The Magickers Overview

 The Magickers by Emily Drake

This post will contain spoilers for all 5 books contained in The Magickers series. You have been warned.

It has been a hot minute since I did a Series Overview, but I have THOUGHTS about The Magickers. First and foremost: "The Magickers is America's answer to the Harry Potter series" says the blurb from BookBrowser on the back of two of these novels. Harry Potter this is definitely not. The Magickers probably wishes it were Harry Potter... well... without Rowling, of course. Fuck her. The point is: The Magickers is nowhere near as well written or thought-out as the Harry Potter series is. I'm not going to be comparing them one-to-one, or at all really, but I feel this needed to be said. Is The Magickers a good substitute for Harry Potter, if you're looking to not introduce your kids to it? I would say no. Pick up something by Tamora Pierce or Diane Duane's Young Wizards instead. Or maybe just The Magickers and leave the rest of the series alone.

So, why do I say all this? Well... The Magickers starts out with a very good concept of bringing magical/potentially magical kids to a camp and teaching them the ways of the Magickers. Great concept, ultimately poor execution. In my reviews, I'm pretty sure I blamed this on Gavan, but Gavan is really a stand-in for Ms. Drake herself in that regard. Like, yes, magic schools are a good idea, but it really only works if you can actually get one up and running, which ultimately does not come to pass throughout this series. A grand total of 3 teachers and 7 students does not a functioning school make, even if there's a completed building in an alternate reality.

The antagonists also aren't very antagonistic, really. First, Brennard and his "Dark Hand" are just kind of around, sometimes sucking the magic out of other Magickers because apparently magic is a finite resource? Brennard's position is very clear, but his methods to try and lure Jason in particular over to his side make zero sense. His son, Jonnard, is more threatening, but also just kind of sitting off in the background. Once he manages to actually get enough "Power" to become a threat, he's not so much the threat as the stuff coming out of the proverbial "Gate of Bones" that he manages to open. Isabella isn't much of a threat at all, or at least, not an active one. Sure, she has the Leucators, but those are also just kind of meh. They sound threatening, but in action... they're locked-up zombies who are no real threat to anyone they're not either biting or draining magic from. And then there's Mr. Nothing-Burger Eyomani. Yawn. Honestly, the wolfjackals in the first two books are far more threatening than anything else and even they turn out to be less antagonistic than at first glance. Oh, speaking of wolfjackals, Statler Finch in The Curse of Arkady was more menacing than pretty much all the rest of the antagonists combined. Fuck that pseudo-psychology "the victim is really to blame for the bullying" shit all the way off.

There's also this big, over-arching threat of the government finding out that Magickers exist. Except... there's a lot of lip service paid to this and zero action. There's a blip of a moment when Henry is confronted by a school official from the school he attended pre-Gate Opening, but that's it. Just a lot of "we can't go back home because we'll be dissected by government scientists" followed by nothing.

Oh, and the whole "Auntie Freyah is hiding Gregory's sleeping body but he can't be awoken yet" thing that turns into nothing, too. I just... I was hoping The Prince of Nowhere would resolve this, but there is nary a mention of it. I'm kind of annoyed about that whole thing, if I'm honest. However, at this point, I also don't care enough to continue even if there were more of a continuation. 

I do give The Magickers a couple of points for diversity. There's Anita Patel and Tomaz Crowfeather representing Indian and Native Americans respectively. Ting and her grandmother represent Chinese American immigrants. Aaaand Bailey and Trent both come from single-parents homes while Gatekeeper Jason is the specialist of all with two dead parents and two step-parents. Everyone who's not white feels very stereotypical of their particular POC-ness, though. I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's there and I noticed so... yeah. That is all I'm going to say about it, though, because I am a white woman and I feel like I'm going to say the wrong thing (if I haven't already) so... yup. Shutting up about that now. 

