"Memphis was long holiday the cold and rain was hardly tempting, but as usual, Christian was quite persuasive in making his point."
I don't think any writer or publishers should expect readers to wade through that sort of verbal/semantic quagmire in order to determine whether the book has anything worthwhile to say.
Then, there are lines like this: "Do you know how hard it is to stay awake when you keep dozing off all the time?" I'm honestly not sure whether that was meant to be funny. If Steve Martin said it, I would think it was. But the person who is asked the question replies, "Tell me about it," without laughing, so I'm left cold.
And here is where the book would have lost me completely, at the end of chapter 5:
"That boy loves you, Memphis"
Memphis blushed dark red and wanted to cover her face in embarrassment, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to hear more.
"How do excitement.
"I just know," Samantha replied. "Like the two of you have known each other for an eternity."
Memphis cupped her hands over her nose and mouth and exhaled deeply.
"I know," she said. "I felt it too."
[sic. I really felt the need to write 'sic' here because I don't think you would believe me otherwise that I was accurately transcribing exactly what I read.]
But I kept reading because of the Net Galley factor, and after that rough beginning, the book actually got significantly better. (Though you still get the occasionally doozy of a sentence like Chapter 11's, "Her entire being was full of a million different feelings and emotions that were rollercoastering through her head like a whirling dervish.") There are a few ideas that kept my interest.
There's a section in the middle of the book that takes place around the world in Greece and England, and that is one of the strongest parts of the book. Perhaps partly because there are some adult characters who are more mature and self-aware than the young protagonists and Reading isn't led into making some of the mistakes he makes in his depiction of the teenagers' psychology. There are also some descriptions that are effective without veering into the rollercoastering and whirling.
When the visit to Greece got to the point of several high-ranking Elementals discussing the origin of the world's magical systems and guilds, the ideas were interesting and the writing was of a caliber you'd find in many popular books. I really like the idea that the dichotomy is between Waterfire (inexplicably without the capital F) and EarthAir (with the capital A), and that the Elementals who work with water and fire seek to facilitate a balance in nature, while those who work with earth and air often disrupt the harmony of the world for their own personal gain. That's the core concept that made me want to read this book, and here I found some glimmers of its realization.
There is a second concept in this book that I found fascinating, as well. All of the Elementals who have ever been in a guild have their names magically inscribed in a book. When someone dies, his name gradually disappears. But there is also a way to erase a name, which results in the person not dying, but losing all of his or her memories of having power -- and thus for all intents and purposes, the ability to use it. I think this idea has a lot of potential, and I would be interested in hearing more of a story about it. It seems that it will play into future volumes, and that will likely be a strong suit of the series.
There's also a pretty cool idea for a magical-technological hybrid cyber attack. It's described in too much detail for some readers, I would think, but perhaps a reasonable amount of detail to help non-techies get it? I'm not sure about implementation, but I do give props to the concept.
In addition to all the magical guild stuff that's going on, Memphis and Flynn get involved in a production of Romeo and Juliet (a modern take with cell phones and texting that makes me think either the writer was involved in such a production himself or has a few directorial aspirations), and from the moment R&J is mentioned, there's quite a bit of foreshadowing that somehow Memphis and Flynn are going to be a R&J couple, even though they're at least initially on the same side. The parallel construction of revealing that Memphis and Flynn are, in fact, from opposing guilds works reasonably well, though I found the foreshadowing perhaps a bit too blatant.
Additionally of note is the fact that suddenly around the 2/3 mark, the novel starts having various illustrations -- from a snippet of ancient script to some diagrams drawn by a scientist talking to the main characters, and even a couple of computer logos and screen caps. I actually like all of that content a lot, but it's strange to have it come in after 2/3 of a book with none whatsoever before that. My advice (should Mr. Reading care) would be to find ways to add some illustrations early on so that's a more thoroughly integrated aspect of the book.
One more thought: I don't think Mr. Reading's strength is writing YA, at all. His writing got orders of magnitude better when he wasn't worrying about making teenagers sound or think like he thinks they should/can/do. It was as if, when unhitched from the burden of searching for a voice that does not come naturally to him, his real voice as an author emerged.
