The Magic Warble

Victoria Simcox

I’ll start by saying this novel is a little out of my usual reading tastes. For me, this was a children’s book – listed as a ‘middle-grade’ read, ages 9-13. If the chapters were short and more episodic, it could have been suitable for those 3-9 year olds that have a good attention span for listening to things being read aloud.

It reminded me of Enid Blyton’s ‘The Faraway Tree’ which I have been reading recently. It had a good storyline, and its very child friendly (with the exception perhaps of the Queen and the blood). There are 1-2 pictures per chapter, which add a nice counter-note to the text. I enjoyed them, even though they were simple.

For me, the plot points and turning and excitement were completely transparent but for younger readers this would not be the case. Basically, any time that something went smoothly, there was a spanner in the works!

I made the mistake of forgetting to write the review for this for a little while, and then wondering what there was that I liked about – when I knew I did like it, and thought it was appropriate for its intended age group.

Something I will say – the ending was not very happy. The rat! Oh the rat! And the various betrayals and not really knowing what was going to happen irritated me a little, but I guess that’s because I wanted more depth there and some concrete finishing parts. There is a second book in this series, so if your son or daughter (or you) enjoys this kind of thing, then go for it and get it at the same time, because they’ll want to read the second right afterwards.

I received a free copy of this book after I won it in a giveaway, and then offered to do a review and another giveaway for the author. This has in no way influenced the review I have given.