All this really makes it sound like I didn't like The Magickers, huh? Well, I enjoyed it enough. I am, admittedly, well out of the age range this series is aimed at, but... well... other Young Adult series have held up much better than this one did. I am just really frustrated with the series as a whole. It started out great. The Magickers is really good. Everything after that... not as much. The series as a whole feels aimless, even though there's a clear goal presented. After all, Jason gets the Gates to Haven open and they get the school built, but then... nothing really happens. And again, a school isn't really a school if there are only 3 teachers (2, at the very end because Tomaz is going off again) and 7 students. There are also really nice concepts here. I like the crystals. I like the dragons. I like the "everyone has an individual talent on top of just being a Magicker" thing. I like Haven. But taking all the concepts and shaking them around doesn't make them mesh together super well. The magic system ultimately leaves a lot to be desired.

I will also say that I really like the characters. I kind of wish there had been a POV book for each of them, kind of like how The Magickers was for Jason. The meshing of the ensemble cast gave us a glimpse of each person's personality and home-life, but really left me wanting more. It also made some of the books feel choppier due to a lack of cohesion of person and place, if that makes sense.

I think I'm out of talking-points now. If you're interested in my thoughts on the other books, there are links to the reviews on the "Review List" page. There's even a list on one of them about why I'm annoyed at Gavan specifically. I definitely recommend giving The Magickers, specifically, a read. It's definitely my favorite of the five.

The Prince of Nowhere by Emily Drake

Honestly, this was not what I was expecting. I was not expecting the two year time-jump, not that it made any difference whatsoever. I was expecting something having to do with Gregory, which this did not at all. It was honestly okay most of the way through, which seems to be par for the course with The Magickers series. The ending, as usual, was super rushed, though also took forever getting there.

So, the nothing burger of a time-jump. I honestly feel like it was there to have given Ting/Pearl time to become a larger dragon and explain how she’s now used to this. Trent and Jason seem to have figured out how to use Trent’s abilities in a much different manner than Trent was using them in The Gate of Bones. That was so different I was confused as to what anyone was talking about in regard to Trent’s abilities. But otherwise… everything is pretty much the same as it was at the end of The Gate of Bones.

I enjoyed meeting and getting to know Leah. She’s a fun new character. I’m honestly glad, though, that we only got this short amount of time with her, as I feel like she would have just faded into the ensemble if the series were continuing. Along with Leah, we got more of a glimpse into Haven’s other inhabitants and how another piece of their society works.

Eyomani was honestly a nothing burger of an antagonist. His motivation, explained at the very end, was honestly stupid. I would have rather not had him at all and just focused on finding Rich’s cure. That, and dealing with Leah and her tracker-companion would have been just fine.

So, yeah… The Prince of Nowhere was largely just alright. The very ending felt like a rushed mess that had to basically tie up everything

 

In Other News

I finished another OviPets Project. This one is an approximation of the Digimon: Sakumon. Sakumon has a blade on its head and OviPets doesn't have that option so the unicorn horn had to do.

Sakumon took me approximately 3 months to complete and is a "Village of Beginnings" project.

The Gate of Bones by Emily Drake

I'm really... kind of torn about this one. The Gate of Bones was definitely better than The Dragon Guard, but it had its own problems. It mostly felt like the endgame of this book should have been rescuing Eleanora and Fire Ann, but that ended up being fairly anti-climactic... and then the actual ending seemed to take forever in getting there. I was honestly bored by the time the book decided to close the Gate, both literally and figuratively.

The Gate of Bones was definitely much less choppy, though it still somewhat suffered from choppiness. Most of the story focused on how the Magickers were dealing with their new world and some of the ways in which that new world worked. Haven was semi-interesting, though there wasn't a whole lot of explanation as to how society functioned there. There's definitely a vague medieval-ish/Renaissance-y vibe, but it's also rather disparate so... just strange.

