True Magic

Book review: The Apprentice Witch by James Nicol

Huge disclaimer as James is a friend, but he hasn't asked me to review this book.

As a child I loved the Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy and as I wrote about recently I still enjoy the Harry Potter books now.  This book seemed to take bits from all the fantasy titles I love and make them better.

Arianwyn is an appealing character from the start, and as soon as I started reading I felt I knew her and that I wanted to be her friend. For the hero of a book she is neither too good, too perfect nor too hard done by.  Her nemesis and her friends are also well defined and her witches familiar is adorable. Possibly the resolution comes about a little too quickly but that might be due to the intended audience.

The book is aimed at a younger market than Potter, and slightly older than Mildred Hubble, but I think it has the potential to become a huge hit and a modern classic.  The book is complete in itself which is great but books 2 and 3 have already been commissioned which is brilliant news, I already can't wait.

I do have a few questions about Arianwyn's world that I want to ask James when I next see him but I will be buying a physical copy* ASAP and getting it signed for my nephew (he's a bit young yet but my sister or brother-in-law can read it to him) as I want him to be part of this world from the very start!

*I was in Greece for publication day of the book and so had to make sure I was on a wifi network to download the book as soon as possible!