Middle Grade Madness: The Magic Thief series
Stolen (Magic Thief, #1)by Sarah PrineasHullo! I'm actually going to blog about some books. Can you believe it? In fact, I'll be blogging about a few series I think. I have been on a huge Middle Grade reading roll thanks to my newly awesome library and I have discovered a few series that I can't believe I waited this long to check out.The first amazing series I discovered--and devoured!--is The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas. The first book, Stolen, introduces us to Conn, a young boy who lives in the gutters in Twilight. He is a pickpocket and a thief. He has quick hands and is somewhere between the age of 12 and 14 (he doesn't know). He semi-successfully picks the pocket of Nevery, a Wizard. From there a relationship is formed, although slightly one-sided. Conn is certain that Nevery took him home to be his apprentice, whereas Nevery was under the impression he was taking Conn on as a servant. Conn does NOT make a good servant.The books are narrated by Conn, though broken up by journal entries by Nevery, Rowan (the Dutchess' daughter), and letters between Conn and Nevery. These little interludes are artistically done, so it feels like you're reading handwritten pages. They break up the narration nicely and add to the story. Conn eventually becomes the apprentice he hopes to be and searches for his own Locus Magicalicus (magical stone) so that he might be a real wizard. Odd things tend to happen around Conn, and he seems to have a connection with the city's magic that no one else has.The narration is humourous and Conn is such a likable character. He's not very talkative, and I love the way his responses to what people say to him are actually more to himself, inside his head. He isn't a typical protagonist in that he's not surprised that he has magic, or whining that he has to undertake tasks or quests. He is very matter-of-fact about what is presented to him and it's refreshing in some ways to read a book like this. He is so certain that he's Nevery's apprentice that it ends up being so. As though Conn knows what should happen, and what will happen (not in a telepathic way) and it just takes others a little longer to see the logic of Conn's original thought.
Conn is convinced that the magic in their city is alive, yet the other Wizards (including Nevery for a time) don't believe him. Conn can hear the magic speak to him when he creates explosions. Only explosions are illegal in Wellmet and to be caught would mean being exiled from the city. Of course Conn isn't one to follow rules he feels are illogical, so he continues to do his own thing. And although I thought I would find this bratty, I was never once annoyed by something Conn did. He wasn't the sort of main character who makes stupid decisions. All of his decisions, you learn quickly, are actually logical and he's never out to harm anyone or cause trouble. Not intentionally. Conn just has a way of looking at things that make sense to him. If something seems out of tune, he can figure out how to tune it back up. The problem is everyone else doesn't see his path and therefore think he's up to no good. Eventually Nevery, along with Rowan, and Nevery's bodyguard/cook/housekeeper Bennet, clue in to Conn's intelligence and they try to help him in his own way.In the second book, Lost, Conn is exiled but takes this opportunity to travel to another city, the city of Desh, because that seems to be where the magic is telling him to go. The magic keeps Conn out of Wellmet, exile or not. Until Conn can figure out what the Magic wants from him in Desh, he's going there on his own. He does spend some time in the company of Rowan and her diplomatic envoy, but mostly, he's up to his own devices and almost gets himself killed a few times.This poor boy ends up in so many dungeon/prison cells. Oy.
Found (Magic Thief, #3)The third book in this series validated my own guess about what the magic was back in the middle of book one. I was quite pleased with myself about this you know. Heh. Again, this series surprised me with how the "unoriginal" plot ended up being original. I was certain that Conn was going to have some sort of magical connection with all dragons and that he and Pip would be fast, fast friends. In fact I thought a dragon was going to be Conn's new (and second) Locus Magicalicus. I was slightly wrong. He's no dragon whisperer, but he still approaches dragons like he does everything else. Logically - to him. He thinks something should be a certain way and he just acts as though it already is, even if it isn't.I don't know if I am explaining this correctly, but it's the only way I can think of to verbalize it.All three books have those fun letter/journal snippets breaking up the narrative and I just adore them. I love Nevery to pieces. He's so grumpy and gruff, but he's got this soft heart that he tries to hide. The manner in which is journal entries are written always made me giggle and just made me love the character more. I think it helped that he reminded me of someone I used to work with. ;)There is so much adventure, magic, humour, and fun within these pages. I am shocked that I didn't look into this series sooner. I think I was just sceptical that it would seem too Harry Potter-ish (it's NOTHING like HP), or too unoriginal, but it's not. Unlike the Septimus Heap series (which is a little too Harry Potter-ish, and silly for my tastes), this book held me captive. I only borrowed the first two books of the three the library had. Just in case I didn't like them, or someone needed the third book. (Don't ask. I feel greedy if I take out an entire series at once.) but I read those two books in less than 24 hours and I headed right back to the library to pick up the third book. I am thrilled to find out that the fourth book - Home - is due out in about a month's time. I think I want to buy this entire series for my niece. Or, you know, myself.I tried writing about these books without giving too much away, but since I seem to be one of the last people to actually read them, you might not be spoiled by anything. But if you haven't read them, and you're a Middle Grade and Fantasy fan? Go out and get yourselves some copies now. They are amazing. Enchanting. Magical. Super fun and entertaining!