Ultimately, though I think this book has some fascinating ideas and does reasonably well to redeem itself after the unforgivably terrible first few chapters, I can't think of anyone to whom I would actually recommend it. There are some younger teens who would like it -- I see a couple of positive reviews here on GR, after all -- but I don't think any of you who generally trust me about the quality of a book would feel that this was worth your time.
Also, I'm amending this review a couple of days after I initially wrote it to say that the author reached out to me and promised me that all of the issues I talk about with garbled and nonsense sentences are the result of some Net Galley formatting quirk and not what you'll see if you purchase the published book. So I will stand by my review reflecting what I saw reading this version on a Kindle app on an iPad, but that may well not be what you see if you purchase a different version, and I certainly have greater respect for Mr. Reading's intentions and I don't think he's responsible for indifferently turning out shoddy work.
**
This book rapidly deteriorated from having an interesting premise and real potential into near unreadability. I would not have finished it were it not for the fact that this is my first book that I received from Net Galley, so I wanted to make certain that I did a fair and accurate job in reviewing it. You'll see in my more detailed comments that that my mind was slightly changed as I persevered, but that nonetheless I can't say this book is up to the standards of the books I generally admire.
Here are a few early examples of problem sentences that had me really offended as someone who would have been asked to pay for this book:
"It had been the first weekend of remembered that with absolute clarity. It weekend for anyone with a job, and just past the halfway point of summer with less than a month to go before it was time to head back to school."
Here's another just two pages later:
"Memphis was long holiday the cold and rain was hardly tempting, but as usual, Christian was quite persuasive in making his point."
I don't think any writer or publishers should expect readers to wade through that sort of verbal/semantic quagmire in order to determine whether the book has anything worthwhile to say.
Then, there are lines like this: "Do you know how hard it is to stay awake when you keep dozing off all the time?" I'm honestly not sure whether that was meant to be funny. If Steve Martin said it, I would think it was. But the person who is asked the question replies, "Tell me about it," without laughing, so I'm left cold.
And here is where the book would have lost me completely, at the end of chapter 5:
"That boy loves you, Memphis"
Memphis blushed dark red and wanted to cover her face in embarrassment, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to hear more.
"How do excitement.
"I just know," Samantha replied. "Like the two of you have known each other for an eternity."
Memphis cupped her hands over her nose and mouth and exhaled deeply.
"I know," she said. "I felt it too."
[sic. I really felt the need to write 'sic' here because I don't think you would believe me otherwise that I was accurately transcribing exactly what I read.]
But I kept reading because of the Net Galley factor, and after that rough beginning, the book actually got significantly better. (Though you still get the occasionally doozy of a sentence like Chapter 11's, "Her entire being was full of a million different feelings and emotions that were rollercoastering through her head like a whirling dervish.") There are a few ideas that kept my interest.
There's a section in the middle of the book that takes place around the world in Greece and England, and that is one of the strongest parts of the book. Perhaps partly because there are some adult characters who are more mature and self-aware than the young protagonists and Reading isn't led into making some of the mistakes he makes in his depiction of the teenagers' psychology. There are also some descriptions that are effective without veering into the rollercoastering and whirling.
When the visit to Greece got to the point of several high-ranking Elementals discussing the origin of the world's magical systems and guilds, the ideas were interesting and the writing was of a caliber you'd find in many popular books. I really like the idea that the dichotomy is between Waterfire (inexplicably without the capital F) and EarthAir (with the capital A), and that the Elementals who work with water and fire seek to facilitate a balance in nature, while those who work with earth and air often disrupt the harmony of the world for their own personal gain. That's the core concept that made me want to read this book, and here I found some glimmers of its realization.
There is a second concept in this book that I found fascinating, as well. All of the Elementals who have ever been in a guild have their names magically inscribed in a book. When someone dies, his name gradually disappears. But there is also a way to erase a name, which results in the person not dying, but losing all of his or her memories of having power -- and thus for all intents and purposes, the ability to use it. I think this idea has a lot of potential, and I would be interested in hearing more of a story about it. It seems that it will play into future volumes, and that will likely be a strong suit of the series.
