Book: Twice Magic (2018)
Author: Cressida Cowell
Genre: MG, Fantasy
Basic plot: Xar (a Wizard) and Wish (a Warrior) are back. This time, they’re in big trouble. Xar has a witchstain that’s threatening to take over. And Wish needs to hide her powerful and magic eye. And they out to try to stop the Witchking… if they can collect all the ingredients to a special recipe that will get rid of the Witches.
Note: You can read my review for the first book in this series: The Wizards of Once.
WHAT’S COOL…
1) I still really liked Xar and Wish and their quirks… how they’re not perfect. They have plenty of faults. But I also like how they grow during this story.
2) I love the voice Cressida Cowell uses for this story. It’s very similar to her How to Train Your Dragon series. One of my favourite lines: “…in a British Isles so old it did not know it was the British Isles yet.”
3) Love the fact of the “unknown narrator”. I have my theories. So does my nephew. And he may be right.
4) I really enjoyed the story told by the Giant. (But I love fairy tales!) And I thought Xar’s little snarky comments were good. But more importantly, I liked how it all comes around to the parents and the whole feud between the wizards and warriors.
5) Probably one of my favourite parts was the Giant’s last breath and how THAT connects to the whole feud theme.
6) Like the book before it, this book has its own ending. Even if it does lead us into the next book, at least it’s not a cliffhanger book. I’m not a huge fan of cliffhangers at the end of books.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Really liked this book, especially with how things seem to be developing. I’m looking forward to reading Book 3 🙂
YOUR TURN…
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Note: I’m posting this for Greg Pattridge’s Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday…
This one sounds pretty fun. Maybe I will check it out over the summer. Thanks for the post.
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I really enjoy Cressida Cowell’s style. The illustrations (like those in her How to Train Your Dragon books) are wonderful.
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I haven’t read this series yet. Your review has it high on my to read list. I loved how you did your What’s Cool and What’s Not So Cool pieces. Keep up the great work!
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Thanks! If you haven’t read The Wizards of Once, you should probably do that first. It does reference the first book quite a bit.
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Thank you for sharing this book with us for MMGM. I don’t usually read fantasy, but I enjoyed your review and the ‘What’s Cool’ and ‘What’s Not Cool’ lists.
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I’m glad you liked the review. I enjoy fantasy every now and then. But I’m definitely not a die-hard reader. I do like Cowell’s humour (for the most part) and style.
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I haven’t read this one yet… and I do enjoy your cool and not cool lists!
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Thanks! Have you read the Wizards of Once yet? If you haven’t, I’d definitely recommend reading that first. 🙂
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I read How to Train Your Dragon and was unimpressed. I’m not sure Cowell’s sense of humor is for me.
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Yeah, I can see how some might not like her books. I’m not a huge fan of some of the humour, but like other aspects.
Have you read the whole HTTYD series? The final books (maybe the last 3?) are a little different (more serious in tone) than the first books. This series–The Wizards of Once–is more along the lines of those books. (But you can tell they are written by the same author.)
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I only read book one because I wasn’t really enjoying it. XD I think I’ll pass on this series for now!
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