| Title | : | Fridays with the Wizards (Castle Glower, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1619634295 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781619634299 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published February 1, 2016 |
Fridays with the Wizards (Castle Glower, #4) Reviews
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I just finished reading the copyedits for this one (February 2015) and trust me, you'll love it. This is good stuff, if I do say so myself!
July 2015: Final proofread! -
Final review, first posted on
www.FantasyLiterature.com:
Fridays with the Wizards is the fourth and most recent book in Jessica Day George’s CASTLE GLOWER series about twelve year old Princess Celie and the magical, semi-sentient castle where she lives. Celie and her brother and sister and friends have just returned from an unexpected adventure in another land, as related in the previous two books in the series,
Wednesdays in the Tower and
Thursdays with the Crown, where they tangled with the local wizards, befriended the king and queen of the griffins, and searched for the missing piece of a magical device called the Eye of the Castle. As they finally relax in Celie’s beloved castle, along with the couple of dozen griffins they brought back with them, the only thing disturbing Celie’s peace is her seventeen-year-old sister Lilah’s growing romance with their guest Prince Lulath of Grath, which prompts Lilah to pressure the reluctant Celie to come visit the country of Grath with Lilah and Lulath.
But more trouble soon raises its head: the ancient and powerful wizard Arkwright, who caused so much trouble during their prior adventures, has escaped from the dungeon and is lurking somewhere on the grounds of the castle, but in hidden passageways where the castle can’t alert King Glower to the wizard’s location. As the royal family realizes that Arkwright’s plans may prove dangerous to their country and deadly to them, it becomes a race to find Arkower ― before he finds them. Much of Fridays with the Wizards is spent with the characters rather ineffectively chasing around in dark passageways of the castle trying to find the missing wizard, with some of the searchers disappearing and others using magic to try to trap the wizard.
The main plot is interspersed with Celie experiencing some of the difficulties of growing up. Unfortunately she is rather pouty and self-absorbed in this book, constantly feeling like no one cares about her feelings or is giving her enough credit for her accomplishments. Admittedly, tweens do tend to have these types of feelings, and Celie’s personal struggles may strike a chord with younger readers ... but I don't necessarily want to read about it. Celie does, thankfully, have a loving family and wise parents who are able to help her deal with her personal growth pangs.
Fridays with the Wizards is a mildly enjoyable story that’s worth reading for fans of this children’s series, but it was a bit of a let-down for me. Too much of the plot felt like a retread. There are a few unexpected developments, but mostly this book is mopping up issues related to the events of the prior two volumes. Even the theme of Celie’s personal issues is one that’s been raised before.
The story contains some intriguing teasers about a strange village in Grath that has its own language and separate government, and the characters speculate that these villagers might be the descendants of the original griffin riders from Arkower, but that plotline is dropped without being further explored. Although I realize it would mean leaving Castle Glower behind for a while, sending Celie off to visit Lulath's country to check out this village or to search for unicorns, as was hinted at in the early pages, would have been a nice fresh plot direction. Perhaps in the next sequel! -
5 Stars!
I am really sad that this is the last book in this series. I really liked this series. It was really the cutest series I have ever read before. This is my first time reading Jessica Day George books. I did not know what to except but after reading this series I really fell in love with it. I would love to read any of her other books she has. I would recommend this series to anyone. -
بی‌شک می‌توانستم به این کتاب سه ستاره بدهم اگر سه جلد قبلی‌اش را خوانده بودم. بدون اغراق هفتاد درصد داستان ارجاع به ماجراهای گذشته و بازتعریف شخصیت‌های نه‌چندان کمش بود. داستان شیرین بود و اسطوره‌ای و آنچه فانتزی خوانده می‌شود! با این حال بسیار کلیشه‌ای بود و نقص کم نداشت. احتمالاً برای نوجوانان به‌خصوص دختران جذاب بنماید و برای بزرگسالان ملال‌آور
دقم دادند سر این کتاب و پشتش داستان بسیار داشت. نپرسید که نمی‌گویم -
I don't have much to say about this besides that it's another cute entry in this series. All the elements I liked in the previous books are still present and I liked getting to know the queen and Bran better, especially, and really loved the different personalities of the gryphons. The only thing I didn't like was that is still out in the world somewhere. I guess that means he can still cause trouble later (or maybe he's asleep forever???) but it was also disappointing that we had this whole cat and mouse thing going on the whole story and then . Hopefully there will be a reason for that later. Otherwise I did enjoy this story a lot and look forward to the next one.
