Month of November 2022 - The Thief Books

“The Magic Thief: Take the Magic and Run” (Book 1 of 3) - Sarah Prineas (2008; 2009 ed.) 419 pages.

READING LEVEL: 4.5 AR POINTS: 9.0 (Middle grade level)

I’m not into “fantasy” reading, but this was actually a cute little story for middle schoolers, one I think my middle school granddaughter will really enjoy. It’s not outlandishly fantasized like the Harry Potter books and movies and much easier to follow and understand. Don’t let the large number of pages turn you off. The print is larger and there is more white space on the pages. It’s really a quick and easy read.

You don’t take the locus magicalicus from Wizard Nevery Flingas without it instantly killing you. So, when the young, orphaned thief, Connwaer, steals it and doesn’t die, Nevery was intrigued and sets forth to find out if he could be the next apprentice wizard in training.

The city of Wellmet is losing its magical powers, and Nevery has returned to find out why and try to stop it before the city falls into decay.

My interest was piqued wondering where Conn was going to find his own locus magicalicus, a special stone that all wizards must find on their own and is used to create magic. I loved Conn’s honest and meek personality, and I loved that he was the one to discover who and why all the magic was being sucked out of Wellmet.

It’s fun when small, bad characters turn good and end up strong heroes. ( )

Conn, ladronzuelo de oficio, roba a Nevery, un poderoso mago, una piedra que resulta ser su amuleto. En condiciones normales, tendría que haber muerto calcinado; sin embargo, la piedra brilla en su mano. Nevery, al verlo, lo invita a cenar para que se convierta en su aprendiz.
Desterrado de Wellmet desde hace más de veinte años por ser crítico con la duquesa, Nevery volver· a la ciudad tras recibir una carta en la que se le avisa que el nivel de magia está bajando de forma alarmante.
Mientras, Conn sigue mostrando sus dotes como mago, pero no podrá demostrarlo hasta que descubra cuál es su amuleto. Sólo tiene 30 días. No sabe por dónde empezar...

An orphaned pickpocket steals a magic stone from a wizard and becomes his apprentice. The boy, truthful and fair, becomes apprentice to the once-banned wizard, who is called upon by the city magisters to determine why the city's magic is disappearing. Young Conn's inquisitiveness and resourcefulness solve the mystery, with support from wizard Nevery, the Dutchess, and thug, Benet. ( )

Book and Cookie Club selection, but a worthwhile read, and a Skype conversation with the author made it even more so. This fanciful tale of magic set in a fictional time and place (but reminiscent of Dickens' London) rode the wave of Harry Potter popularity for fans who wanted read-alikes. Not disappointing, but maybe for a bit younger crowd. Young Conn, a gutter boy, steals a magic object from a wizard and finds himself enmeshed in his own awakening magical skills with the backdrop of a power struggle in his society to control the magic. Very original, memorable characters to care about -- it's a series but not sure I will pursue it. ( )

{First of 4 : The Magic Thief series. Children's, fantasy}

I borrowed this from my children's school library and apparently I also borrowed it three years ago as an e-book from the local library (when I noted that the e-format diminishes the impact of the pencil drawings).

Conn is a gutterboy thief who lives in the Twilight district of the city of Wellmet. One day he gets caught by the mage, Nevery, when he picks his pocket and steals his locus magicalicus - a wizard's magic stone, specific to him, which focuses power. Intrigued by the fact that Conn is unharmed, Nevery takes him home to be his apprentice, despite the fact that he isn't interested in maintaining a household and doesn’t really want an apprentice. Then they realise that Conn has magic and needs to be taught - but he hasn’t yet found his own locus magicalicus.

Nevery has returned to Wellmet, from which he was exiled twenty years before, drawn by the fact that the magic of the city has been inexplicably dwindling. He keeps busy investigating the cause of the reduction in magic and doesn't really have time for the boy. Conn feels deep in his bones that he is destined to be a wizard and help Nevery save the magic but he feels Nevery is on the wrong track - so he does some investigating of his own.

The chapters are punctuated by Nevery's diary notes; I'm not sure how much they advance the story, though they do show Nevery's point of view too - but they do have notes in an unknown script that I didn't manage to decode.

Light, solidly written, engaging, good use of language. I like Prineas's clever hyphenated alliterative and assonant vocabulary : 'Nevery swept-stepped from the room' or 'he gave me his keen-gleam glance' or 'musty-dusty'.

I'd like to continue reading this series of brave, earnest Conn, his grumpy master Nevery and their friends.

4 stars ( )