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Thirteenth Child

(Frontier Magic #1)

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3.81  ·  Rating details ·  11,103 ratings  ·  1,370 reviews
Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separate ...more
Hardcover, 344 pages
Published April 15th 2009 by Scholastic Press
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Average rating 3.81  · 
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 ·  11,103 ratings  ·  1,370 reviews


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Peterb
Jun 19, 2009 rated it liked it
Shelves: reviewed
The other week I made a mistake and read some things on the Internet. In particular, I was sucked in to following a contretemps (read: “flamewar”) with the nickname of “Racefail 2.0″. The premise of the flamewar is that a writer, Patricia Wrede, wrote a book called The Thirteenth Child which was an exemplar of racist writing. The book takes place in a 19th century-America (”Columbia”) where magic is real, where megafauna roam the plains, and where the First Peoples never crossed the land bridge ...more
Philip
Jun 26, 2010 rated it it was amazing
Ok, so I was about to start off my review by saying that it's kindof like Little House meets Harry Potter. In fact, I even looked up the number for Little House on the Prairie so I wouldn't have to type out the whole name and I could look super cool because the link would still work anyway.

Then, after I looked up the number I started to read some of the other reviews (a dangerous habit) some of which read: "everybody keeps saying it's like Harry Potter meets Little House on the Prairie - which i
...more
Tamora Pierce
Feb 04, 2012 rated it it was amazing
Like the sequel, ACROSS THE GREAT BARRIER, this book is set in a North America in which there are no Native Americans. While I accepted this as a fantasy universe, unrelated to ours (and I've read other books in which other races, including white, are omitted, and accepted them), and read it the book on its own merits, many people I respect deeply object to what they see as the deliberate erasure of the Native Americans. I tell you this so that you can make your own choice about whether you will ...more
else fine
Jul 10, 2011 rated it did not like it
Shelves: read2011, kids, ya
Something was missing. I kept reading, thinking surely Indians would appear. Maybe the narrator was too young to pay attention to un-European cultures, too wrapped up in her own family dynamics. Maybe they hadn't gotten far enough West? Maybe Indians would appear in the next volume?

Well. No Indians at all simply didn't occur to me, until I took a look at the blogs on the Tor site. Wrede decided to skip them, being uncomfortable with the only two options she perceived for portraying white/indian
...more
Ian
Despite the love of her family, Eff was born the 13th child and as such her relatives consider her cursed. She is as much despised as her twin brother, Lan the 7th son of a 7th son is loved. When her uncle attempts to have her arrested on a trumped up charge, her parents decide enough is enough and accept a job teaching at a college on the frontier.

For the first time in her life, Eff is able to live without a shadow hanging over her and with the guidance of a teacher of African magic she finall
...more
MLE
May 25, 2011 rated it it was ok
Shelves: yad
I think this sums it up.

description

I'm not going to read the rest of the series.
...more
Danielle
Read This Review & More Like It At Ageless Pages Reviews

As a long time reader of Patricia Wrede's work, I have to say I was disappointed. There's no humor like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles or the Cecelia and Kate series, but there's also really no spirit of adventure like the Lyra books. Overall, Thirteenth Child is flat and depressing.

I had high hopes for the book. A low/alternate fantasy set not in medieval or Victorian England? Sign me up. Unfortunately, the world building was confusing an
...more
CatBookMom
This is charming (pun intended) and, if not for the magic, would be a simple tale of a young girl struggling with nasty, narrow-minded relatives and then moving on to a frontier life with more freedom. But it's told in such a delightful way that, while it moves slowly - the book spans her life from about 5 to 18 - it isn't the least bit boring.

9/7/18 - I'm tired of fighting with GR to get the right version of books. I've read the ebook version, and now, today, I've finished the audio version. I
...more
Misty
The Thirteenth Child tells the story of Eff Rothmer, a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is a double-seventh child, a position of great magical power and potential. Unfortunately for Eff, the thirteenth child is said to be cursed, hazardous to those around them, and even evil. Eff is terrified that she will one day "go bad" and hurt those around her, so she tries desperately to control her magic, and possibly even rid herself of it. Eff must learn how to become her own person with her own ...more
Anne Osterlund
Jul 20, 2011 rated it really liked it
Eff is a thirteenth child. Destined, according to common magic, to “go bad.” Her aunts, uncles, and cousins are all of the opinion she should never have been born. A problem they think still might be rectified . . .