I did find it just as frustrating as Bailey and Ting that the girls were left behind for a lot of the "questing" stuff. There's an understanding as to why, but at the same time... not great. I thought for a hot second that Jonnard was going to develop a crush on Bailey and boy and I glad his quest for Power superseded all of that. The last thing this semi-convoluted stuff needed was Jonnard thirsting after Bailey. I'm not super happy that Bailey essentially got damseled a couple of times, too.

We finally get confirmation as to what Aunt Freya is guarding, though what's actually going to happen on that front is up in the air at the end. I won't spoil it, but it's kind of the only reason I'm about to go on to the fifth Magickers book (only available digitally, but at least there's an actual ending to this thing).

There's also some more philosophical discussion between Jason and The Dragon. Much dithering over whether or not Jason chose correctly, mostly because Jason doubts himself. Other than that, though, Jason's not actually the main focus of this one... his bits aren't really focused on any more than the others.

But yeah, The Gate of Bones was overall alright. I would honestly have been fine leaving the story here, but, as I've already got the fifth and final one... *much shrugging ensues* Guess we'll see how that goes.

The Dragon Guard by Emily Drake

2025 Reread

I honestly don't think I've read a more frustrating book in a while. I really pushed myself through this one, which I can only hope gets paid off in the next one... which was the entire reason I kept reading. the Dragon Guard is severely choppy, the characters make the most frustrating decisions, and it didn't really come together until the second half and even then it's still really choppy.

I honestly don't think the strategy of switching up POVs worked well. There were just too many characters to get away with doing so. There's one point, before Jason's big soccer game, where we check in with Ting... a nothing-burger of a check in. Made me want to throw the book across the bathroom I've been reading it in. It just felt severely unfocused.

The issue of the adult characters also rears its head again. I have a whole list on my phone haranguing Gavan's really bad planning in terms of teaching the 7 Magicker children... one of whom (Danno) is barely mentioned and apparently just fine off wherever he ended up. Tomaz just fucks off for most of the book on his own project, Eleanora is knocked out because of the whole Jennifer thing, and Aunt Freya is doing something secretive that makes her unhelpful. That's not even mentioning Khalil and Isabella... one of which has a very spoiler-ific reveal so I won't be talking about it, but it's still... ugh. So frustrating. Anyway, the main issue is Gavan wanting to do this Academy thing and not having the resources to even teach 7 kids or get the results he wants out of Jason in particular... just... what the hell, man.

Which then brings me to Jon and Brennard. Yeah... Brennard's supposed to be giving this "Dark Lord" energy and he's just not. Jon's largely usurping that, but also isn't at the same time. They really don't do a whole heck of a lot except loom in the background, being very, very vaguely menacing. I just... my head's smacking a wall with how much I, as a reader, do not care about the "villains" of the piece.

I do care a lot more about Jason. Jason is a good POV character. He's the main character we should be following the entire time, but, as I said to begin with, The Dragon Guard is just so choppy. It's like Drake was unsure as to whether or not Jason could hold the story on his own and so had to keep switching POVs because Jason couldn't be everywhere... which is fair, but also, as I'm typing this, I'm thinking about the "runtime" of the book. I think having Jason be the main POV character would have made the book shorter as well. I don't personally think that would have been a bad thing, but... yeah. It's just too much.

I am really, really hoping The Bone Gate is better. I truly don't remember, just like I only remembered, like, two details from The Dragon Guard. It's been a long while. 

 

Reasons I'm Annoyed At Gavan In Particular

1. Gavan really should have thought out his Academy project a lot better before even trying to start Ravenwyng. That whole thing was severely bungled.

2. Bailey's Dad discovered she's doing Magick because she got scared and of course she was gonna teleport out of the situation. She's got no backup or anyone helpful to talk to about the situation.

3. Basically the entirety of The Curse of Arkady... which we also actually learn about a damn book later.

4. Jason inadvertently pissing off his dragon friend, because, again with the scared kids who can teleport using that as a resource mainly due to not having anything else to lean on.

