Move over Percy and Harry, Thomas Wildus is da house! Welcome to a new world of magic, mystery, and delight!

Join Thomas Wildus, eponymous lead of Bergen’s Thomas Wildus & the Book of Sorrows, as this young boy begins the adventure of a lifetime. And it all starts with a mysterious bookshop, of course! That, and the cryptic last words Thomas’ father ever said to him.

Magic is real, Thomas. No matter what happens, always remember that. Magic is real. ~John Wildus, Thomas Wildus & the Book of Sorrows

Returning home from school one day, Thomas stumbled across a bookshop he’d never seen before.  H&A Booksellers, Purveyors of Fine Books and Rare Manuscripts. It is here that Thomas finally finds a real magic book. Huxley, the proprietor, loans Thomas the book- giving him several rules to follow with regard to being its custodian. In return, Thomas will donate 5 hrs of his time weekly, helping out in the bookstore, until he’s finished with the book.

Read it alone

Keep it secret (keep it safe, haha. True though)

Read only one chapter at a time and never more than a chapter a day.

Things begin changing almost immediately for Thomas- he gets learn real magick! At least, he hopes so. It also opens up a nice can of worms, as people begin stalking him. After confiding in his best friend, Enrique, about the book, Thomas finds himself kidnapped and whisked away. To China. Here he learns more about magick and his own family that he ever thought possible.

Oh, but I loved this story! It was so much fun! There was a lot of snarky commentary, like the Percy Jackson books. The whole aspect of having the inner potential for magic awakened/ measured using a book that told of one of the first wizards was pretty cool. The more a person reads, and the greater the potential, the faster the cover becomes illuminated, as in an old manuscript’s illumination. That kinda also reminded me of The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, both the illumination and the penchant for magic.

Thomas’ best friend Enrique is hilarious! They have an ongoing ‘doodle war’ at school, which often gets them in trouble. The goal is to create a drawing that makes other person laugh as quickly as possible. Enrique has a greater part to play and I’m really interested to see where his story goes. Thomas too. His last name, and its origin are pretty cool. So were the quantum physics notions underlying magic and how it works. Makes it almost seem that if we ourselves had a greater understanding of those mechanics, we might be able to do magic ourselves.

Overall, a great read, perfect for fans of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and related series. Highly recommended!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Elandrian Press for providing an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. Reviewed for the San Francisco Book Review.

 

Read my review for Thomas Wildus and the Wizard of Sumeria.