But Eff’s parents aren’t “common.” And when they make the extraordinary decision to leave the city and move the younger members of their family to the edge of the frontier, Eff has the chance to start over. To keep the secret. To learn aphrikan magic instead of avropan. To study with
...more
Betsy
Apr 12, 2009 rated it really liked it
Proper credit to the folks who dream big. Even if they fail, they fail brilliantly, wrapped tightly within the confines of their meticulously constructed little worlds. When I got my copy of Thirteen Child I was told by two similar people two very different things. Friend #1 said: It's brilliant. It's like nothing you've read before. If you haven't read it, start. Friend #2 said: It's dull. Nothing happens. Don't waste your time. And as I am a fan of divisive books, I plunged right in. They've b ...more
An Odd1
Jan 02, 2012 rated it it was ok
In a magical alternate Ben Franklin time, Bostonian Helvan Shores place, everyone knows the seventh son of the seventh son is the best of all, and the thirteenth child, the worst, even before age ten, when their magical powers show. Nasty relatives of narrator Eff, and her twin brother Lan, are cruelly certain. In the wild West, Mill City offers Papa, Henry, a university teaching position, with housing.

Despite pleas from elder progeny already moved out, the Rothmer parents lead the younger broo
...more
Emily Colby
I loved this book. The prose had the perfect amount of description. I loved the depth of the magic system; it felt well-developed. The book was fascinating, and I loved Eff. She and her family were wonderful characters. It was very original, and I admit that I also loved that Ms. Wrede was able to tell such an intriguing story without any romance.
Filamena Young
Jun 01, 2009 rated it liked it
Recommends it for: Everyone
So let me start off by saying, it’s about three hours after my bedtime, but I couldn’t go to sleep without telling you about Patricia Wrede’s Thirteenth Child. I’d actually planned to post this sometime later today, on release day and all, but I can’t wait. I’m writing this in a bit of fit of passion, so you’ll forgive me for that. (My class tomorrow might not, but they’ll just have to learn around my snoring.)

I’d picked it up again earlier today to reread the second half because I wanted to giv
...more
Monica Edinger
I was eager to read this because I'd liked Wrede's other books (the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and Cecelia and Kate series) and am always on the lookout for books that create a distinctly American magical world. So I dived in. (6/18/09 see update at end of this review.)

The world building here is thorough. Wrede gives us an alternate American frontier --- one where magic and magicians rather than rifles and John Wayne types keep settlers safe. We get snippets of alternate political history (some
...more
Snarl Furillo
Mar 16, 2015 rated it did not like it
Since I last used it (2011 or 2012?) Goodreads seems to have gotten a more sophisticated recommendations algorithm, and I have been wanting some lighthearted/engrossing but not depressing books. I added some of my favorite books from when I was a kid along with some recently-read grown-up novels and figured I would try the first few recommedations without being too choosy.

When the first couple came from interlibrary loan I was all jazzed and picked "Thirteenth Child" (which I didn't realize unt
...more
Soo
Jan 30, 2021 rated it really liked it
Shelves: audiobook
Notes:

What a treat! Excellent alternative history-adventure story. What if magic was a part of every day life? How would that influence society, education, etc? F(rances) is a thirteenth child. Unlucky & predetermined as wicked. Thank goodness her parents did not cotton with any of that nonsense! A nice blend of folklore, frontier life and coming of age story for a girl that only wants to be normal.
Anne
Oct 18, 2011 rated it did not like it
I already knew about this book's seriously problematic issue of, you know, erasing the existence of Native Americans, so I would never have spent money for it. But I was given a free copy, and I was really curious about what the book was like, so I gave it a go.

I actually thought that maybe the erasure of Indians thing wouldn't be that visible -- I was working on the assumption that the history I learned in school and a lot of the frontier books out there basically already do this, so probably i
...more
Sesana
Aug 31, 2011 marked it as dnf-or-not-gonna-happen
I know this actually all went down a few years ago, but I'd essentially forgotten that this was on my TBR. I've done a lot of thinking about this book, and I've decided that, even if there are some good aspects to the book, I can't do it. I can't stomach reading a story set in the American West that erases the Native American population because the author thinks it would be too hard to write them in a non-stereotypical way. Yes, it's an alternate history, but I still don't feel like that excuses ...more
Jessica
A fun look at what settling the western United States would look like if magic, mammoths, and dragons were involved. Eff, the protagonist and an unlucky thirteenth child, is an utterly charming character, and Wrede has set up a wonderful world for future books that I can't wait to read! ...more
Andrea
A book which brought a mix of good and bad reactions. Set in an alternate America called Columbia during the "Go West!" era, except this is a world of magic, and Columbia is a continent seething with magical wildlife, from woolly rhinoceroses to steam dragons. Add to this Eff, the thirteenth child of a Seventh Son, sister to a double-seventh who is expected to be as powerful and lucky as the thirteenth is said (by some) to be unlucky and prone to wickedness.

