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Free on 2nd Mar 18
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Avis Blackthorn is not an evil Wizard! (Book 1)

Children, Teenage & YA Fantasy — A Magical Mystery Thriller

Avis Blackthorn’s family is the most evil family in all of the Seven Magical Kingdoms. The problem? Avis isn’t evil. Not one bit.

His family and 6 siblings will do anything to make Avis’s life a misery. Even the horses that pull the carriages don’t like him.

But he has a way out at last… “Hailing Hall School for Wizards,” a sanctuary, a place where he can make some nice, normal friends, live a normal life and finally escape the notoriety of the Blackthorn name… or so he thinks.

That’s where the real adventure — humorous, haunting and mysterious — begins.

Come along with Avis as he tries desperately to prove he isn’t evil like his family. As he copes with the humiliation as his seventh year brother Ross reveals Avis’s most embarrassing moments in front of the whole school.

And join Robin and Hunter, Avis’s friends from the Outside, the same world as yours in fact, as they discover Wizard’s Spider Soap, Moss Moisturiser and Beatle Bum Shampoo.

And will any of them understand the rules of the wizarding sport Riptide, in time?

But strange things are brewing and Avis finds himself at the centre of it. After spotting Malakai — the most evil Sorcerer around and his parents employer — coming into the school in the dead of night. Avis wonders why? And why will no one believe him?

The mysterious, beautiful Tina might know why. When Avis and Robin spot her creeping round in the dead of night, she tells them about the quest and a thrilling mystery unfolds.

Follow Avis as he unlocks the biggest of clues, befriends a ghost, and leads all the way to the Magical holy grail itself — the Book of Names and the possible end of the darkest Sorcerer of all time.

Avis has to make a big choice to make — his friends, or his family, and the choice… might just kill him.

Read now to discover the mysteries in Jack Simmonds funny, enchanting, and suspenseful debut novel “Avis Blackthorn is not an evil Wizard!”

Perfect for Children, Teenagers and Young Adults alike, this book will inspire, entertain and enthral. If you loved Harry Potter, you will love this!

Free on 2nd Mar 18
View on Amazon.co.uk

Reviews:

"Children and readers of the fantasy genre might well enjoy it. "

Reviewer: .


Twelve-year-old Avis Blackthorn is the white wizard sheep in a black magic family. Finally able to go to magic school away from the family, he hopes to make a fresh start, only to find his past follows him – along with the dark lord his family serves.

The Harry Potter comparison is inevitable, but despite superficial simularities, it is simply part of the magical school genre, like Jill Murphy's Worst Witch series and others. The main character may be twelve, but the humour (with a lot of toilet jokes) is aimed at readers who are far younger. Evil is defined as throwing a trifle over his sister at a party, although as the book progresses, events take a darker turn.

There are some nice ideas: Work ghosts and Riptide, a game which is closer to gaelic football on a holodeck than to Quidditch, are both charmingly original. The problem, sadly is the writing. By p33 it got to the point where I was struggling because of the english.

Spelling and Grammar errors are rather too common; so common I stopped counting by p30. There is an odd glitch where several apostrophes have spaces in front of them. Others are used to make plurals. “Upstaging” and “showing up” are not the same thing, and nor are “there”, “they're” and “their”. I'm not sure whether Magisteer is a made up title or the author could not spell Magister. A proof-checker could turn this into a good children's story. At the moment it is average, which is a shame because it is a nice concept.

If you stick with it, the twists and turns of the plot reveal a well-written story with a number of twists some of which I did not see coming. By page 100 I was hooked.

The toilet humour and spelling mistakes might put some readers off, and it has an exceptionally slow start, but the plot is intriguing, the world-building well done, and the characters develop and grow throughout the book. I'm giving it a three, but children and readers of the fantasy genre might well enjoy it.

Rating: 3



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Discussion

jessica (13 March 2017)
You didn't mention just how many toilet jokes there were enough! ;)

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