Magyk by Angie Sage

Title: Magyk
Series: Septimus Heap
Author: Angie Sage
Genre: Fantasy
Rating:

As rumours began to fly of Septimus Heap being the new Harry Potter, I of course had to get my hands on the first book and read it. Now, let it be clear that to me, there will probably never be a new Harry Potter, although some might come close. Septimus Heap is no exception to this rule - or at least not so far.

Magyk revolves around the wizard family Heap, which consists of mother, father and six sons when we first meet them. The seventh son has been born, but has been declared dead. However, another child has been brought into the family - an infant girl found outside in the snow. As the years go by, it becomes clear that Jenna, as the girl is named, is in fact the princess and heir to the throne, after her mother was assassinated shortly after giving birth. Jenna was saved from certain death by the now ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia, who whisked her away and hid her with the Heaps. Now there is a plot to kill Jenna, and Marcia again steps in to save her, this time bringing her to the Wizard Tower for safekeeping. On their way there, Marcia and Jenna rescue the Young Army soldier Boy 412, who they find under a great pile of snow, nearly frozen to death.

After the heap of Heaps, plus Marcia and Boy 412, have escaped to various locations in the woods, it becomes clear that the source of Jenna’s pursuers is none other than the Ex-ExtraOrdinary Wizard, DomDaniel, who is trying to return to power after being cast down by his Apprentice (to whom Marcia was later an Apprentice - are we confused yet?). DomDaniel has a secret weapon in his own Apprentice, an at first unnamed boy who later reveals himself as - tada! - Septimus Heap! However, Septimus being the seventh son of the seventh son, is supposed to possess enormous Magykal power, whereas the Apprentice-Septimus shows little aptitude for Magyk at all. The shame! As it turns out, there was a nifty little bit of unintentional babyswapping going on in the Young Army’s nursery way back, and the real Septimus Heap is actually Boy 412 (who by the time of this revelation HAS shown signs of remarkable Magykal power), whereas the Apprentice is actually just the lost son of the nursery’s matron and midwife.

Well, where to begin. First of all, I just have to make it clear that to me, this is not a new Harry Potter. It is a well written book, no doubt about it, and I imagine that children all over the world will hug this book close to their hearts and treasure it for years to come. For those of us a bit older, the story might be a little too obvious and childish at times to really make it stand out as something spectacular. HOWEVER: This was also the case with the first Harry Potter book, which was clearly more of a children’s book than the four-five last ones. As such, I’m not going to pass a final judgement on this aspect of Septimus Heap just yet, as there are still six books for me to read, wherein four of them have yet to be released.

The story itself is engaging, though not the must-read-book-in-one-sitting kind of engaging. I found it kind of hard to connect to any of the characters, but this might be for the simple fact that most of the main characters are children. I enjoyed Marcia’s character though. If I was an ExtraOrdinary Wizard, I’d be just like her - impatient with others and set in my own quirky ways. As THE main character of the series, the first book serves only as an introduction to Septimus himself. We don’t get to know much about him at all, but I suspect this will be rectified tenfold in the books to come.
The same can be said for the evil overlord of the book, DomDaniel. He gets an introduction, but not much more. We don’t really know what he’s capable of, why he’s evil, or why he lusts for power (although power in itself might be the reason, really). Again, a character that will no doubt be explored more in later books.

All in all a good book, but not the sensational story I thought it would be after what I’d read about it. Like I said earlier though, I won’t pass any final judgement on the series as a whole until I’ve read more of it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 23:34. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Magyk by Angie Sage”

Nan Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 00:13

Great review! I should pick up some of the books you recommend some time. It’s hard to judge a single part of a parted tale so i understand you wish to complete them all first.

I also here by notify you that I picked Merilin as a featured blog for this years BlogDay 2007.

Elle Says:
September 1st, 2007 at 15:57

Oh god, Renate, I am so behind! You’re ing married?! Congratulations, you brave girl:) And Oh, I have to say your site looks fabulous! It has inspired me to get my site running again.