St Martin's Press The Marvellers

At first, I found the first chapter difficult but I persevered and did some research on the unknown names and I’m so glad I didn’t give up on it. This was a choice for my 10year old battle of the books. It helps immensely getting background information. This book was a joy to read, excellent world building, many instances you can relate to and some of the sayings reminded me of my granny and for a writer to achieve that is just phenomenal. Can’t wait to read the second installment. Oh…the lady who reads it in Audible is outstanding.

This is a present not yet given for my granddaughter’s 12th birthday, thought I’d just have a quick read through to see if it is suitable, oh my I love it! It’s like Harry Potter for girls! Now half way through the book, better get a shimmy on as its her birthday soon

Perhaps I should amend my title…might be tough for younger readers who are white or struggle with reading. There are a ton of references to worldly things, other countries, and languages. The names of the characters do not skew towards typical white names, instead they are nuanced and represent many different ethnicities. There are also many references to other cultural touchstones, like black hairstyles and southern foods and traditions.We are white new englanders, so my kid who hasn’t had many opportunities to travel and experience other cultures needed a LOT of explaining throughout the book (e.g., New Orleans specific references, jollof rice, locs, bottle trees…).As far as reading it aloud, the chapters are long and some of it is a little clunky (mostly longer names that don’t roll off the tongue, e.g., Headmarveller Rivera and Masterji Thakur are tongue twisters at times)The story is lovely, maybe a bit similar to other “magic” books out there (first time at a new magic school, bad guys, ostracism for being “different”, etc…).I mostly gave it 4 stars for being worldly and representative and introducing kids to all sorts of stuff that they might not encounter while reading. But if I had to choose between this and other magic tales we’ve read, I think Morrigan Crow and the Wundersmith series sets the bar incredibly high.

This has a wonderful world, some gorgeous characters and amazing messages of acceptance, tolerance and empowerment. A magical school, making friends, being different and everyone thinking you’re an enemy is a LOT to deal with… but my gosh, I enjoyed this! I look forward to more from this world… the deceptive villain will most certainly be back to tantalise me!

I donate these books to a teacher so that she can encourage the kids to read. I want to them to be able to see themselves and enjoy it just like they do when they read Katness and Harry Potter