Book Review: The Voyage to Magical North by Claire Fayers
Media Type: Ebook (ARC)
Title: The Voyage to Magical North
Author: Claire Fayers
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)
Pages: Hardcover; 320
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Source: FFBC Tours / Publisher
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Content Screening: Magical mischief
HDB Rating: 4 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who enjoy magical romps, filled with pirates and mischief!
Add it on: Goodreads | Amazon | BookLikes
Twelve-year-old Brine Seaborne is a girl with a past–if only she could remember what it is. Found alone in a rowboat as a child, clutching a shard of the rare starshell needed for spell-casting, she’s spent the past years keeping house for an irritable magician and his obnoxious apprentice, Peter.
When Brine and Peter get themselves into a load of trouble and flee, they blunder into the path of the legendary pirate ship theOnion. Before you can say “pieces of eight,” they’re up to their necks in the pirates’ quest to find Magical North, a place so shrouded in secrets and myth that most people don’t even think it exists. If Brine is lucky, she may find out who her parents are. And if she’s unlucky, everyone on the ship will be eaten by sea monsters. It could really go either way.
This book was fantastic! Seriously, I don’t know how you could look at the cover of The Voyage to Magical North and not immediately want to add it to your reading list. Look at that cover! It screams danger, adventure, and pirates. What more could you want? Better still, it absolutely delivers on every single one of those promises. Are you looking for a wild and magical adventure, fraught with danger? Claire Fayers has you covered.
Brine and Peter quickly became two of my new favorite characters. Fayers wrote them so richly, that it was hard not to feel like I was right alongside them. These two couldn’t be more different, but watching them learn how to navigate together and how to understand one another, was a wonderful experience. There was so much depth to everything that Brine and Peter did. They were flawed, they were young, they were human. Couple that with adventures that threw them straight into the tentacles of sea monsters? Well now, you have my attention.
Truly, this story is chock full of everything a Middle Grade reader could ever want. High seas shenanigans, wonderfully thought out magic, harrowing encounters, and so much hilarious snark that it’s hard not to giggle while reading this. I loved that Claire Fayers walked that line between light and dark in The Voyage to Magical North. As good Fantasy books should, this story explores some of the scarier and darker places that one must go to in order to persevere. Those were always my favorite kinds of stories as a kid, and that’s still true to this day.
Trust me, this book is a keeper! It’s a must read for adventure lovers of all ages. Strap in, sit back, and prepare to go on a journey. Claire Fayers has you covered.
FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I was not monetarily compensated for my opinion.