There's also a pretty cool idea for a magical-technological hybrid cyber attack. It's described in too much detail for some readers, I would think, but perhaps a reasonable amount of detail to help non-techies get it? I'm not sure about implementation, but I do give props to the concept.
In addition to all the magical guild stuff that's going on, Memphis and Flynn get involved in a production of Romeo and Juliet (a modern take with cell phones and texting that makes me think either the writer was involved in such a production himself or has a few directorial aspirations), and from the moment R&J is mentioned, there's quite a bit of foreshadowing that somehow Memphis and Flynn are going to be a R&J couple, even though they're at least initially on the same side. The parallel construction of revealing that Memphis and Flynn are, in fact, from opposing guilds works reasonably well, though I found the foreshadowing perhaps a bit too blatant.
Additionally of note is the fact that suddenly around the 2/3 mark, the novel starts having various illustrations -- from a snippet of ancient script to some diagrams drawn by a scientist talking to the main characters, and even a couple of computer logos and screen caps. I actually like all of that content a lot, but it's strange to have it come in after 2/3 of a book with none whatsoever before that. My advice (should Mr. Reading care) would be to find ways to add some illustrations early on so that's a more thoroughly integrated aspect of the book.
One more thought: I don't think Mr. Reading's strength is writing YA, at all. His writing got orders of magnitude better when he wasn't worrying about making teenagers sound or think like he thinks they should/can/do. It was as if, when unhitched from the burden of searching for a voice that does not come naturally to him, his real voice as an author emerged.
Ultimately, though I think this book has some fascinating ideas and does reasonably well to redeem itself after the unforgivably terrible first few chapters, I can't think of anyone to whom I would actually recommend it. There are some younger teens who would like it -- I see a couple of positive reviews here on GR, after all -- but I don't think any of you who generally trust me about the quality of a book would feel that this was worth your time.
March 27, 2015
"Guild of the Wizards of Waterfire" is a fairly competently written book. I received an advance epub (acquired via NetGalley).
The concept behind the magic system is well considered, and quite well thought out - although it does perplex me a little as to how a group of five provides balance? Two water, three fire? Surely that is uneven. Mention is made early on to representing the five elements: water, fire, earth, air and aether, but members of the Waterfire guilds only practise water and fire - not the other three elements.
From the beginning, the relationship between Memphis and Flynn feels forced. They're too easy with each other from the start, too fast to fall in love. Perhaps this is how it mirrors Romeo and Juliet. The plot seemed to move smoothly from that point onwards, with little issues for the characters, until Flynn's revelation put a distinct glitch in the system. The Big Plan seemed to be going too smoothly too, but thankfully some conflict was introduced there! And as I was reading the end I was starting to think the writing mantra: "arrive late, leave early - why is this still dragging on?" but was relieved that there was an addition little hook - to lure the reader in to reading the next book. I'd be curious. I don't think it's a book I would buy - unless it were around the 99c mark - but I would be interested to see where our Waterfire guild's adventures might take them next.
One thing I also wondered though: did Memphis and Ithaca's parents know what they were up? There was some mention of "let their parents know" when the kids were whisked off to Greece - but what sort of parent would let strangers (older men!) take their two kids across the world on a private jet? And what about passports? Flynn would have needed one when they flew him across. And could his father really not have known what he was up to (in hindsight, maybe he did - well that back-fired).
I loved the "42" quip early on (for the record, Memphis had *actually* said around 34 words, that wasn't what Flynn was answering). And the teacher's response was gold. It was like a little hidden joke cameo that would have gone over most of the readers' heads. Heck, if you read this and you got it - and laughed - please comment here!
Overall, a quick and easy read, with some interesting and fresh concepts on magic systems. Could benefit from a new cover, however.
The concept behind the magic system is well considered, and quite well thought out - although it does perplex me a little as to how a group of five provides balance? Two water, three fire? Surely that is uneven. Mention is made early on to representing the five elements: water, fire, earth, air and aether, but members of the Waterfire guilds only practise water and fire - not the other three elements.
