Weiqi Wang

I definitely enjoy Young Adult (albeit this book is more for much younger readers), and uplifting stories featuring Magic School will surely lure a lot of potential readers, especially in these uncertain times.

The book has plenty of reviews on Amazon and the plot is pretty self explanatory, so I will simply move ahead and list the pros and cons:

PROS:
1) I really liked the magic system. Very reminiscent between a mixture of Pokemon and the old Magic the Gathering card game, there are 7 main magic subtypes a wizard is naturally born attuned to (earth, wind, water, fire, light, dark, lighting). Most wizards are attuned to 1-2 elements, a handful of elite will have a certain degree of attunement to 3 elements with very few reaching Master status. Adult wizards generally become Expert level. Wizards attuned to 4 or more elements are likely legendary rare. Furthermore, the world has magical animals called Magimals that most wizards bond with and they can be attuned to a megic element of varying strengths themselves. Talented wizards can catch em in the wild like in Pokemon to either raise as their own or sell unbonded for a high price. Once a Magimal bonds with a master, they are supposed to remain bonded to said person for life. I always enjoy the theme of bonded loyal familiars in fantasy novels, there simply isn't enough of them in books. Whether as a trusty sidekick or more of an annoying parasite that causes the character headaches than real help, both are cool. I liked Soroame's white kitten magimal Snowball (ugh.. I am terrible with names). She doesn't seem to do much in this book because she is still a kitten. I presume she becomes more important in the sequels.
2) To further enjoy the magic theme of the book, I liked it that Soarame was born with the ability to "see" magical particles without really understanding why (everyone in the village thought the poor kid had development issues because even among wizards the ability to see raw magic is rare).
3) The Magic School coming of age story is very used and pretty much every story will inevitably be compared to Harry Potter. Luckily this book doesn't even minimally seem close to that book series except that the MC is an orphaned boy who was initially raised among non wizard people so he was rather sheltered, ends up being popular in magic school even though they never had friends as kids, and... I guess that is it. Oh, the Magic School in this series has a wizard powered game a bit reminiscent to Quidditch but far more similar to the Pokemon card game.
4) The perpetually lost Elf teacher with a strange name I can never remember is the best character of the book. I found the scenes he gets riled that everyone makes fun of his poor sense of orientation to be funny.
5) It is a magic underdog story. Apparently in this world, studying water magic as a major is seen as something dorky by most students because until you reach an Adept level, you can't really summon any decent offensive spells. Also reminiscent to Pokemon, Misty joined Ash & Brock because she wanted to become a better water trainer in order to get respected. And to be fair, water is a really badass magic element that shouldn't be underestimated.

CONS:
1) Luckily it seems like the book copy I got was edited by someone who actually spoke English, but it still reads like an academia paper. The words do not feel poetic, or even minimally close to resembling flowery. Save for brief instances you get to marvel at the odd paths of the magically expanded school grounds by some sort of school groundskeeper nobody can see, you don't really get immersed in much of any worldbuilding. This is the school. Non wizards can't come in. Soarame passes through a dark tunnel, finds some separate towers in a much larger expanse of lands with an artificial sky. The description of the assembling dorm room was pretty cool. Save for those very brief moments, the dialogue was perhaps grammatically coherent, but it was a chore to read.
2) Soarame was a grating character. Okay, I get it that he was a 5 year old kid with an extreme case of ADHD hopping around like a jumping jack saying there are funny colors everywhere nobody else could see. Endearing for 5 minutes, then annoying afterwards. Since the first 30% of the book is when he is a young child being given private tutoring by a master wizard under a fake identity, we have to put up with an extremely hyperactive kid that just jumps and frumps and bounces pretty much everywhere and nobody seems to think this kid needs some happy pills to slow down or something. Once Soarame starts magic school, he is supposed to be a tad bit more mature at age 12 and claims to have learned how to be more level headed, and then the next minute he stupidly demands to duel a far more advanced fire student for pretty much no reason whatsoever. Maybe if the book had taken Soarame's ADHD as a sort of character flaw that causes him to realize he needs to find a way to tone it down a few notches or else he is going to zap someone with a blast of lighting, I wouldn't have been bothered by his bad decisions.
3) Soarame is a Gary Stu. Okay, so yes, Soarame starts magic school as a n00b in water magic, but he still seems to level up real fast in comparison to his peers. Okay, so he is sort of cheating because he secretly learned wind magic up to an adept level and so he has a lot more mental magic reserves, but it still feels like he learns everything very quickly without struggling. And then when he learns a highly advanced and extremely rare Master level wind magic technique he only briefly read about in a book? Deux Ex Machina trope saves the day anyone? I know the book is aimed at younger readers, but even kids will likely want the hero to struggle a little bit more.
4) The final battle, that's it? I can pardon a final year star student named Rodka taking a liking to a complete nobody 1st year student. He is supposed to be an all-around nice guy and for some unexplained reason Soarame is popular which completely baffles me. But there is no impending wizard war looming, or a mad evil wizard wants to murder Soarame as a personal vendetta for zapping his original body into pieces. There really is no major story conflict which is only further affected due to the fact Soarame is a Gary Stu. So yes, the enemy of this book is a corrupt Magimal salesman that wants to kidnap Soarame's pet even though she is virtually useless because she has already bonded with a master. Other than that minimal spoiler, there isn't any pressing source of story conflict in the book per se.
5) Filler characters a dime a dozen. I think outside of Mr. Elf dude, Soarame, Rodka to a certain degree and the mysterious school groundskeeper, I never got a feel for any character in the book. Nobody has a real personality, you don't even get much of a physical description of Soarame's classmates. As if having 3 roomates in Soarame's dorm without much to make them stand apart wasn't dull enough, a bunch of female water major students flood the dorm at random times and I could never tell anyone apart. Even the magimals sadly end up with the same fate.
6) Are the characters from modern times or medieval? Strangely modern words such as robot are common volcabulary in this world where most people don't know what electricity or sewage is. You will find other inconsistencies such as: characters constantly jib comments with machist undertones towards female students (as in everyone makes fun when a dainty 9 year old 1st year student participates in a dueling contest even though she easily kicks the butt of Soarame's roommate or that healing magic is a girl's domain aka worthless), or that wizards don't want their photos to be taken because criminals can use it against them but the magic school sells a newspaper where everyone gets photographs taken and nobody thinks there is any harm to that. Huh?

As a rather uneven read, this book series indeed offers a cool magic system with some good story moments, an excellent cover with a lot of plot and character issues. If you still don't find the problems I had as dealbreakers, go ahead, it does have a lot of good points for younger readers, but I do feel like older readers will feel frustrated.… (más)