Magicalia: Race of Wonders

LoveReading4Kids Says

The first feverishly-paced story in a new fantasy series, Jennifer Bell’s Magicalia: Race of Wonders is a riot of Pokémon-esque pandemonium and globe-trotting mystery as a girl discovers she has the power to conjure strange magical creatures and undertakes a mission to rescue her kidnapped dad.  

Readers are thrust right into the adventure from the off when Bitsy — who wants to follow in the footsteps of her deceased journalist mum — and her best friend Kosh are shocked to the core when a weird purple hamstoceros appears in her house, along with a woman who’s searching for a book. On failing to find it, the woman takes the next best thing — Bitsy’s dad.

The book turns out to be called Magicalia, which is the “name for the kingdom of organisms known as magicores”, of which there are six types that can be conjured using a different emotion. It also turns out that Bitsy’s dad can conjure magicores, and he’d failed to tell her that she’d been invited to take a test to determine whether she can do the same…  

During their wild mission to rescue her dad, Bitsy and Kosh follow a trail of clues that sees them traverse the globe. Alongside being a fantastical adventure, Race of Wonders fizzes with riddles and history, astronomy and super-charged science, all of which adds up to a full-on phantasmagoria of fiction. If that wasn’t enough, it’s also funny, and laced with relatable real-world context.

Reviewed by Joanne Owen
Joanne Owen is a writer, reviewer and workshop presenter whose lifelong love of books began when she was growing up in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
More reviews by Joanne Owen

About Magicalia: Race of Wonders

From the internationally bestselling author of Wonderscape and The Uncommoners, comes a spectacular new fantasy series set in a world of magical creatures, ancient meteorites and secret organizations, irresistible to fans of Pokémon, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

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