The Magical Detectives and the Forbidden Spell

The Magical Detectives #2

by Brian Keaney

Fresh from their weird, wonderful but highly dangerous adventure in Quillipoth, Otto, Juliet and Cornelius are now a part of the Magical Detective Agency - along with the curious, lemon-sherbet eating Maximilian Hawksmoor. But they are about to embark on a much more risky journey - to the very heart of magic.

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Brian writes novels for adults, young adults and children. HIs latest novel for adults is The Alphabet of Heart's Desire (Holland House Books), based on an incident in the life of the nineteenth century writer and opium addict, Thomas De Quincey

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It's a fast-paced adventure involving spell of terrible power, a missing academic (and with him, a large chunk of university funding), a sinister television hypnotist, a talking cat, a love-struck secretary, and Otto, Juliet and Max, the magical detectives. My only quibble is that I would have liked the characters of Juliet and Max to be a little more fleshed out; I couldn't picture them as well as I could Otto, his mother and Cornelius the talking cat. I read this before the first book in the series, which I now have and will read. I recommend this book for confident 8 year old readers and above; very confident 7 year olds would probably manage it as well.

[Danie Cutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received through First Reads. Review to follow shortly...

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A nicely written, well thought out book. Enough action without over complicating things to keep young minds interested. I give this a three star as was just a little young for my own reading preferences and at the moment a bit long for little miss, however once she's into her reading then this would be a lovely book for her. I like the fact that it doesn't hold to the "children will only read x pages before switching off" it's the right length for the tale and is both easily read and engrossing which could easily keep the young reader going to the end.

[Alice Squires · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really like this story. OK it's a children's book, and has a clear readership of which you become aware while reading, but it's well constructed without the contradictions I find so irritating in fantasy novels. The tale moves at a suitable pace and comes to a logical conclusion despite the mild peril of some severe decapitation threats!

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made want to jump right into it. It some times talked about things to much, but it was good over all. Some times I wanted to stay up all night (which is what I did once). Over all I really liked it.