The Magickers by Emily Drake

2025 Reread Review

The Magickers is one of those books that (especially given the blurb on the back of the book), could be compared to the Harry Potter books. At the present moment, I'm gonna go ahead an say it combines the wizarding school aspect of Harry Potter with the camp aspects of Percy Jackson... well, the camp setting anyway. The Magickers definitely does the camp stuff better. After all, Camp Ravenwyng is, first and foremost, a summer camp and a newer one at that (as far as operational terms). This reread marks my fourth or fifth time reading the series. I happened to starting rereading it this time around the same time I'm reading Percy Jackson for the first time, so that's been an interesting thing to have also running through my mind.

Emily Drake has a very nice writing style that far and away trumps Rick Riordan in descriptive terms. Camp Ravenwyng actually feels like a real camp, which I appreciate. The kids are being taught about their abilities at the same time they're having camp activities. Though, honestly, I feel like the way the Magickers were introduced as such wasn't the best. I do understand that this is Gavan's first time essentially giving the "You're a wizard, Harry" speech, but... it still felt very stilted. I don't feel like anyone in that room would have actually taken him seriously, even with the small displays of magic alongside the history lesson. Of course, the "and now back to your regularly scheduled camp activities" immediately afterward didn't help with that feeling. I did like the rest of the world-building. It feels full and vibrant, both specific to Jason's experience and hinting at a much wider Magicker world to expand into.

I did, and still do, quite like the characters. Bailey remains my favorite, probably reminding me of myself at that age, some. In hindsight, Trent's whole thing toward the latter half of the book is clear as day... I don't remember my reaction to his behavior the first time, but... yeah. I liked the diversity of the Magickers, though I do feel like Tomaz and Dr. Patel felt quite stereotypical of their ethnicities/cultures. I guess it's fine, given this is a Young Adult book, but still felt kinda icky to me. I might be being hyper-sensitive, not sure.

I think the over-arching Dark Hand stuff was pretty well-handled as something that would need to be dealt with in the future. The wolfjackals are a semi-interesting starter "villain."

So yeah, The Magickers is a good introduction to a series as well as being a good jumping in point for a young fantasy fan. Definitely a good alternative to Harry Potter if you're trying to avoid introducing it to your kids.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

So, yet again, I feel like there was a lot crammed in here. There wasn’t a lot of room for much of it to really breathe until the end. The aftermaths of the Percy Jackson series usually have more room to breathe than the core plot, I find. Which, ya know, is a choice.

Much of Nico’s characterization and growth happened off-screen, which was alright. There was already a lot going on with the adventure through the Labyrinth. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the Labyrinth itself. It’s kind of a neat concept, with the ever-growing and changing thing… and sort of a fast-travel hack if you find the right person to help out. Speaking of which, Rachel Dare. Not quite the most interesting character and I suspect mostly there just to make Percy and Annabeth snip at each other… well, and lead Percy and the gang through the Labyrinth, of course.

I did like Percy figuring out how to better use his powers. I feel like Camp Half-Blood should really have some kind of courses in power-usage besides all the battle training, but I also figure, since the Big Three weren’t supposed to have kids, it makes sense that Percy has to figure out his powers on his own.

The end battle was… a battle. I did have one of those teary-eyed moments when the Labyrinth denizens started showing up. Apparently my brain just cannot handle the “everyone joins in support of the hero” moments without some tears… even if I honestly didn’t have a lot of feelings about the characters themselves.

I think I liked The Battle of the Labyrinth better than the last two. It still doesn’t make it into my favorites, but it felt better.

Favorite Line

"Percy, lesser beings do many horrible things in the name of the gods. That does not mean we gods approve. The way our sons and daughters act in our names…well, it usually says more about them than it does about us." - Poseidon

Wyvernhail by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Spoiler Free Reread Review

Wyvernhail is the fastest paced of these five books. Hai's desperation to save the future from the flames of the unborn Keyi is palpable. She, no overt spoilers, does manage to save everything and tie a neat bow on the whole series. Wyvernhail is also a book of self-discovery for Hai, though I don't think she realizes it until the very end.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Wyvernhail personally. On the one hand, I am again frustrated by the way Wyvern's Court is still super segregated, though that is both less and more of an issue in Wyvernhail. I am annoyed by the falcon interference. I am pleased that Hai, despite being pulled this way and that by her magic, is able to have some adult relationships that are implied to be... well... less than healthy. And to be clear, I'm not pleased by the less-than-healthy aspects of this, but by the fact her character isn't infantilized.

Wyvernhail also does a lot of heavy lifting, as far as the World Building for the entire series. There's been bits a pieces of the past scattered throughout the series, but Wyvernhail comes right out and explains what happened with Maeve and Keisha and Alasdair and the falcons. It feels cathartic, but I also doubt Hai really explains any of this to her compatriots, so I'm not sure whether or not it's helpful to the people of Wyvern's Court.

I do like Wyvernhail well enough. Definitely not as up on it as I was on first read, but then, I've grown since then so... yeah.

Wolfcry by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

 Spoiler Free Reread Review

My feelings on Wolfcry are complicated, as, I think, is the entire story.