From the beginning, the relationship between Memphis and Flynn feels forced. They're too easy with each other from the start, too fast to fall in love. Perhaps this is how it mirrors Romeo and Juliet. The plot seemed to move smoothly from that point onwards, with little issues for the characters, until Flynn's revelation put a distinct glitch in the system. The Big Plan seemed to be going too smoothly too, but thankfully some conflict was introduced there! And as I was reading the end I was starting to think the writing mantra: "arrive late, leave early - why is this still dragging on?" but was relieved that there was an addition little hook - to lure the reader in to reading the next book. I'd be curious. I don't think it's a book I would buy - unless it were around the 99c mark - but I would be interested to see where our Waterfire guild's adventures might take them next.
One thing I also wondered though: did Memphis and Ithaca's parents know what they were up? There was some mention of "let their parents know" when the kids were whisked off to Greece - but what sort of parent would let strangers (older men!) take their two kids across the world on a private jet? And what about passports? Flynn would have needed one when they flew him across. And could his father really not have known what he was up to (in hindsight, maybe he did - well that back-fired).
I loved the "42" quip early on (for the record, Memphis had *actually* said around 34 words, that wasn't what Flynn was answering). And the teacher's response was gold. It was like a little hidden joke cameo that would have gone over most of the readers' heads. Heck, if you read this and you got it - and laughed - please comment here!
Overall, a quick and easy read, with some interesting and fresh concepts on magic systems. Could benefit from a new cover, however.
March 25, 2019
Memphis and her friends are wizards, using elemental power over Water and Fire to create a unique magic. But the rules of their magic guild are very clear; each guild must have exactly five members, no more, no less. When a member of their guild dies, Memphis scrambles to find someone to fill the empty place before their elemental magic spirals out of balance. Flynn seems like the perfect candidate to join the WaterFire guild, and Memphis senses a strange connection to him from the beginning. As the wizards work together to keep the balance within their guild, they must face ancient mysteries, and travel to the headquarters of the WaterFire elders to uncover the dark secrets of the deepest elemental power.
I loved this plot! There is plenty of action, and the mystery kept me wondering right down to the last page. I was surprised at every turn and twist, and it kept me absorbed in the story. The magic system is fantastic, and I was so interested in how the elements work together in different forms. I was especially fascinated to see how the elemental magic can be combined with technology, and the different approaches to magic from different wizards.
I immediately fell in love with Memphis. She is smart, and quick to jump into adventure. I like how she quickly sees to the heart of an issue with a clear vision of what needs to be done.
There IS insta-love between Memphis and Flynn, but it is attributed to some sort of mystical magical unknown reason. I'm hoping that might be satisfactorily explained in future books. I don't mind insta-love if it's because of magic, or past lives, or something. But it was annoying not to have that explained.
My only other complaint is that there are a few punctuation and capitalization errors in the book, and that was annoying and pulled me out of the story. Nothing a good editor couldn't correct.
There are also a few times when a character sits down, and then two paragraphs later he sits down again. And it confused me. Why is he sitting down AGAIN? He just did that. Did he get up and then sit down twice?
Or a character shrugs and then one sentence later shrugs again. Why is he shrugging so much? Weirdo just loves to shrug his shoulders or something?
I think it just needs a careful editor to catch those little things.
However, the story was Just. So. Good. It was easy to overlook those little details in the enjoyment of the story.
This book left me wanting more, because it ends on a minor cliffhanger! Can't wait to read more from this series.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
I loved this plot! There is plenty of action, and the mystery kept me wondering right down to the last page. I was surprised at every turn and twist, and it kept me absorbed in the story. The magic system is fantastic, and I was so interested in how the elements work together in different forms. I was especially fascinated to see how the elemental magic can be combined with technology, and the different approaches to magic from different wizards.
I immediately fell in love with Memphis. She is smart, and quick to jump into adventure. I like how she quickly sees to the heart of an issue with a clear vision of what needs to be done.
There IS insta-love between Memphis and Flynn, but it is attributed to some sort of mystical magical unknown reason. I'm hoping that might be satisfactorily explained in future books. I don't mind insta-love if it's because of magic, or past lives, or something. But it was annoying not to have that explained.
