"Fourteen-year-old Brystal Evergreen has always known she was destined for great things--that is, if she can survive the oppressive Southern Kingdom. Her only escape are books, but since it's illegal for women to read in her country, she has to find creative ways of acquiring them. Working as a maid at her local library gives her the perfect excuse to be near them and allows her to sneak a few titles home when no one is looking. But one day Brystal uncovers a secret section of the library and finds a book about magic that changes her life forever.
Magic is despised and outlawed throughout the world--Brystal is well aware of the severe consequences the book may bring--but her curiosity gets the best of her. By reading some of the text aloud, strange phenomena begin to occur and Brystal discovers she is capable of magic! And the more she practises it, the harder it becomes to hide.
After being caught and convicted, Brystal is saved by a mysterious woman named Madame Weatherberry. The woman takes Brystal to her Academy of Magic and teaches her to become a fairy. While Brystal studies magic and befriends the other students, Madame Weatherberry is suddenly called away on suspicious matters. When she doesn't return, Brystal and her friends work together to find and save their instructor. Along the way, the students discover Madame Weatherberry's true intentions for the academy are not what they seem, and they come face to face with a sinister plot that puts the fate of the world, and the fate of magic itself, in grave danger."
Magic is despised and outlawed throughout the world--Brystal is well aware of the severe consequences the book may bring--but her curiosity gets the best of her. By reading some of the text aloud, strange phenomena begin to occur and Brystal discovers she is capable of magic! And the more she practises it, the harder it becomes to hide.
After being caught and convicted, Brystal is saved by a mysterious woman named Madame Weatherberry. The woman takes Brystal to her Academy of Magic and teaches her to become a fairy. While Brystal studies magic and befriends the other students, Madame Weatherberry is suddenly called away on suspicious matters. When she doesn't return, Brystal and her friends work together to find and save their instructor. Along the way, the students discover Madame Weatherberry's true intentions for the academy are not what they seem, and they come face to face with a sinister plot that puts the fate of the world, and the fate of magic itself, in grave danger."
I liked this book for the most part. The beginning was slow but the story was constantly moving forward. The plot they had given at the back started more than halfway through the book. The magic part of it also took some time to pick up. However, the description of Brystal's life wasn't entirely boring. It gave us information about who she was and told us about incidents that shaped her into who she became later.
The plot was good. Before starting the book, I had thought it would be rather predictable, but the author has managed to keep it interesting. The story was well thought-out and there were a few suspenseful bits here and there.
The only qualm I had about this book would be the characters. Brystal is supposed to be fourteen years old, but she was very immature. Although they claimed that she was an avid reader, she did not seem to know much about anything she had read. Once, Brystal was reading out a story to her friends, which she had read earlier. One of them predicted that in the end, the protagonist would win the inevitable fight against his enemy and return home a hero. When Brystal confirmed that she was right, not only were all her other friends shocked, Brystal's mouth hung open with surprise too. That book was also supposed to be the third or fourth of a series with similar books, so one would have expected at least Brystal to know the predictability of the tale.
I get that this book was meant for a slightly younger age group, which is probably why I found some parts of it boring and the characters did not appeal to me too much. However, I did like the story because it was fast-paced and fun to read.
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