This is a middle-grade urban fantasy book that is a follow up to the authors 2006 release of The Wandmaker’s Guidebook, which was an interactive book and wand-assembly kit. This is also the 1st book in a 2 book series (according to Novelist). Henry Leach is 11 years old and is the 7th son of a 7th son. He is originally from Arizona. He was born into wandmaking, but does not know much about the magic. He accidentally turns his younger sister, Brianna, into a hedgehog and has to reach out to a more powerful wandmaker to help him. He is thrown into a fight between good and evil. The villain is named Dai She and the destruction of our world is imminent. It is up to Henry and his new friends to try to save the world.

The story is told in the third person from multiple points of view. There was a lot of detail about what goes into wandmaking. I do think it would appeal to fans of Harry Potter, but they need to go into it knowing that this book is a different approach. Coralis becomes Henry’s mentor. He is a grouchy old man, who is a little behind the times. He does decide to come out of seclusion in order to help defeat evil. His language will make readers laugh out loud. There is humor, magic, and adventure. It does end with a lead into the next book but can stand on its own.

I would recommend this book for a school library and have it available for a free choice book. Or for a genre based assignment for fantasy picks. I think this book will go a long way in developing new vocabulary words in younger readers. There are lots of twists and enough action to entice the reader to get to the end. It will appeal to readers who love fantasy, magic, and family. ( )

This book left me conflicted. On one hand, I really enjoyed the overall concept - that a Wandmaker would have more than one wand, depending on the type of spell that needed casting. Different materials and elements have unique magical properties or are more conducive to casting particular spells. This makes a lot of sense to me. My friend who I buddy-read this with did point out that it might be tedious to carry several wands - but I got the impression that there are general wands you can use for "every day" purposes, versus more specialized wands you would only need to pack for certain occasions.

I was also intrigued by the fact that Henry, our main character, was the seventh son of a seventh son, with a magical lineage on his mother's side. It lent believability to the fact that at 12, with no training, he appeared to have a decent, instinctual grasp on magic, as opposed to just being a boy wonder for no other reason than that he's the main character.

However, this book left me with a lot of questions. Masessa has crafted what seems like a rather large backstory and it felt like he was trying to cram it all into one book, but by giving readers only vague clues and tidbits. Throughout the whole read I had so many questions it was frustrating and as it's middle-grade, I wondered if a younger reader would be so frustrated with questions that they would put the book down, or if they'd be oblivious and keep reading.

Henry was a fair main character, though I didn't really become attached to him. His sister, Brianna, was a problem for me, as she was supposed to be eight, but fluctuated between acting like she was six or twelve. I couldn't get a solid feel for who she was and she felt like a pointless sidekick, despite apparently having some of her own power, though the adults around her neglect to think about training her for whatever reason.

The main villain in this book felt like a caricature and had little motivation for the things he did, which I found frustrating. Perhaps younger readers would find him amusing, but I like a little threat to my villains, even in middle-grade.

My biggest issue, however, was my inability to picture most of what was going on. The writing itself wasn't bad, but at the same time, I had almost no visuals in my head when any of the action scenes started up. I simply couldn't conjure up what Masessa was trying to describe and my friend had issues with this as well. It added to my overall confusion in regards to the plot.

The end was hastily wrapped up and had even more elements crammed in. I was left unsatisfied and confused. While I don't think it's a bad book, I won't be continuing on with the series. ( )