Secure Your Copy The Mage The Magpie (Magemother, #1) Drafted By Austin J. Bailey Released Through Interactive EBook

was definitely better than I thought it would be considering I downloaded it as a freebie, But there was still something lacking, The ideas and the story were quite interesting and enough to keep me reading through to the end but I thought it felt kind of disorganized, Like there was missing that one thread to tie it all together perfectly and have it live up to its potential, CHARACTERS

Brinley is a girl with an overactive imagination and a flair for drawing, She imagines many a things and at times draws them too but she knows that the bell only her father and herself can hear is not her imagination.
I enjoyed getting to know about Brinley, her deep desire to know who her mother is and the way she makes friends along the way, She was a very realistic character with real problems and some magical ones, Her character development, especially towards the end is beautiful to see,

Hugo is the one with the most character development, From a somewhat bratty Price who wants to learn magic he grows into a very trustworthy wonderful friend and also learns a lot in the way, The friendships and relationships he forges along the way are written beautifully and are heartwarming,

Every character in this book has a role to play even the minor characters who appear for a short period of time have important roles to play in the plot!

PLOT

It's quite a complex plot for a middlegrade fantasy! Not the plot itself but rather the world building.
It was a fun adventure story that leaves some loose ends as it's the first book in a series! While the plot was wonderful, the big reveal was pretty obvious from the start But thinking about it now I think the author meant it to be a reveal only for the characters themselves and not the readers.
If that's the case, it was done very well, But maybe due to fact that I've read a lot of high fantasy and epic fantasy books, certain plot points seemed a little predictable to me, But I think it would work perfectly for a younger audience,

WRITING

"When you do a thing for too long, you become it, "

The writing is smooth and the dialogue well written, I was so engrossed in this book and read most of it during a loud fest going on! I was so engrossed, all the noise didn't bother me at all.
There were certain places were there was a lot of information given to us but I'm glad it didn't feel like infodumping! Also I must say I loved the Chapter names and enjoyed the humor interwoven into the story.


WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK

The characters
The plot
The writing
The cover! It's so pretty!

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE ABOUT THE BOOK

The predictable plot points
certain places with a lot of information/description

CONCLUSION

It's a wellwritten Middle grade high fantasy with a wonderfully done world building and delightful characters! I can't wait to pick up the sequel and find the questions we're left with at the end of the book.
Character development had a very strong start world building was weak and never gained strength over mediocrity,

The summoning bell was a gentle icon to blend the two worlds with a hint of its significance, To the reader. Cuz it went over the heads of Archibald, Cannon, and the entire Magisterium, C'mon. If they knew it was a summoning bell, certainly talk of who or what should have demanded more attention,

Then character fell off the script as if the author had forgotten them, In chapter, Denmyn ran over the elderly librarian and promptly "stage lefted" the scene as Cannon amp Archibald nonchalantly dismissed the disappearance of the bell and began a magic carpet ride.


Then Cannon appears infrom the trees and idk where his shotgun passenger Archibald is,

Lack of urgency and the nonplussed attitudes of the characters made me feel like I was more anxious to uncover reasons for the disappearance of the mages than the characters whose lives needed them more.


Great cover. Intriguing description to entice a download click, Suspenseful start.

Two, but would not recommend this book nor follow the series, How did I not know about this book before now!!

This is a fantastic book, I'm surprised I didn't know about this authorseries before now.
Brimley is a loveable misfit who tries and mostly succeeds in being invisible, And the mages, well, most of them are interesting, But I love Archibald and Hugo I just couldnt finish this, It felt slow and boring, I had high hopes but am sadly disappointed, Brinley is a youngster raised by a single father, who brought her into their Colorado home under curious circumstances, In another setting, a king sends his righthand man to search for missing mages, people with magic abilities, particularly the one who makes wind, and for the mother of all mages.
This two separate threads merge about a third of the way into the book, when Brinley enters the other world without really intending to, There she becomes involved in the search, befriending the prince and an odd birdtalking young woman, They face the bad guys, witches and giants and other things that make one say, “Oh, my!”
This would appeal to a middle grade or high school reader capable of handling parallel stories until they merge.
The created world and its magic and creatures are cleverly made, For its audience, I think this is probably worth a fourth star, and I could recommend it to one Since I am not in its audience, not so much, The writing in this book was disconnected, It jumped from scene to scene, with either no explanation, or a vague explanation coming after the event, It is also too juvenile for YA, Most of it was cliche, too, I barely made it to my three chapters before DNFing rule, Pretty cover, though. I don't usually read middlegrade books and read this one as part of a reading challenge to read outside my usual genres, I enjoyed the story and wondered if some of the scenes were a bit intense for third, fourth and fifth graders, Then I thought about what I read at that age, My British grandmother gave me a series of books for young ladies that included some very intense scenes, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, the Little Princess, and more, I still have these books, I was also allowed to read whatever I could reach on my parent's bookshelves, They didn't pay enough attention to the fact that I reached mom's height byand could reach all the books,

Although this is the first of a series, most of the tension in this story is resolved by the end of the book, Enough is left to continue the story, The teenagers in the story all grow by the end of the book in significant ways, I enjoyed this fantasy adventure novel and think it would appeal to young readers in aboutth toth grade, I found the second half of it to be especially interesting because the fantasy elements became more elaborate after the characters and world were established, The first few chapters were a little less clear because it took a while to understand the characters and background,

There were several good characters with interesting stories, but I really liked quirky Tabitha and the ambiguous witch Habis, It was quite fun to see these characters develop and interact with each other and the story,

This is the first book in a series three books plus a shorter novella between the

first and second books, After finishing the first one I immediately started the,book. The first book has a satisfying conclusion, but leaves room for the sequels not surprising for a series, While not the most complex fantasy, I think the slightly lighter degree of difficulty is an asset for young readers or those just getting into the fantasy genre.
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