5. Basically everything Jason yells at Gavan about. Their training is crapola and basically non-existent in these books. 

6. Gavan's so-called allies are basically doing nothing to help... at all.

7. Shit that's happening to Henry because of Jonnard.

8. Jason got more training in, like, 2 days with Ting's grandmother than he did in any of his time with Gavan or the other Magickers. She's not even a "proper" Magicker! 

The Curse of Arkady by Emily Drake

I have found The Curse of Arkady to be incredibly frustrating. The multiple POVs jump around abruptly, though I will admit, without a central location for the characters to be in, the multiple POVs are necessary. The storyline, though, is just… utterly frustrating and the end feels abrupt. Come see as I explain/rant about the nonsense.

I really, really dislike that the adult Magickers have basically just left the kids to fend for themselves. Gavan even specifically tells Jason that there might not always be someone to answer an alarm beacon. Then WTF is the point of it then??? I understand ya’ll don’t have the resources to take care of a whole school or even the amount of kids you originally had at Camp, but you’ve now got a whole 7 teenagers in need to training and you’re just… not doing anything aside from random check ins. How the fuck are they supposed to learn or defend themselves properly, exactly? One of the Council members talks about how they used to do apprenticeships, so it's not like teaching young Magickers individually is outside anyone's wheelhouse, it's just straight up not even being done.

I do think the book adequately shows just how much trouble the kids can get into on their own, as well. A member of the Dark Hand ambushes Jason, Stef goes bear at a horrible time, Jennifer’s losing her sense of self, and Bailey and Ting accidentally turn a supposedly harmless charm into a full-blown love-charm. All with no backup and really no one to call for help because the adult Magickers are all too busy to even check in on them regularly… apparently. This apparently all plays straight into the hands of Brennard, so that's just great.

Ah yes, and then the kids get scolded for being in “situations you shouldn’t have been in, in the first place.” As though they had enough training to keep themselves out of such situations. This is exactly what happens when magical kids don’t get enough/consistent training. Just… Tomaz’s entire thing after Jason finds Fizziwig makes me want to smack him. Ya’ll certainly aren’t acting as though these kids are at all important to you. But sure, “don’t disappoint us” is the way to go. WTF.

Fuck Statler Finch. Anyone who blames the victims of bullying for the bullying is THE WORST. Bullying is NEVER the victim’s fault. I am supremely happy Jason recognizes this pretty much right off the bat. I'm really trying to keep this spoiler-free, so I can't really say much more about Finch, but... he's an extreme annoyance.

I did like the little looks into each kid's life. They got just that much more fleshed out, plus some scoring on the diversity front. If there's one thing that really sets The Magickers apart as a series, it's the diversity of family dynamics and backgrounds. I'm really looking forward to seeing more about Ting's family, especially after the revelations there. I honestly remember maybe one thing from the next two books, so I can't speak to whether or not we get more of them.

I feel like, even though the ending was endlessly foreshadowed, it felt abrupt. Felt like Jason just fell into things for the last few chapters of the book. Even Brennard's goal was extremely fuzzy. Like yes, he apparently wanted Jason and his powers, but he did not feel like much of a threat. Trent actually shone more in the last chapter than almost anyone else. He reminded me a bit of Rachel Dare from the Percy Jackson series. I am also quite happy with Henry's fate, if not his role in the plot. Yes, he's back, tiny spoiler.

So, yeah, The Curse of Arkady was less strong of a sequel than I would have liked. Just a whole lot of nothing on top of a massive amount of frustration. I will hopefully be less frustrated with the next one.

In Other News

I have finished another OviPets Project! This one is really, truly a stretched from the inspiration... but I would like to introduce Monochromon!

Monochromon took me approximately 10 months to complete. These are part of my Adult Digimon Project. I really do love them, despite their lack of... uh... resemblance to the Digimon they're based off of. 

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.