Ein zauberhaft magisches Kinderbuch, dass mich mit einer einfallsreichen Geschichte und liebevollen Charaktere wieder überzeugen konnte. I love the decision that she makes at the end of the story, leaving it open for more adventures in The House at the End of Magic.

As this book is aimed at Middle-Grade readers the decision to pick up the story straight away really works. She stared at him fiercely, willing her eyelids not to blink, glad he couldn’t hear her heart racing.Yes, it took a while to get there - until almost the very end - but I did get there, mostly because of the way the book ended. A blue and white coat of arms was mounted on one side of the front door, showing something like two sticks crossed above a large toad. When she steals a beautiful house-shaped ornament from the purse of a witch, she knocks on its tiny door and enters a world of magical and brilliantly funny characters, placed under a spell that they need Nine’s help to break.

Neun jedoch ist wohl nicht so gut darin und hält sich zwischenzeitlich in der Bücherei auf um zu lesen. Fazit: Nach einem (für mich) beschwerlichen Einstieg, konnte mich das Buch ab der Hälfte wieder sehr begeistern und in seinen Bann ziehen! This does mean that the pacing is equally huge, but the character and plot development naturally suffers because of it. Aber bitte: lest unbedingt Band 1 davor, ihr verpasst sonst einiges und ich sehe die Teile auch nicht als in sich abgeschlossen an.

Nine glanced around, keen to be aware of her surroundings in case things turned bad, which she assumed was quite possible in the company of a long-tusked troll and a clearly agitated – if not entirely unbalanced – wizard. Any Sparkes hat ein schönes und magisches Setting erschaffen, man kann sich die einzelnen Orte bildhaft vorstellen. She has quick fingers and instincts but still the piece that tumbles from the unusual beaded bag appears to defy her. Yourself and Bob are much cherished in our booky world and I personally really appreciate everything that you do.

Yesterday a parent came over to tell me how impressed she was by the book fair and that you did a fabulous job of selling the books to the children first. Then he snatched the parchment out of Nine’s hand, turned on his purpleslippered heel and marched into the nearest room.They had changed – they were sparkling with hundreds of silvery flecks, as if tiny shards of diamonds were embedded inside. Made me chuckle, the epilogue made me cry, and this is so full of adventure and magical catastrophes that I was just racing through. I picked this up because apparently in some list this was featured that if you enjoyed The Hosue in The Cerulean Sea by T. There was a slightly wonky chimney on top of a tiled roof and, at the bottom, a double-fronted blue door with a tiny doorknocker. Well… This has been nice,” she said, trying to sound like this sort of thing happened every day, “but I really can’t stay.