There is much that will remind contemporary fantasy readers of J.K. Rowling’s award-winning series about a boy wizard in this story. But there are vastly significant differences as well.
Ella Durand is a Conjurer, a different kind of magic from Marvellers, and her coming is viewed with mostly hostility and suspicion by most of the student body. Conjurers are considered second-rate magic practitioners and have been excluded for centuries. But Ella’s coming signals seismic shifts in societal thinking.
Unlike Harry, Ella doesn’t have a Destiny or prophecy or any of that folderol hanging over her. But it’s made clear she has a heavy burden and a standard to uphold. Besides getting good grades, she’s expected to uphold the Marveller standard as well as stay out of trouble. Too many demerits and other Conjurers may be banned again from the school—this time permanently.
Ms. Clayton manages to fill her Arcanum school with a dazzling diversity of skin colors and cultures and keeps us interested in them; they’re not just temporary background filler. The various “senses” come with their own brands of magic and children must study to find out which marvel Paragon (i.e., magical house) they will fit into after their first year. This is a stark reversal of Rowling’s system, one that sorts small children into a specific house on the very first day of their orientation at an age when most children don’t even know how to eat a healthy breakfast.
Ella turns out to be a redoubtable heroine. She’s not foolhardy; in fact, she thinks of herself as a coward although circumstances prove her otherwise. But she’s willing to be kind, to meet hatred with sweetness, to strive for high grades in class (she get’s them; she’s no dummy) and to reach out to those who are as different as she. She’s also peevish on occasion, desperate to please and too willing to hare off on her own when older, wiser heads are advising her to stay put.
This novel sparkles with humor, tenderness, fierce familial ties and an altogether different type of magic system, one that mesmerizes with its originality and beauty.
Ella Durand is a Conjurer, a different kind of magic from Marvellers, and her coming is viewed with mostly hostility and suspicion by most of the student body. Conjurers are considered second-rate magic practitioners and have been excluded for centuries. But Ella’s coming signals seismic shifts in societal thinking.
Unlike Harry, Ella doesn’t have a Destiny or prophecy or any of that folderol hanging over her. But it’s made clear she has a heavy burden and a standard to uphold. Besides getting good grades, she’s expected to uphold the Marveller standard as well as stay out of trouble. Too many demerits and other Conjurers may be banned again from the school—this time permanently.
Ms. Clayton manages to fill her Arcanum school with a dazzling diversity of skin colors and cultures and keeps us interested in them; they’re not just temporary background filler. The various “senses” come with their own brands of magic and children must study to find out which marvel Paragon (i.e., magical house) they will fit into after their first year. This is a stark reversal of Rowling’s system, one that sorts small children into a specific house on the very first day of their orientation at an age when most children don’t even know how to eat a healthy breakfast.
Ella turns out to be a redoubtable heroine. She’s not foolhardy; in fact, she thinks of herself as a coward although circumstances prove her otherwise. But she’s willing to be kind, to meet hatred with sweetness, to strive for high grades in class (she get’s them; she’s no dummy) and to reach out to those who are as different as she. She’s also peevish on occasion, desperate to please and too willing to hare off on her own when older, wiser heads are advising her to stay put.
This novel sparkles with humor, tenderness, fierce familial ties and an altogether different type of magic system, one that mesmerizes with its originality and beauty.