Content Advisory
A bad wizard's hidden presence in the castle is a cause for concern for all the characters and makes them feel unsafe. No one gets killed or seriously injured but Celie and some of the gryphons are in mild peril at various points.
Magic is used at various points throughout the story. The bad wizard puts a handful of people under a sleeping spell. Celie and family aren't sure they know how to undo. Celie witnesses her royal wizard brother face off against a bad wizard. Some magical sticky stuff gets thrown on her and Rufus. It pulls iff some of Rufus's feathers when she takes it off but they're otherwise unhurt. Mention of spells being chanted but the words aren't given. Celie notes that the dust-like stuff swirling around the bad wizard during the confrontation feels unwholesome somehow (unlike her brother's magic) and she's afraid of what he might do to her brother, but she is forced to leave before she can see what happens. (Her brother is unhurt.) Mention that someone in the past accidentally caused a magical explosion that killed her and some assistants. (No details.) The queen decides to officially study magic so she can use it safely.
Celie's older sister and friend are still in love and planning to get married even though the older sister is only 17. They get her parent's approval. The couple is cutely flirtatious with each other but nothing gets physical or sexual. When outside looking for someone, Celie notices an older boy working on a sailing ship and not wearing a shirt. A number of older girls are standing around staring at him. Celie's brother sees her watching the scene and asks if she's decided she's finally old enough to like boys, but she quickly corrects him on this and is annoyed that he thought so. -
Not a bad addition to the series, but I didn't like it as much as the previous ones- maybe because Celie seems to be more pouty and foolish in this book. However, the Castle seems to direct her to do some foolish things ,so sometimes it's not entirely her fault. But I did find there was a lot of "this was unfair" attitude and "why doesn't anyone listen to me?" And " I don't want to be treated like a baby" and "I'm left out" and maybe this is how 12 year olds really think, but I find it annoying. Maybe I find preteens annoying in general! E loved it though and she felt Celie had every right to have these thought and do what she did. :P she would give it 5 stars, so maybe preteens do really think like this.
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YAY THEY'RE CHASING ARKIDIOT YAY THEY'RE CHASING THE ARKIDIOT
so I only like heard the last chapters where stuff gets resolved but it was great!! great series in general!! and my super picky sis loves it so there's that. -
Celie and her family are plagued once again by the evil Wizard Arkwright, and this time he's loose in the Castle, wreaking havoc and dodging the guards. With a whole posse of griffins tagging along, Celie sets out to save the Castle and her family, but the Castle has its own ideas about how they should do that.
Another fantastic book in this series! I love the magical Castle, and Celie's connection to her home. As always, I love the entire royal family and all their motley assortment of friends. Every character has such a rich personality and wonderful character arcs of growth and change. I especially love seeing how they all pull together to save the Castle.
I got slightly annoyed with Celie in this book for harping on the same frustrations over and over again. She feels under-appreciated and over-looked because she is the youngest, but I just felt like she was whining about it all the time, and being a little selfish. Overall, I adore her character, and there were only two or three paragraphs where she got on my nerves a little.
The plot line of this story is full of action and mystery, magic and mythical history! I love the twists and turns and surprises around every corner.
The writing really draws you in, and makes you cheer for the good guys! -
2.5 stars
This series has been one of my favorites, but this volume fell flat for me. That could be because I expected it to be about something entirely different than from the set up at the beginning than it ended up being about. I thought the last 2/3s of the book would be away from the castle as the family began their journey to Luth's country. But it isn't. Arkwright needs to be captured. Again. The castle may be in trouble. Again. Celie feels like no one listens to or appreciates her. Again. This book rehashed a lot the elements of the first three books while not adding anything to the series. I will still read a fifth book if there is one, but it won't be as much of a priority. -
I’m so sad I’m nearing the end of this series! Eek! Such a fun fabulous read.
