The House at the Edge of Magic - A Review

Written by: Amy Sparkes

Published: 07th January 2021

Format: Audiobook

Narrated by: Charlie Sanderson

Length: 4hrs and 12mins

Publisher: Walker Books Limited

Genre: Fiction, Middle-Grade Fantasy Fiction

My Precise Rating: 3.7 stars! (I am glad I picked it up. I liked it!)

#BookReview

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"Sometimes you are a whisper away from magic without even realizing it."

SYNOPSIS

Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman’s purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast – a young wizard who’s particularly competitive at hopscotch – and a hideous troll housekeeper who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break – and if she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return…

MY REVIEW

It was a fun ride, from start to end.

I like how the narrative finished as it started. Even though it was a short and quick read, it packed a lot of emotions.

We follow Nine who is an orphaned thiefling determined to prove her worth to Pockets, the old gang-master, finds herself inside a magical house, inhabited by Eric the troll housekeeper, Dr. Spoon the alchemist, and Flabberghast, High Wizard, Chair of the Tea Tasters Committee, World Hopscotch Champion 1835. The house is cursed… the inhabitants cannot leave it, the toilets move around, the toad’s tongue is missing so they cannot move around, and worst of all: they cannot open the tea cupboard.

And Nine is the only one who can break this curse.

I love the writing style where it is so subtly hinted why Nine is the way Nine is and that we get to see her vulnerabilities through a mask of courage, determination, and persistence, I also loved the foreshadowing of the Witch like she is the one who is helping them break the curse even if isn't intentional and this book is one of the fast-paced narratives which I've come across recently and that last quarter of the book was such an emotional roller coaster from annoyance to disappointment over the reason for being cursed, to that not so but a very flabbergasted ending.

And good god, I just loved the way characters are depicted over such a short amount of page time, Mr. Downes and Dr. Spoon are my favorite characters and are the ones with the least amount of time comparatively, on the other hand, we have Eric, what can I say except isn't he a ‘sweetheart’ and who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster is an understatement.

To simply put this I paraphrase from the book "I think I've found one of the narratives which aren't 'quite up to my absurdly high level of satisfaction.’ But a fun, fast-paced narrative and with an interesting world and characters that make you forget all your worries."

I listened to the audiobook for this title, the story is good I had nothing more to add from what I have said from above, the only problem for me is the narration, it seemed a bit distracting or odd (for lack of a better word) but no doubt Charlie Sanderson did a fantastic job narrating Nine’s story, but, but I just kept the second-guessing till the end and sometimes I had to rewind to register what emotions are going on in Nine’s head (and keep in mind this is my personal opinion regarding audio-version of the book) and apart from these teeny tiny faults the narrative is great, the story is fantastic and I just can't wait for the next adventure to be released, continue to read a preview of the book "The House at the Edge of Magic" by Amy Sparkes.