The Secret of Platform 13
Eva Ibbotson
Puffin
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**+
DESCRIPTION: Subway Platform 13 has been abandoned for so long that most living in London have forgotten all about it, but there is a secret to its cobwebbed depths.
In the back of the station lies a magical doorway to another land, where mermaids and fairies live with humans and hags on an enchanted island. For nine days every nine years,
the doorway opens, allowing people who know of it to cross over as they will.
On the ninth day of the last opening of the door, the young Prince of the island was taken to London by his nurses for a holiday, and was promptly babysnatched by the greedy
Mrs. Trottle, who wanted a child of her own. Now, the door is open again, and a small team of odd but brave rescuers is setting forth into the unknown streets of the city to
find the Prince and bring him home... but, after nine years in our world under Mrs. Trottle's care, is the young boy the same loveable scamp he used to be?
REVIEW: This really wasn't a bad book, there just wasn't very much to it, and it was extremely predictable. Some fun characters and throwaway lines, but all in all the story was bland. Young kids who are just beginning to read longer books might be more amused by it. Personally, I've read better stories aimed at the same target age.
You might also enjoy:
Faerie Wars (Herbie Brennan, YA Fiction - A boy finds a faerie prince in the garden, and becomes involved in a looming interworld war)
Hatching Magic (Ann Downer, YA Fiction - A patch of Wild Magic leads a medieval wyvern and her wizard master to modern-day Boston)
Coraline (Neil Gaiman, YA Fiction - A girl finds a doorway to a strange mirror version of her home, complete with a button-eyed woman who calls herself her "other mother")
The Lives of Christopher Chant (Diana Wynne Jones, YA Fiction - A boy has the power to travel to other worlds in his dreams)
Beyond the Open Door (Andrew Lansdown, YA Fiction - A boy finds a strange knife which allows him to cut windows into another world)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis, YA Fiction - Children from our world travel to the magical realm of Narnia, domain of fauns and talking animals and other wonders)
Eccentric Circles (Rebecca Lickiss, Fiction - A woman finds a doorway to a magical world in her inherited cottage)
Dinosaurs Before Dark (Mary Pope Osborne, YA Fiction - A magical treehouse whisks children into the Dinosaur Age)
The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica (James A. Owen, YA Fiction - Three London men travel to the Archipelago of Dreams, inspiration of myth and story since time began)
The Diadem series (John Peel, YA Fiction - Three children are plucked from their worlds by a mysterious messenger)
Avalon: Circles in the Stream (Shelly Roberts, YA Fiction - Three girls uncover a magical secret in an abandoned wildlife sanctuary)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - An orphaned boy learns he is a wizard, discovering the hidden world of mages living among us)
The Castle in the Attic and The Battle for the Castle (Elizabeth Winthrop, YA Fiction - A toy castle and a magic charm lead a modern boy into a magical medieval world)
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson, YA Fiction - Magical cupboard doors lead a boy to other worlds)
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Which Witch?
Eva Ibbotson
Puffin
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**+
DESCRIPTION: Arriman Canker is the most famous black wizard of England. None have done more to darken the countryside with despair than he. Living in his haunted keep
of Darkington with only the ghost of Sir Simon (famous for slaying all seven of his wives), Mr. Leadbetter (who decided long ago he must be some sort of demon because he was
born with a stub of a tail), and the ogre Lester (a one-eyed muscular being who, unlike most of his species, actually has a brain), Arriman has worked tirelessly for years... but
he grows weary of bearing the mantle of most wicked wizard of the North. In the hopes of siring himself an heir, Arriman reluctantly decides to marry. He is reluctant because,
as everyone knows, a wizard must marry a witch if he is to have any hope of fathering a magical child himself.
The witches around Todcaster are not only black magicians (like him), but invariably hideous to look upon (unlike him.) The local coven includes such members as ancient Mother
Bloodwort (with a cloud of flies as familiars and a tendency to turn herself into a coffee table), Mabel Wrack (the scaly-legged child of a mermaid, whose octopus familiar has
far more going for her in the looks department), and other equally gruesome and undesirable companions. It also includes Belladonna, the only white witch for miles, who considers
herself a failure for not living up to the black ways of her coven-mates. She doesn't even have a familiar, though all the animals of the woods are constantly about her, offering
help. She can't help but love Arriman, but her magic is simply not evil enough to attract his attention, let alone affection.
Of the seven witches of Todcaster Coven, only one will win the hand of Arriman, the one who pulls off the blackest, vilest, and most evil magical feat of them all. Can
Belladonna hide her white ways and become the wizard's bride?
REVIEW: I had a very mixed reaction to this book. On the one hand, there were some interesting ideas and characters presented, and some absolutely hilarious throwaway
lines On the other... well, for one thing, there were the extremely outdated and stereotypical black witches. Hand-in-hand with that was how Ms. Ibbotson went out of her way to
describe, in repulsive detail, just how dark, evil, and ugly each were, with lots of guts and squirming maggots and flaking scabs and such that makes one sick to read about. Some
of the spells described.... well, there's one toward the end especially that didn't really fit in an otherwise whimsical story, if you ask me. I'd be laughing one minute, and in
the next squeamishly picking my way through stomach-churning and unnecessary bits, wondering why I was exposing myself to such hideous mental images as old hags coughing up dead
flies and ghouls collecting scabby used bandages. She also violated her own in-story rules for the plot; black magicians, in her world, should be incapable of love in any form,
so the idea of romance or even friendship among any of the given characters is implausible. In the end, there was just enough humor in between the guts and grime to partially
salvage it from a flat Bad rating. The book cover has a quote saying how this one's "perfect for fans of Harry Potter." If you ask me, fans of Harry will take one look at the
disgustingly ugly witches and their terribly malicious magic and head straight back to the boy wizard.
As a closing note, this is yet another exceedingly British young adult fantasy book. I think I must make it my duty to write an American young adult fantasy book. Nothing against
the Brits, mind you. It just grates on my national pride that so few Americans seem to come up with memorable or widely-distributed fantasy worlds, especially in the Young Adult
category. Seems to be a disproportionate number of British writers on the shelves in there. Or maybe that's just my skewed reading experience.
You might also enjoy:
The Wiz Biz books (Rich Cook, Fiction - A Silicon Valley programmer is pulled into a magical world and a brewing war between light and dark wizards)
The Way of Wizards (Tom Cross, Fiction - An illustrated exploration of wizard origins, powers, and more)
My Sparkling Misfortune (Laura Lond and Alla Alekseyeva, YA Fiction - Seeking vengeance against a prince, a villainous lord finds himself stuck with a do-gooder spirit helper)
The Circle of Magic quartet (Tamora Pierce, YA Fiction - Four children must learn to trust their hidden magical talents and each other)
The Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling, YA Fiction - An orphaned boy learns he is a wizard, discovering the hidden world of mages living among us)
The Wizardology books (Dugald A. Steer, "editor," YA Fiction - Illustrated books about magic and wizardry)
Sweep: Book of Shadows (Cate Tiernan, YA Fiction - A teen girl meets a modern-day witch and discovers her own hidden powers)
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia Wrede, YA Fiction - After running away from home, the improper princess Cimorene deals with headstrong dragons and pesky wizards)
Mairelon the Magician (Patricia Wrede, YA Fiction - A London thief girl finds herself on the run with a fugitive mage hiding from the wizard police)
Wizard's Hall (Jane Yolen, YA Fiction - A boy of dubious gifts enrolls in a wizard school and finds himself caught in a fight between powerful wizards)
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