I’d love to see this middle-grade Fantasy series made into movies.
Can you imagine seeing the Griffins?!
Mackenzie Foy would make a fabulous Princess Celie.
And perhaps Uriah Shelton as Pogue. -
I liked that this one saw Celia starting that awkward transition from kid to adult, and being kinda mad at her persnickety older sister. Light and amusing as usual, read it on a 3 hr plane ride.
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This was a glorious story. The Castle is back in Sleyne, Lulath and Lilah are engaged and everyone is thrilled with the upcoming trip to Grath. Everyone but Celie. She feels as though all of her discoveries are taken out of her hands, she's never allowed to participate in the exciting things and why does she need new gowns anyway, she doesn't want to go to Grath. Once again it is Celie who makes the most important discoveries and when Arkwright the evil wizard escapes it is ultimately Celie and the Castle who take him down permanently. The story was fun but had a lot of character growth for everyone. Can't wait for Saturday!
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A great addition to the series. Cute stories, great characters, fun universe.
And I love how as celie has aged, her personality has changed too. I hope she has outgrown this book's fits of preteen foolishness. The celie I imagine seems like she would weather her teenage years gracefully. Here's to hoping in book 5. -
Magical castle continues to truck along.
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3.5 stars rounded up. Continuing to buddy read this series with my 8 year old daughter. In this installment, an evil wizard is hiding in the walls of the castle. The characters work to find and capture him. That’s the whole book. Between you and me, I’m kind of over the story. My daughter wants to continue and finish the series together. I’m starting to think this would have been better as one slightly longer book with a condensed plot line. One more to go.
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The fourth book in the adventure of Celie and her siblings. The book opens a few weeks or so after the last book and life in the Castle has changed rather remarkably with the arrival of the griffins and their eggs. Things were disappearing though and the griffins came under suspicion until a disappearance of a prisoner was discovered. There follows a race to capture him before any harm befalls anyone else. A very wholesome and fun read.
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Fridays with the Wizards has a potential to be so much more. However, it seems like the author had no ideas and just went with this. It was far below my expectations, with such a simple plot in such an exciting series. It was okay, but not enough for me. Hopefully things in the series will get better, but so far they've only gotten worse.
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Genuinely scary in parts. I really liked this one! Plus more Lulath and his girls.
It's probably my second favorite in the series. -
Naturally, this one was so good!!! I will say Celie was quite a brat for a lot of the book—but I understand the desire to be seen and known is real so I’ll give her some grace. I love how much attention Pogue gets. He truly is a part of the fam & JDG does a phenomenal job at weaving him in. I still deeply love Rolf & I thought there was a lack in his story arc which made me miss him.
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Jessica Day George is one of my favorite writers, so I dislike having to write anything negative about any of her works, but unfortunately this newest chapter in the Castle Glower series just didn’t work for me. And to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about the last one either.
The writing is solid, as always and I certainly don’t think this is a bad book, it just didn’t resonate with me. I found Celie to be annoying and whiny throughout the book and it never really resolves. She just became tedious to me. Additionally, the pacing seemed slow and Celie was alone for the majority of the book, particularly when any action took place.
There is a ton of talk and build-up about everyone going to Grath, which never occurs. Arkwright breaks out and is lurking around the Castle, needing to be captured…. AGAIN. Then the title also threw me. I expected for wizards to play a more prominent role, but they don’t… other than the fact that Arkwright is a wizard and so is Bran, but Celie is barely around either. The two wizards from the Academy only show up at the very end. I don’t know, to me it was a strange and misleading title to pick.
With the way the castle constantly changes, it was also very hard to visualize a lot of the descriptions and keep track of where characters were at any given time throughout the story. Additionally, the story felt very repetitive and boring. I never felt engaged with the story or the characters.