On the one hand, I really, really don't think the people of Wyvern's Court are forced to spend enough time together. Just hanging out in the Market isn't nearly enough. They should be celebrating their holidays together, going to school together, etc. It definitely feels as though the society here basically isn't trying hard enough.

On the other hand, the society of Wyvern's Court definitely mirrors real life. The way the USA (the only country I can speak about with any kind of authority and even that is from my priveleged-white-girl stand-point) has segregated itself despite having many more years than the fictional Wyvern's Court to come together. Plus, the societies are just so, so different, combining them is nigh impossible. The Falcons certainly did them a doozy as far as that goes. I'm finding it hard to come up with a more real-world equivalent and failing to come up with a combo that makes sense. But I digress.

Oliza's personal journey here was what actually took up the "runtime." I liked the continued world-building with the wolves and the Obsidian guild. I definitely liked the whole Betia thing, which I won't get into, but yeah... I think it was an interesting choice to have the sakkri tie everything together. Oliza is vaguely aware of the issues she's going to have to face, probably more aware than she realized, before the sakkri essentially woke her to the realities of the situation. She did voice at some stage how she has literally no one in her peer-group who embodies what she herself does, which I found both interesting and absolutely absurd... and proves my point that the societies really aren't trying to combine effectively if even those in their princess' inner circle are so divided.

So yeah... overall, the story hangs together well enough. I feel like Oliza's physical journey took forever, which... yes, the distance she apparently had to cover on foot would have. But it all culminates around the sakkri and Oliza deciding what to do about all that. Still heckin' complicated.

In Other News

I've been on vacation for the last week! I went to visit my family in Washington. If you'd like to see pictures from my trip, head over to my Facebook Page (link in the side bar) and take a look at my "Washington 2025" Album. There's a lot of beautiful tree photos from our walk through "The Hall of Mosses" in Hoh National Park, just as a highlight.

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

I really feel like this one had too much crammed into it. These quests are all well and good, but ultimately, there’s just too much to fit well into such a short book. One set-piece after another in such quick succession… I can barely remember even the order in which they happened. It also did not help that there were new characters to get to know, which we barely do. I feel like Zoe ended up more fleshed out than Thalia and Bianca was barely a blip.

Favorite Line

"Sometimes mortals can be more horrible than monsters." - Zoe Nightshade

In Other News

I finished 2, yes 2! OviPets projects this week. We have the Icy Leopards, first of my "Digi*s Leopards" Project and Pixie Lotors for my Digis Miscellany Project.

I am also on vacation this week, visiting my family.

Scarlet Adventures #12

Today, I went Shiny hunting. The Growlithes I was hunting displayed some odd tendencies to just... walk into the water. If you know anything about Pokemon, you should know this would definitely be fatal for a Fire type... let alone a Pokemon with no gills. 😆

Stayed underwater even in battle. Whut.

I follow this one for a bit as it just strolled down the creek... underwater.

My Koraidon is swimming above this one.

My Raging Bolt glitched through the hill here. 😆

Another Raging Bolt glitch. 😆

Got my shiny. 😊

Aaaand Evolution. 👍

Falcondance by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

A Fairly Spoiler-Free Reread Review

So... Falcondance... honestly, entirely middling and actually a bit confusing. The main plot isn't really that confusing, though it does have some twists and turns, the confusing part is the magic system. Nicias is used and abused pretty much throughout the book, poor thing, really. He definitely wasn't aware or prepared for the kind of machinations going on in the court of Ahnmik... if you can even call it a court.

The magic system has a large focus here, though it is still not very concrete in the way things are explained. Nicias' magic wakes and he must learn to use it, though that use is pretty much glossed over. If this were a movie, Nicias' training sessions would have been montages where light flashed back and forth and nothing was explained. The spells are described as bands of light, eyes change color, and that's more-or-less it. We get some overview of how Ahnmik and Anhamirak's magics used to intertwine and more explanation of Ecl, but it's still all quite vague. Basically the backdrop to explaining why the Falcons did what they did and why the Serpiente and Avians will never and must never become one again.

The world-building aspect of Nicias' visit to the island city of Ahnmik was kind of neat and actually quite horrifying. The class structure is... problematic at best. More-or-less determined by how your magic decides to wake in you at the tender age of FOUR. I don't think I liked it on my first read and I definitely don't like it now. The way magic has permeated the island was the neat part. I kind of enjoy the idea of a semi-sentient city.

Remembering what I do about Wolfcry and Wyvernhail, Falcondance is undeniably setup and explanation for the events in those books.

The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

So Percy more or less follows in Odysseus’ footsteps. That’s pretty much the plot. It’s a lot to be crammed into less than 300 pages. It was enjoyable, though.

I’m still not entirely sure what was up with Tantalus having it in for the half-bloods and Percy in particular. That felt really weird. His whole vibe was weird… which, like, I understand having the punishment he does but… ehh.

I liked Tyson well enough. Liked getting more from Clarisse, though her personality definitely hasn’t improved. I enjoyed the C.C. bit.

But yeah, that’s about it as far as my thoughts on this one.