Fairies and fire demons vs. villains in wild page-turner.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 9+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
some
Protagonist Brystal has made a deal with Death, and if she can't fulfill her part of the bargain her life is about to end -- most likely at the hands of the villain she's trying to overcome. One of several villains has achieved immortality by murdering her descendants and magically assuming their identities. Lots of apparently good and sane characters are perfectly willing to kill individual people and entire species to achieve their version of the "greater good." The army of dead soldiers appears throughout, with gruesome mayhem culminating in an epic clash with magic robots. Fire demons emerge from under the earth, leaving death and destruction in their wake. A goblin describes how she basically devoured her whole family during her gestation and birth. A character offers poetically, "Puppies are cute/ Kittens are precious/ Bunnies are mute/ And they all taste delicious." Assorted characters meet gruesome ends, often as a result of their own foolishness.
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Two teen boys fall in love with each other. Tender kissing follows. A character tells how in her younger days she used a magic mirror to spy on a boyfriend she suspected was unfaithful -- and then "I had an affair and forgot all about him, HA-HA!" A teen character is the result of a romance between his mom and a shipwrecked sailor who sailed away again before he knew she was pregnant. An immortal villainess is described as spending a "century seducing and marrying men of nobility, slowly working her way up the social ladder that would eventually make her queen."
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An important plot thread addresses the inner struggles of the character Xanthous, now 14, as he realizes he's gay, and boy-girl love stories are not for him. But a boy-boy love story soon develops. Emerelda, another recurring character who's prominent here, is Black. Most of the heroes are girls and women.
Brystal, aka the Fairy Godmother, is courageous, loyal, kindhearted, and self-sacrificing. A born, if often bossy leader, she inspires the best in her diverse team of friends on the Fairy Council, who often rise to impossible challenges with brilliantly unexpected solutions. Xanthous, a recurring character usually seen with flaming hair, is dealing with a lot, between coming to terms with the fact that he's gay and the fact that people want to kill him for his pyro power. But determined friends and an unexpected soulmate come to his aid. Most of the characters we've come to know over the previous installments get at least a cameo appearance that often involves saving the day.
Positive Messages
some
"Whatever the apparitions are saying to make you feel rejected, untalented, ugly, or ashamed is a lie -- but only you can prove them wrong!" Teamwork that makes use of everyone's unique strengths and talents is essential. Also kindness, especially in a world where it's sorely lacking. Strong messages of courage, loyalty, friendship, creative thinking, and protecting those in harm's way. Finding who you really are and what your role is in life is important -- so are acceptance of others' differences. Being willing and able to admit it when you're wrong, and learning from your mistakes, also matter.
Educational Value
a little
Science with a difference, as the Alchemy Institute Introduces concepts like the periodic table of the elements -- but adds the element Magic. Vocabulary-enhancing words like "microorganism," "exterminate," "miscellaneous," "alternative," "tumultuous," "inconspicuous," "empathizing."
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that A Tale of Sorcery is the third installment in Chris Colfer's A Tale of Magic series of prequels to his Land of Stories series, with much-younger versions of many of the same characters. One plot involves the protagonist failing in a deal she made with Death in Book 2, and a loud watch literally ticks off the seconds she's got to live, but meanwhile she has to save the world. Another thread involves a 14-year-old teen coming to terms with being gay and also with the fact that people want to kill him because they think -- wrongly -- that he's responsible for supernatural fire that's burning up the towns and countryside. Fortunately they have friends, including each other, but it's a perilous tale with evil villains (including one who's achieved immortality by killing off her descendants and assuming their identities), armies of the undead, fire demons, and whatever else might spring from Colfer's imagination in the moment. Teen boys fall in love, flirt, and kiss; a fleeting romance in the past resulted in the birth of one of the characters. Characters are murdered or otherwise suffer gruesome deaths, sometimes due to their own foolishness. Friendship, loyalty, kindness, teamwork, inclusion, and appreciation of each other's differences are strong themes.
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What's the Story?
A TALE OF SORCERY finds Fairy Godmother Brystal Evergreen and her friends on the Fairy Council in a desperate effort to prevent the authoritarian, anti-female Righteous Brotherhood from taking over the kingdoms that haven't already fallen to them. And Brystal's only got a few days to fulfill a promise she made to Death in Book 2, which she's already decided she won't do, so she's coming to terms with her own impending demise. Meanwhile, her friend Xanthous, who's coming to terms with being gay, and who's had trouble in the past controlling his magical pyrotechnic powers, is on the run from people who want to kill him to "save the world" from a mysterious fire that's engulfing the countryside. There's no shortage of deadly peril or sudden fatalities, but fortunately there's also no shortage of unlikely heroes who emerge to thwart villains with imaginative glee.
Chris Colfer is in top form as the characters' troubles lead to numerous epic scenes that keep the reader riveted and hordes of special effects artists hoping for a chance to bring it to the screen. There's good reason to suspect that the Fairy Godmother will evade the death that awaits her in this tale -- after all, it's a prequel to an earlier series that shows her as a grandmother. But still. A Tale of Sorcery is filled, as usual, with exclamation points, italics, kitchen sinks, and wildly unlikely plot developments. But along the way, characters grapple with moral dilemmas, first love, and people trying to kill them, among other challenges, so this installment is longer on action, surprises, and relatable moments than speechifying. But there's still time for the occasional virtue-signaling speech:
"You see, the Alchemy Institute has been around for thousands of years. In ancient times it was a very well-known and very well-respected establishment. However, the more science advanced, the more humanity felt threatened by it. Breakthroughs in astronomy proved religious beliefs were wrong about the origin of the world...so religious leaders declared science was a demonic practice. Breakthroughs in physiology proved that kings were no different from the peasants who served them -- so monarchs declared science was a treasonous act. Eventually, the world began to hunt down scientists as ruthlessly as it hunted down the magical community. So the institute relocated to a place where humanity would never find it."
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Chris Colfer's take on the world and characters of fairy tales, like A Tale of Sorcery. Do you like his reinterpretation of familiar tales, or do you prefer the originals?
What do you think about characters who are perfectly willing to kill individual people and/or exterminate entire species to "save the world" or bring about their own particular version of "the greater good"? Does their willingness to do this -- and make others pay with their lives for their grand vision -- make you question their cause? Or do you agree that sometimes you just have to do things like that?
A Tale of Sorcery finds a lot of characters dealing with a lot of anxiety that threatens to derail them. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that? How did you cope?
Available on:
Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
Last updated:
October 29, 2021
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