The story followed the unlucky thirtee
...more
Barbara ★
This was surprisingly good. Though I really shouldn't be surprised as everything I've read by Patricia Wrede has been excellent. This is the first book of a new series involving magic and magical creatures in the old US while mammoths and wholly rhinoceroses roamed.

Eff Rothmer and her family moved to the Frontier when her uncle called the police on her to have her arrested (at 5 years old) because she was a potential danger to the family. As the thirteenth child, her life was viewed as cursed b
...more
Megan
Mar 31, 2009 rated it liked it
I really enjoyed the concept of this book, the idea of magic in the time of the American westward expansion, but ultimately the execution fell flat for me. A couple of things stuck out to me:

* The complete lack of Native Americans. I can see this has generated some controversy. It stuck out like a sore thumb to me and left me constantly waiting to see when Wrede would introduce them. Alternate history is fine, but you have to go way, way back to find a plausible explanation for why no people ent
...more
Foz Meadows
Feb 15, 2010 rated it it was amazing
Something I really appreciated about this story was the extent to which every member of Eff's very large family was a real, distinct character - someone whose actions impacted on everyone else. Wrede has taken the extant idea of power residing in seventh sons and thirteenth children and made it unquestionably her own. In the hands of a lesser writer, the fact that Eff was a thirteenth child would have been little more than a convenient excuse with which to explain her abilities, with her twelve ...more
Michelle
Jul 07, 2014 rated it it was amazing
My boyfriend found this on audible and liked it so much that he introduced me to it less than a week after he finished reading it. All I can say is that he has good taste. The story is well told, and is in an alternate history setting which is rather odd to me. But so well done as to be believable. Lewis and Clark went on their expedition but disappeared never to return only the first the 3 presidents are the same and magic is prevalent in society as well as superstitious people. Eff short for F ...more
Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson
Apr 25, 2009 rated it it was amazing
Recommends it for: High Fantasy fans, Urban Fantasy fans, Romance fans
Recommended to Samantha wickedshizuku by: Barnes & Nobel
The settings were...
 photo 1176362_10200215068812280_1018507796_n_zps50232099.jpg

I've read it twice; and that alone should be recommendation enough.
It was enjoyable that there was an atmosphere of futuristic Old West. The characters were gritty and textured. I really recommend for anyone that likes Science Fiction or Fantasy.
...more
Chelsea
This was a really fun book and looks like a great series. Patricia C. Wrede is a wonderful author who is really good at giving descriptions and helping the reader get into the minds of her characters. I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile
I don't honestly know how or why I even finished this. Great idea but so poorly executed. Drying paint has held my attention better. Deleting the 2 sequels off of my to-read list. ...more
Eden
Dec 20, 2019 rated it it was amazing
2019 bk bk 416. Frontier Magic is set in the North American continent in the late 1800's - but a very different 1800's from our own. Columbia is settled as far as the Mississippi River, but there are very few settlements beyond that place as magicians have put in place the Great Barrier - to prevent the wild and magical animals of the west from crossing the river to kill the Columbians. Effie's family moves to a new college placed along the upper Mississippi where her father will teach both theo ...more
Rohit Goswami
Sep 27, 2020 rated it liked it
A solid 3 stars. A quick, easy read. A great distraction for a tough weekend, and one which goes down easy. I honestly think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more if the author had put a little more effort into the world building. I mean, when all is said and done, it's pretty lazy to settle for stereotypes. There are three systems of magic, and instead of fleshing them out, the author chose to use cultural stereotypes instead. Not a great plan. It also seems to reflect a pretty unhealthy standard of ...more
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3,464 followers
Patricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her se ...more

Other books in the series

Frontier Magic (3 books)
  • Across the Great Barrier (Frontier Magic, #2)
  • The Far West (Frontier Magic, #3)

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