Patricia C. Wrede.
The Seven Towers.
1984
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
Liavek is a hot, busy trade city, situated on the southern shore of the Sea of Luck at the mouth of the Cat River. In Liavek, magic is based on one’s “birth luck” and the length of time one’s mother was in labor. Everyone has luck, but using it is another matter. Luck, or magic, must be invested annually in some object outside oneself; only then can it be used to power spells. And investing one’s magic is difficult and dangerous. Prospective magicians who fail find their magic draining away, and with it, their life.
From that mad and wonderful seed, Wrede and Dean create an enthralling set of stories, where a god is trapped in the body of a chipmunk, where a play has the potential to incite a riot and change a nation, and where a family is coming apart at the seams, and going to enormous lengths to stitch itself back together.
All of the stories are tied together by the unforgettable character of Granny, Ka’Riatha—the one the Book of Curses calls the Guardian of the S’Rian Gods. Granny moves through each story, casting spells and bringing her tart brand of wisdom to a world come undone. This spellbinding set is perfect for fans of both titans of the genre, and will bring equal parts thrilled gasps and charmed smiles to readers everywhere.
rating : 3 : worth reading
review : 9 August 2025
When a day at the State Fair is interrupted by the news that she’s the daughter of a “Dark Lord,” she and her family are quickly whisked to another world—one that’s chock-full of magic but lacking in technology!
As her family encounters fantastical creatures in place of their earthly gadgets, Kayla must prepare for the unpreparable: meeting her father, the Dark Lord himself, for the very first time. All Kayla wants is to go home, but she must learn magic to do so. The catch? For the Dark Lord’s daughter, the road to mastering magic is filled with evil traditions. As she ventures closer to her father, Kayla must decide whether to accept her birthright. Is she destined for darkness? Or can she become a new kind of Dark Lady?
Kayla has always known she was adopted. She just didn’t know that her real father was a Dark Lord in a different world. But when a strange man approaches her and her adoptive family during a day out at the fair, they are all whisked off to that other world, where Kayla must take up her inherited mantle of Dark Lady, or face being overthrown and killed by a rival Lord.
This is a fun YA adventure, as Kayla must find out how to accept her inheritance, and learn to wield the obvious Dark Magic that she has, without compromising her ethical beliefs, or freaking out her adoptive mother too much. She is helped by her tablet computer magically transformed into a familiar, and by the spirits that haunt her castle, but hindered mostly by the rest of her original family and the Tradition they follow.
It is all resolved fairly quickly, helped along with pizza, and teaching the local bards hip-hop, but it is good to see how Kayla’s un-Traditional choices end up helping her in the end. There is a conclusion, but clear room for more adventures in this world.
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
The Far West, out beyond the settled territory, is a dangerous place. Eff knows this better than most – she’s traveled past the Great Barrier Spell, seen steam dragons, fought a pride of saber cats, and killed a medusa lizard before it could turn her and her brother to stone.
But even though there are changes at home – new nieces and nephews, a wildlife study center for the college – Eff finds herself drawn to the Far West. The government is organizing the first expedition west in a decade, and Eff wants to go with her twin brother, Lan; her best friend, William; and her mentors, Professor Torgeson, Wash Morris, and Professor Ochiba. The group of scientists, army troops, and magicians will map unexplored land and discover new types of magical wildlife. Eff will learn more about her magic and ways of looking at the world than she could ever have guessed. And she’ll need all her knowledge and strength to help take on a new threat from the West, one that could not just destroy the frontier but devastate the entire continent.
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
(read but not reviewed)
