Review: Magicalamity by Kate Saunders

Magicalamity by Kate Saunders.

Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: December 2012
List Price: $16.99
ISBN-13: 9780385740777

Review: Fus Ro Dah! You shout as your voice and your spell knock your enemy off of their feet. Have you ever dreamed about being able to fly? Having a magic wand and spells? If so then you have dreamt about being a fairy, something that you don't see everyday. Magicalamity by Kate Saunders is about a time in a boy named Tom's life where he saw fairies everyday, without knowing it. Then one day he saw his dad in trouble in a different world called the "Realm." Although he didn't know it at the time, he was going to have to save his dad. The way he was going to do this was by exploring a world he never knew existed; he was brought into the line of fairy work. Lorna, his one nice fairy godmother, was with him each and every day but she wasn't the only one. They were going to have to get help from his other two godmothers. They eventually agree and they travel to and from the fairy world trying to get help for Tom's dad. When the time comes for Toms' dad's court trial. The people helping Tom have to find some way to save his dad. They encountered many twisted events and characters along the way, like Tom's cousin. I won't spoil it because then there wouldn't be a point of reading the book. Even so, there seemed to be a few flaws and minor issues I had with the book.

Don't be fooled by the magical, nice, little fairies that fly around during the book. What I mean by that is that the book has multiple instances of adult suggested events in the book. I would say that the intended audience is about 11 to 15 years old. The reason for this is because although it doesn't go to far with these topics, it has some implied swearing and some of the people in the realm are nude, including the main antagonist. These things aren't too much of a big deal because it is only a book but it can definitely create an image in the reader's head. One of the issues I had with this book is the lack of backstory for the parents. I mean, you hear a ton about Tom's dad because he is the person who has to be saved, but the mom is kind of nowhere. You hear that the mom is safe and hidden from the antagonists but that 's pretty much it. I would have liked to know more about the mom maybe at the end or beginning of the book. Another issue I had with the book is that some of the parts, logically, didn't make much sense. Now yes, this is a book about fairies and magical realm so it is all fantasy but even so, some things didn't add up to me. For example, there is one part in the book where the main antagonist is nude. While he is nude he gets mad and pulls out his gun off of his nude body. They say it was hidden but I was left wondering, "How did that happen?" He could've used an invisible spell on it but the book said "pulled out" which made it sound like it was a real gun and didn't have a spell on it. Like I said, minor issues but they still stood out to me. Overall I think that the book is a good book. Definitely detailed and exciting, but it also has a few minor flaws and confusing moments. It is easy to read and appealing to its audience.

Review written by Marat (6th grade student).

We would like to thank Random House for providing a copy of Magicalamity for this review.

Have you read Magicalamity? How would you rate it?