I don’t know. It just didn’t work for me. This is a 2.5 for me, but I’m marking it as a 3 on my stars. If there is another Castle Glower book after this, I don’t think I’ll be picking it up. The last two just haven’t caught my attention. I adored the first book in the series, but I haven’t really felt that spark since then. Ah well. -
After the complex and convoluted castle history was worked out in the last book, Celie and her friends are back in the castle safe and sound. It’s not happily ever after quite yet, though – not when the Arkower wizard breaks out and is running around on the loose! Celie needs to stop him, save her friends, and prove to her parents that she’s level-headed and mature, all while dealing with the blow of her sister’s impending marriage.
This is clearly an effort to combine a magical adventure with a more mundane struggle of growing up. It might work better for children in the age range intended, as they may sympathize with the character more. For myself, I found Celie grating on my nerves through the book, as she complains about not getting enough credit, shouts at her sister over her wedding, and demands to be more involved with things. In other words, she lost the pleasing maturity she showed over the last few books. On the good side, it was fun to see more griffins. -
Castle Glower is in a tangle. Celie has returned home safely and griffins are hatching like mad. Lilah and Lulath are engaged and Arkwright has, unfortunately, escaped from his cell in the dungeon. So begins a cacophony of adventures, mishaps, and magical debauchery. The king is put under a sleeping spell along with his cadre of soldiers who went in search of Arkwright, thus making himself absent from the action again (seriously, is this guy ever around?).
The series is solid fun, but Lilah is proving to become ever more irritating, now that she is engaged. I can certainly see the appeal in her character to middle-grade girls but as an adult and parent...I occasionally grit my teeth.
2nd Reading: Yes, Lilah is really and truly irritating. This is pretty much all I took away from my second reading. -
Read this one aloud with my daughter. This series has suffered from ups and downs, and for me, this one was more of a down. With the events of the previous book, the castle has effectively settled and no longer shifts about as much, so the whole charming premise there has been scaled back. Instead the focus is now more on the griffins, which is fine, but to a degree repetitive. Speaking of repetitive, the bulk of the novel's plot is concerned with a hunt that basically rehashes the same search over and over again with small variations, and which got a tad boring after a while, but it wasn't a disaster. It looks like the next book will have the characters out on adventures again, which should be more interesting.
Me: 3 stars
Daughter: 4 stars
Rating: 3.5, rounded up. -
Jessica Day George's Castle Glower fantasy series continues in Fridays with the Wizards. Twelve-year-old Celie's life is growing up; her pre-adolescent feelings and attitudes are changing and so is the magical world surrounding her. This novel is centred on the family's return to the castle, the betrothal of her older sister Lulah to Prince Lilith and the escape of the evil wizard Arkwright.
Fridays with the Wizards is a slower-paced narrative, with less of the surprising fantasy elements included in Jessica Day George's previous junior novels. Growing up, family loyalty and taking responsibility for your own actions are key messages here. Promises of a new magic kingdom with unicorns and a royal wedding will excite fans of this series. -
June 2022 reread:
I am sometimes annoyed at Celie for resenting everyone making decisions without her and trying to protect her. I want to shake her and say "Celie. No matter how much you have accomplished and danger you have faced, you are still a child. Your parents are the king and queen and do not need to ask your permission about things. Also, just because you are particularly special to the castle does not mean you own it, and you do not automatically own items you find in the castle." But, at the same time, I totally understand her frustration. That's skilled writing that makes me both sympathize and be aggravated with a character. -
3.5 stars maybe, but I'm going to round up because of the series as a whole. Lots of fun twists and turns in this book (which I mean quite literally -- since much of the book takes place in secret passageways and tunnels deep in the castle). An engaging plot, good characters (especially the less traditional ones like griffins and the castle), and decent writing. I didn't find myself super engaged and gripped like I am with some books, thus the lower stars, but there is nothing "wrong" with the book, as far as I'm concerned. A wonderful series for young readers!!
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Fridays with the Wizards seems to realize there has been some time since the last book and so it does a decent job of catching you up with where the story is now. The story is slow to develop for the first half and then rockets to the end. While I may be the first to read this in my home, I have a wife and two daughters queued up behind ready to dive in.