My only other complaint is that there are a few punctuation and capitalization errors in the book, and that was annoying and pulled me out of the story. Nothing a good editor couldn't correct.
There are also a few times when a character sits down, and then two paragraphs later he sits down again. And it confused me. Why is he sitting down AGAIN? He just did that. Did he get up and then sit down twice?
Or a character shrugs and then one sentence later shrugs again. Why is he shrugging so much? Weirdo just loves to shrug his shoulders or something?
I think it just needs a careful editor to catch those little things.
However, the story was Just. So. Good. It was easy to overlook those little details in the enjoyment of the story.
This book left me wanting more, because it ends on a minor cliffhanger! Can't wait to read more from this series.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.
December 29, 2015
The Guild of the Wizards of Waterfire by Iain Reading is about a guild of wizards called Elementals, humans who can control the four basic elements of nature (fire, water, earth and air), called the Waterfire guild. Originality aside, I was mostly intrigued by the promise of mystery and magic. But I had to stop 1/4 of the way through—there were just too many little things that irked me and no mystery or magic could help save it now.
The Guild of the Wizards of Waterfire started off with a prologue; an exceptionally long and boring prologue. And my stance of prologues is pretty much set in stone. If it's necessary to the story, make it Chapter 1. If it's not, cut it. In this instance, GWW's "prologue" should have been chapter 1. Actually, it should have been chapter 4 or 5, because it detailed a character's funeral.
The issue with beginning with a character's funeral (and one where you introduce the main character and the three main supporting character immediately and at the same time) is that I don't care about any of them. Characters that are important to the story should be introduced in a unique and memorable way. What's not memorable is introducing important characters as a group and all at once. On top of that, we're at a funeral for a character that has not been introduced other than as the body in the casket being lowered into the ground. I don't care that this character is dead and no amount of raining symbolism and tears from the narrator is going to make me sad about it.
Now, if this character slated for death had been introduced earlier, if we had seen him in action with the main characters and we had gotten to know them, even if it was over a course of three or four chapters, and then we were there when he was killed (which the summary of the book states to be "a tragedy that strikes in screeching tires and twisted metal") then I would have cared. But I simply did not and could not find it in myself to care that these characters were in mourning and were forced to move on to replace this character's place in their guild immediately.
I'm going to be honest with you, readers, that the deal breaker wasn't even the fact that I couldn't be bothered to care about the characters. I would have given them a chance to redeem themselves. But when there's an overabundance of exclamation points and question marks in a character's dialogue, (i.e., "And?!?" she asked, "What was it?!?" or "What???") then I have to stop. That's the sort of thing that I wrote in a first draft of a book when I was twelve. It's one thing if the over-exaggerated punctuation was part of a text message a character was sending (as it happened a few times in the book) but for it to happen in dialogue is a little ridiculous. It's unfortunate that a book that had so much potential had to fall short due to so many short-comings so early in the book.
The Guild of the Wizards of Waterfire started off with a prologue; an exceptionally long and boring prologue. And my stance of prologues is pretty much set in stone. If it's necessary to the story, make it Chapter 1. If it's not, cut it. In this instance, GWW's "prologue" should have been chapter 1. Actually, it should have been chapter 4 or 5, because it detailed a character's funeral.
The issue with beginning with a character's funeral (and one where you introduce the main character and the three main supporting character immediately and at the same time) is that I don't care about any of them. Characters that are important to the story should be introduced in a unique and memorable way. What's not memorable is introducing important characters as a group and all at once. On top of that, we're at a funeral for a character that has not been introduced other than as the body in the casket being lowered into the ground. I don't care that this character is dead and no amount of raining symbolism and tears from the narrator is going to make me sad about it.
Now, if this character slated for death had been introduced earlier, if we had seen him in action with the main characters and we had gotten to know them, even if it was over a course of three or four chapters, and then we were there when he was killed (which the summary of the book states to be "a tragedy that strikes in screeching tires and twisted metal") then I would have cared. But I simply did not and could not find it in myself to care that these characters were in mourning and were forced to move on to replace this character's place in their guild immediately.
I'm going to be honest with you, readers, that the deal breaker wasn't even the fact that I couldn't be bothered to care about the characters. I would have given them a chance to redeem themselves. But when there's an overabundance of exclamation points and question marks in a character's dialogue, (i.e., "And?!?" she asked, "What was it?!?" or "What???") then I have to stop. That's the sort of thing that I wrote in a first draft of a book when I was twelve. It's one thing if the over-exaggerated punctuation was part of a text message a character was sending (as it happened a few times in the book) but for it to happen in dialogue is a little ridiculous. It's unfortunate that a book that had so much potential had to fall short due to so many short-comings so early in the book.
February 27, 2015
This sounded like it could be a lovely book that incorporated magic into the modern world. I thought the concept of the different guilds and what they did was interesting.
Here's what I didn't like. First: the infodumping. The first few chapters were mostly just the reader being torn out of the story and given a bunch of information that we don't need or isn't relevant at that moment. Want to tell us about another type of guild? Have us meet a member of one, or at least be doing something relevant to that! Don't interrupt the funeral scene and Memphis's grief to tell us about the other types of guilds! No!
The writing was plain and uninteresting, and what I read of the characters was pretty boring. Also, why do they only have a couple days to find a new guild member? Why does it have to happen that fast? The plot wasn't really making much sense to me.
I don't think I'll be reading anything else by this author.
Here's what I didn't like. First: the infodumping. The first few chapters were mostly just the reader being torn out of the story and given a bunch of information that we don't need or isn't relevant at that moment. Want to tell us about another type of guild? Have us meet a member of one, or at least be doing something relevant to that! Don't interrupt the funeral scene and Memphis's grief to tell us about the other types of guilds! No!
The writing was plain and uninteresting, and what I read of the characters was pretty boring. Also, why do they only have a couple days to find a new guild member? Why does it have to happen that fast? The plot wasn't really making much sense to me.
I don't think I'll be reading anything else by this author.
February 25, 2015
I really loved this book it's was such a very interesting and enjoyable read. I love the magic element of the story along with the cast of characters. My favorites where Memphis and Flynn. I don't know why but when there's magic involved in the book am reading I usually wind up falling in love with the book. Flynn was very likable and such a okay I will do this even if it's against a member of my family. When his father shows up in the story I could understand why. The ending with Flynn's dad and what the team members discover was very surprising. As well as so unexpected, I sure didn't see that part happening. Can't wait to read the next one in the story. And to review it as well.
Thanks to they Author, The Publisher, and Netgallery for letting me review this awesome book. I received this book for just giving my honest opinion.
Thanks to they Author, The Publisher, and Netgallery for letting me review this awesome book. I received this book for just giving my honest opinion.
August 5, 2022
The premise sounded promising however the writing didn't follow through. The story felt a bit disjointed and didn't flow well. In places it felt like the story wasn't really thought out. The characters are in high school but the book was written on a middle grades level. If I hadn't chosen this book for review I wouldn't have finished it. Read my full review at Girl Who Reads
August 18, 2014
This book can only be summarized in one word. Perfection. The story was exciting and easy to follow as i read. I fell in love with the city, its people and its wizards. I even met Iain Reading at comicon when i bought the book, super nice guy. I think that anyone no matter who you are could love this book, one of the best. Even have the poster on my wall :)
August 5, 2015
Wasn't too thrilled with this title. I actually quit reading it after the 2 chapter and skimmed through the next 6 to see if it got any more interesting for me. Found the story line to be weirdly mixed on timeline information and I couldn't get a grasp on how the groups were supposed to be interacting. This was read as an ARC courtesy of Netgalley.com.
September 25, 2014
I love all of Iain's books! I first read the Kitty Hawk series and loved it, so I wanted to give this series a shot. I am happy to say that I was not disappointed. I love Iain's writing style. If you enjoyed reading the Kitty Hawk series, you'll love reading this book!
May 1, 2014
I picked this up at Fan Expo in Vancouver from the Author. It was pretty good. Interesting as it is based in Vancouver. Recommend it to anyone.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews