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Frontier Magic #3
The Far West
When the government forms an expedition to map the Far West, Eff has the opportunity to travel farther than anyone in the world. With twin Lan, William, Professor Torgeson, Wash, and Professor Ochiba, she finds that nothing on the wild frontier is as they expected. There are strange findings in their research, a long prairie winter spent in too-close quarters, and more new species, magical and otherwise, dangerous and benign, than they ever expected to find.
When spring comes, the explorers realize how tenuous life near the Great Barrier Spell must stop a magical flood in a hurry. Eff's unique way of viewing magic has saved the settlers time and again, now all of Columbia is at risk.
When spring comes, the explorers realize how tenuous life near the Great Barrier Spell must stop a magical flood in a hurry. Eff's unique way of viewing magic has saved the settlers time and again, now all of Columbia is at risk.
343 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
71 people are currently reading
2243 people want to read
About the author
Patricia C. Wrede
67 books3,999 followersPatricia Collins Wrede was born in Chicago, Illinois and is the eldest of five children. She started writing in seventh grade. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, where she majored in Biology and managed to avoid taking any English courses at all. She began work on her first novel, Shadow Magic, just after graduating from college in 1974. She finished it five years later and started her second book at once, having become permanently hooked on writing by this time.
Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.
Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." Several years later, they were joined by Kara Dalkey. In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).
In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.
Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.
She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat Karma. She has no children.
Patricia received her M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1977.
She worked for several years as a financial analyst and accountant, first with the Minnesota Hospital Association, then with B. Dalton Booksellers, and finally at the Dayton Hudson Corporation headquarters.
Patricia finished her first novel in late 1978. In January, 1980, Pamela Dean, Emma Bull, Will Shetterly, Steven Brust, Nate Bucklin, and Patricia Wrede -- all, at that point, hopeful but unpublished -- formed the writer's group that later became known as "The Scribblies." Several years later, they were joined by Kara Dalkey. In April of 1980, Patricia's first novel sold to Ace Books. It came out at last in 1982, which is the year she met Lillian Stewart Carl (who introduced her to Lois McMaster Bujold by mail).
In 1985, shortly before the publication of her fifth book, she left the world of the gainfully employed to try winging it on her own.
Her interests include sewing, embroidery, desultory attempts at gardening, chocolate, not mowing the lawn, High Tea, and, of course, reading.
She is a vegetarian, and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her cat Karma. She has no children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 491 reviews
May 20, 2013
Every few months, an Internet controversy arises that requires no more of its participants than to leap upon some minor perceived slight, fan the flames of controversy, and then bask in the blazing hot fires of self-righteous fervor. It doesn't matter if the popular flavor of the month is whether a Disney princess appears in a too-feminine dress on the company's website that none of the shrieking masses visit, or whether a satire site said something unkind about a public figure whose movie almost no one saw. If the controversy can make a lazy average person feel like an indignant activist between Facebook status updates--without any actual activism beyond foaming at the mouth and pounding on the laptop--everybody wants to dogpile on, say the most unkind things imaginable, and congratulate themselves for 'raising awareness' until the next meaningless auto-da-fé.
Such was the unfortunate fate of Patricia Wrede's The Thirteenth Child, the first novel in the author's trilogy of books best described as Laura Ingalls Wilder meets YA fantasy. Wrede's careful world building in her alternate-universe mid-nineteenth-century America envisioned a continent in which the first inhabitants of the continent were not our American natives, but settlers from both Europe and Africa. Irate Internet dogpilers, in high dudgeon (few of whom had read or intended to read the book) accused her of actual genocide of Native Americans.
It's a shame that the hurtful and irresponsible comments obscured the start of a series that is highly readable and really a fun amalgam of magical youth and frontier narrative. Watching Wrede's heroine Eff mature and come into her own across the series' three books made me race through the books at a fast clip.
My only complaint about the series as a whole is that I wish the sense of place had been even stronger throughout. One of the joys of the Little House books is that so many of the foods the Ingalls eat, the games they played, and even the toys they made for themselves were so commonplace, yet exotic; even the magical landscapes of Wrede's Columbia are rendered almost too matter-of-factly.
Skip the controversy and pick up the books. They're a highly readable commentary on the resilience of the human spirit of exploration, and a gentle affirmation of human dignity, regardless of race.
Such was the unfortunate fate of Patricia Wrede's The Thirteenth Child, the first novel in the author's trilogy of books best described as Laura Ingalls Wilder meets YA fantasy. Wrede's careful world building in her alternate-universe mid-nineteenth-century America envisioned a continent in which the first inhabitants of the continent were not our American natives, but settlers from both Europe and Africa. Irate Internet dogpilers, in high dudgeon (few of whom had read or intended to read the book) accused her of actual genocide of Native Americans.
It's a shame that the hurtful and irresponsible comments obscured the start of a series that is highly readable and really a fun amalgam of magical youth and frontier narrative. Watching Wrede's heroine Eff mature and come into her own across the series' three books made me race through the books at a fast clip.
My only complaint about the series as a whole is that I wish the sense of place had been even stronger throughout. One of the joys of the Little House books is that so many of the foods the Ingalls eat, the games they played, and even the toys they made for themselves were so commonplace, yet exotic; even the magical landscapes of Wrede's Columbia are rendered almost too matter-of-factly.
Skip the controversy and pick up the books. They're a highly readable commentary on the resilience of the human spirit of exploration, and a gentle affirmation of human dignity, regardless of race.
September 21, 2015
Sept 2015 reread - Just got around to rereading the third one in this trilogy. What can I say, I still enjoy it. It's a very comfortable read. I enjoy how it deals with female characters. I enjoy how it portrays scientists. And I very much enjoy Eff and William's relationship. Though Lan still annoys the crap out of me.
2015 Reading challenge - A trilogy
I love this series. I think I'm going to have to buy it.
Sorcery and Cecilia might still be my favourite book (co)authored by Patricia Wrede, but as a series? This one is far superior (and not just because the second book in the Sorcery series is less than awesome). It just, it really works. And it's all that I've ever wanted in a fantasy series.
There is no love triangle. There is no, "We are all of a sudden facing overwhelming odds." There is still drama. It is really interesting. I just, I really like the way it all works together. And really, I think it all comes down to balance. This is a really well balanced book (and series). Everyone gets to be competent. Everyone has their moments of being less than awesome. No one is perfect. And this is a book that treats its women really, really well.
Seriously enjoyed this whole series.
2015 Reading challenge - A trilogy
I love this series. I think I'm going to have to buy it.
Sorcery and Cecilia might still be my favourite book (co)authored by Patricia Wrede, but as a series? This one is far superior (and not just because the second book in the Sorcery series is less than awesome). It just, it really works. And it's all that I've ever wanted in a fantasy series.
There is no love triangle. There is no, "We are all of a sudden facing overwhelming odds." There is still drama. It is really interesting. I just, I really like the way it all works together. And really, I think it all comes down to balance. This is a really well balanced book (and series). Everyone gets to be competent. Everyone has their moments of being less than awesome. No one is perfect. And this is a book that treats its women really, really well.
Seriously enjoyed this whole series.
February 29, 2024
I finished reading The Far West yesterday. First off this is probably one of my favorite books of the year. I couldn’t devour the pages fast enough; I honestly wanted to call into work just to finish it. In fact I was late picking up my boyfriend so I could do just that.
Some points I would like to touch on.
1) The author always manages to give off that warm happy fantasy feel with her writing; like I want to snuggle down into the story and that it should never end.
2) In this series Ms. Wrede does an AMAZING job of blending magic, science and technology. The explanations of how magic works is very creative.
3) With that said, there were times that I got a little bored with the technical explanation of how spells worked and how certain kinds of magic are different from others. But in my defense the main character Eff got bored here too. LOL
4) The characters are all really well thought out. Each one has individuality, spark and a back story which makes them all important. You can tell the author took a lot of time developing her characters.
5) I really enjoy the AU Oregon Trail/Old West feel that this story has where magic is common place. It’s the United States but it isn’t, at the same time. So much thought and effort went into this I can only imagine the story notes, outlines and diagrams the author must have made for these three books to be so cohesive and comprehensive.
6) The unique flora and fauna is another thing that just endears this series to me. Steam Dragons, Medusa Lizards, Hexberries, this list just goes on and one and each one more unique than the others. I love that they go on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains and it’s mainly just to discover what is out there. When I was a little girl I played Oregon Trail on the computer and it was my favorite game, this book makes me happy in the same way.
7) The Society of Progressive Rationalists- this is almost satirical in its creation. A society against using magic.
8) While this book ends with a bit of a love story I truly enjoy that this series has no romantic entanglements, unlike so many novels out there a love interest for Eff is the lowest priority.
9) Eff- is such a strong female character. When I’ve been re reading Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Black this is refreshing. While these characters try and be strong female leads and fail in so many ways…Here is a YA/MIDDLE GRADE novel that, just as Cimorene (Dealing With Dragons) did before this, succeeds to have a powerful woman who knows what she wants and goes out to get it.
So five fucking stars and a giant THANKS to Ms. Wrede for making my day with this brilliant novel.
Some points I would like to touch on.
1) The author always manages to give off that warm happy fantasy feel with her writing; like I want to snuggle down into the story and that it should never end.
2) In this series Ms. Wrede does an AMAZING job of blending magic, science and technology. The explanations of how magic works is very creative.
3) With that said, there were times that I got a little bored with the technical explanation of how spells worked and how certain kinds of magic are different from others. But in my defense the main character Eff got bored here too. LOL
4) The characters are all really well thought out. Each one has individuality, spark and a back story which makes them all important. You can tell the author took a lot of time developing her characters.
5) I really enjoy the AU Oregon Trail/Old West feel that this story has where magic is common place. It’s the United States but it isn’t, at the same time. So much thought and effort went into this I can only imagine the story notes, outlines and diagrams the author must have made for these three books to be so cohesive and comprehensive.
6) The unique flora and fauna is another thing that just endears this series to me. Steam Dragons, Medusa Lizards, Hexberries, this list just goes on and one and each one more unique than the others. I love that they go on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains and it’s mainly just to discover what is out there. When I was a little girl I played Oregon Trail on the computer and it was my favorite game, this book makes me happy in the same way.
7) The Society of Progressive Rationalists- this is almost satirical in its creation. A society against using magic.
8) While this book ends with a bit of a love story I truly enjoy that this series has no romantic entanglements, unlike so many novels out there a love interest for Eff is the lowest priority.
9) Eff- is such a strong female character. When I’ve been re reading Sookie Stackhouse and Anita Black this is refreshing. While these characters try and be strong female leads and fail in so many ways…Here is a YA/MIDDLE GRADE novel that, just as Cimorene (Dealing With Dragons) did before this, succeeds to have a powerful woman who knows what she wants and goes out to get it.
So five fucking stars and a giant THANKS to Ms. Wrede for making my day with this brilliant novel.
February 3, 2014
Meh. That goes for the whole series - meh. I'm pretty sure Wrede had a clever idea and pitched it her to her agent/publisher and contracted for a three book YA series of x words each and this is what came out. There's good world-building but we're never fully immersed in it; good character voice but I never cared about the main character that much; good secondary characters, but their backstories are never fully developed; etc. Honestly I think following around one of the secondary characters like Miss Ochiba or William would have been interesting.
I also got really sick of Eff's "Aw shucks, I'm just a downhome Ohio girl with nothing special about me," attitude super annoying after awhile. It was tolerable and interesting in The Thirteenth Child given her being a teenager and the weird way she'd been treated and prejudices and such, but by the third book it was just obnoxious.
All in all I wish she had exploded someone at some point. Would have made things much more interesting if she were fleeing sheriffs into the far west. Actually, I do want to read that book . . .
Ultimately the world Wrede invented is fascinating and way more interesting than the characters. Reading this book or the earlier two won't make you dumber, but I'm not sure it will make you much smarter either.
I also got really sick of Eff's "Aw shucks, I'm just a downhome Ohio girl with nothing special about me," attitude super annoying after awhile. It was tolerable and interesting in The Thirteenth Child given her being a teenager and the weird way she'd been treated and prejudices and such, but by the third book it was just obnoxious.
All in all I wish she had exploded someone at some point. Would have made things much more interesting if she were fleeing sheriffs into the far west. Actually, I do want to read that book . . .
Ultimately the world Wrede invented is fascinating and way more interesting than the characters. Reading this book or the earlier two won't make you dumber, but I'm not sure it will make you much smarter either.
August 24, 2021
08/2012 This is the third book in the series. I liked the first book (Thirteenth Child), really liked the second book (Across the Great Barrier), but The Far West is probably my favorite. It may not be everyone's cuppa tea, because the pacing is at times slow, covering quite a few years. But I like Eff, who is a fascinating heroine as she is a complicated, adventurous woman who tries to balance what she wants with her love of her family. I also appreciate that Eff is adventurous (and can shoot pretty well) while mostly being a scientist and looking to explore and catalog the Far West.
I really enjoy the world building of this series. It has the feel of settlers in the American wild west, but with some significant differences. There is magic, and the area beyond the Great Barrier is sparsely settled and still dangerous, with new threats both magical and mundane. The magic in the series also fascinates me, as there are three different types of magic, and each is based on a different way of viewing the world.
The book was satisfying, wrapping up many major threads, but I was disappointed to learn that it is the last, as there is a major plot thread that wasn't wrapped up. Hopefully there will be another book in the series.
07/2015 I still feel much the same, but I would add that I wish the end to The Far West wasn't quite so abrupt. Namely, Overall, though, I enjoyed re-reading The Far West.
8/2021 re-read
I really enjoy the world building of this series. It has the feel of settlers in the American wild west, but with some significant differences. There is magic, and the area beyond the Great Barrier is sparsely settled and still dangerous, with new threats both magical and mundane. The magic in the series also fascinates me, as there are three different types of magic, and each is based on a different way of viewing the world.
The book was satisfying, wrapping up many major threads, but I was disappointed to learn that it is the last, as there is a major plot thread that wasn't wrapped up. Hopefully there will be another book in the series.
07/2015 I still feel much the same, but I would add that I wish the end to The Far West wasn't quite so abrupt. Namely, Overall, though, I enjoyed re-reading The Far West.
8/2021 re-read
January 13, 2014
Oh, Frontier Magic series. On the one hand, I like you a lot. Eff is a wonderful heroine, and the worldbuilding is (for the most part -- more on that in a minute) right up my alley. That part of me really, really wants to give you five stars.
On the other hand, you are extremely frustrating, and giving you five stars would just be wrong.
I have the same problem with this series as a whole that I had with Thirteenth Child: Wrede's decision to completely eliminate indigenous people from the narrative robs the worldbuilding (much as I enjoy it) of huge potential for richness and diversity (and no, the introduction of unusual fauna like spectral bears and color-changing squirrels and rock dragons does not fill the gap). The resulting flatness is pervasive in Wrede's society. It's all just so gosh darned enlightened. Slavery ended 30ish years ago (a whole lot earlier than in actual US history), but nobody's racist or (when non-Columbian characters are introduced in this installment) xenophobic. I find this extremely hard to believe. Just sayin'.
WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL, PATRICIA WREDE.
On the other hand, you are extremely frustrating, and giving you five stars would just be wrong.
I have the same problem with this series as a whole that I had with Thirteenth Child: Wrede's decision to completely eliminate indigenous people from the narrative robs the worldbuilding (much as I enjoy it) of huge potential for richness and diversity (and no, the introduction of unusual fauna like spectral bears and color-changing squirrels and rock dragons does not fill the gap). The resulting flatness is pervasive in Wrede's society. It's all just so gosh darned enlightened. Slavery ended 30ish years ago (a whole lot earlier than in actual US history), but nobody's racist or (when non-Columbian characters are introduced in this installment) xenophobic. I find this extremely hard to believe. Just sayin'.
WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL, PATRICIA WREDE.
December 11, 2014
In the final book in the Frontier Magic series, Eff joins an expedition to travel further West than anyone has ever gone before. As they travel to the west, Eff continues to grow in her magical abilities and to unite the three different schools of magic within her. But the creatures of the west are more dangerous than any they have yet faced and they threaten to bring the great barrier crashing down unless she can find a way to stop them.
This series is great fun. I really loved it. And I don't know why. The writing style is measured and in some ways quite ponderous ... but I loved it. The series is well planned and executed with each book progressing the story to the final moments. Honestly I just love these books.
...but they may not be for everyone. To be honest I should have struggled with these books. They require a bit more commitment than I normally have to give. For whatever reason, they worked for me, and I hope they work for you (if you buy them).
This series is great fun. I really loved it. And I don't know why. The writing style is measured and in some ways quite ponderous ... but I loved it. The series is well planned and executed with each book progressing the story to the final moments. Honestly I just love these books.
...but they may not be for everyone. To be honest I should have struggled with these books. They require a bit more commitment than I normally have to give. For whatever reason, they worked for me, and I hope they work for you (if you buy them).
July 1, 2022
2018 - re-read, with great satisfaction and enjoyment. Bought this in 2017, ebook format.
2014 - I put off finishing this, because I didn't want it to end. But the library limit (twice!) was hours away, so I read until oh-dark-hundred. Really, this was an amazing ending. Eff was so 'what light under a bushel?' and it was actually a searchlight, leading the group to safety for themselves and the rest of their part of the country. And an entirely new way of looking at magic, of working magic in groups; Prof Ochiba seems to have been the only one who had any idea of Eff's abilities and potential.
No, I can't explain why it's 4 stars, not 5; it just is.
2014 - I put off finishing this, because I didn't want it to end. But the library limit (twice!) was hours away, so I read until oh-dark-hundred. Really, this was an amazing ending. Eff was so 'what light under a bushel?' and it was actually a searchlight, leading the group to safety for themselves and the rest of their part of the country. And an entirely new way of looking at magic, of working magic in groups; Prof Ochiba seems to have been the only one who had any idea of Eff's abilities and potential.
No, I can't explain why it's 4 stars, not 5; it just is.
December 11, 2012
here is a confession. i really, really love the TV show revenge. i love it in all its melodramatic, soapy, unrealistic, and hyperbolic glory. but most of all, i love it because it gives me an excuse to go around shouting "REVEEEEEEEENGE!", whether in a conversation about it with friends or when watching it alone in my room with guilty pleasure or, sometimes, totally at random in my head when i am feeling angry about something. it is a bad habit, i know, but i find it too awesomely cathartic and funny to stop. so i am not stopping. patricia c. wrede, please take note: REVEEEEEEEEENGE!!
many, many people have written about the epic internet saga retrospectively entitled racefail '09, so i will save myself some time and simply link to a collection of posts: here, for example, and here, and here. i learned a lot from those discussions, and when i am in a good mood i tend to side with n.k. jemisin in looking for the positive things that came out of racefail and trying to ignore all the bad (for example: racist shit everywhere!). and even though patricia wrede's terrible approach to alternative american history in thirteenth child did not leave me with such a great feeling, i forged on, half in loyalty to my 13-year-old self (who had loved wrede's enchanted forest chronicles, along with apparently every single other 13-year-old girl who was reading fantasy back then) and half in curiosity about where she might take the thing, now that she had gotten herself stuck in it.
but then i got to this book, and the part where the hijero-cathayans show up, and i JUST. COULDN'T. TAKE IT. ANYMORE. i am supposed to believe that a vaguely arabic-chinese confederacy could somehow form, without any of the violent imperialist exploitation that marks the history of the mid 19th century, and that they would somehow come up with a common lingua franca to use among themselves (while also knowing english, a language that - of course - remains entirely recognizable as such within wrede's fantasy world), and that there is a plausible reason why the chinese (oh, sorry - cathayan) travelers would have japanese names, oh and never mind the fact that wrede relies on the classic fallback for lazy fantasy writers everywhere, where dragons are shorthand for the totality of all asian culture and history (just as ninjas are shorthand for the totality of all asian culture and history in hollywood action movies), and BLAAAAARGH RACEFAIL REVEEEEEENGE!!
guys, this is exactly what privilege is. this is what privilege does. it is not simply the act of erasing entire swaths of human beings from the face of the planet because they are inconvenient to you as a writer, or the act of appropriating entire cultures and histories in service of a story or goal (that, in the end, is for the sake of something other than those cultures or histories, and in fact couldn't care less about them). privilege is a relationship, built upon systems of power. privilege is the unthinking ability to get away with these things, time and time again; it is the ability to live one's life in a manner that depends upon structural inequality but is never itself threatened by it. it wasn't until the whole hijero-cathayan thing that i was able to put my finger on it, but i've realized that what bothers me most about wrede's fantasy world here is not just the absence or appropriation of "other" cultures, to the point where they have become unrecognizable; it's the fact that "american" (read, "white") culture has been spared a similar fate, has been given the privilege of having more-or-less the same safe, standard narrative. of course it still has a war of secession; of course lewis and clark still existed; of course they still have the same pluck, grit, and good ol' american exceptionalism "we" have today. oh look, here's some people of color! isn't it great we're treating them so respectfully? never mind the fact that in order to do that we have to completely rewrite and/or erase their (but not our) history and our own complicity in it!
this is what privilege is: when POC talk themselves blue in the face about these issues and, two years later, you are still not listening, because you don't need to. well, screw that. i'm done. no more reading books like these. that is my sweet, sweet REVEEEEEEEEENGE.
many, many people have written about the epic internet saga retrospectively entitled racefail '09, so i will save myself some time and simply link to a collection of posts: here, for example, and here, and here. i learned a lot from those discussions, and when i am in a good mood i tend to side with n.k. jemisin in looking for the positive things that came out of racefail and trying to ignore all the bad (for example: racist shit everywhere!). and even though patricia wrede's terrible approach to alternative american history in thirteenth child did not leave me with such a great feeling, i forged on, half in loyalty to my 13-year-old self (who had loved wrede's enchanted forest chronicles, along with apparently every single other 13-year-old girl who was reading fantasy back then) and half in curiosity about where she might take the thing, now that she had gotten herself stuck in it.
but then i got to this book, and the part where the hijero-cathayans show up, and i JUST. COULDN'T. TAKE IT. ANYMORE. i am supposed to believe that a vaguely arabic-chinese confederacy could somehow form, without any of the violent imperialist exploitation that marks the history of the mid 19th century, and that they would somehow come up with a common lingua franca to use among themselves (while also knowing english, a language that - of course - remains entirely recognizable as such within wrede's fantasy world), and that there is a plausible reason why the chinese (oh, sorry - cathayan) travelers would have japanese names, oh and never mind the fact that wrede relies on the classic fallback for lazy fantasy writers everywhere, where dragons are shorthand for the totality of all asian culture and history (just as ninjas are shorthand for the totality of all asian culture and history in hollywood action movies), and BLAAAAARGH RACEFAIL REVEEEEEENGE!!
guys, this is exactly what privilege is. this is what privilege does. it is not simply the act of erasing entire swaths of human beings from the face of the planet because they are inconvenient to you as a writer, or the act of appropriating entire cultures and histories in service of a story or goal (that, in the end, is for the sake of something other than those cultures or histories, and in fact couldn't care less about them). privilege is a relationship, built upon systems of power. privilege is the unthinking ability to get away with these things, time and time again; it is the ability to live one's life in a manner that depends upon structural inequality but is never itself threatened by it. it wasn't until the whole hijero-cathayan thing that i was able to put my finger on it, but i've realized that what bothers me most about wrede's fantasy world here is not just the absence or appropriation of "other" cultures, to the point where they have become unrecognizable; it's the fact that "american" (read, "white") culture has been spared a similar fate, has been given the privilege of having more-or-less the same safe, standard narrative. of course it still has a war of secession; of course lewis and clark still existed; of course they still have the same pluck, grit, and good ol' american exceptionalism "we" have today. oh look, here's some people of color! isn't it great we're treating them so respectfully? never mind the fact that in order to do that we have to completely rewrite and/or erase their (but not our) history and our own complicity in it!
this is what privilege is: when POC talk themselves blue in the face about these issues and, two years later, you are still not listening, because you don't need to. well, screw that. i'm done. no more reading books like these. that is my sweet, sweet REVEEEEEEEEENGE.
August 22, 2019
More like 2.5 stars but I rounded up. The fact that it took me so long to read says a lot, even though I am quite busy at the time. I suppose I am disappointed that there seemed to be no real resolution on whether girls aren’t as important as boys. I’m also disappointed there seemed to be no change in the heroine’s status when it turned out she was as strong or maybe stronger magician than her twin brother, who was seventh son of a seventh son. She was the seventh daughter of a seventh son as well as the thirteenth child so her strength shouldn’t have been the surprise it was to everyone including herself. Finally I’m disappointed there seemed to be no professional acknowledgement by Eff herself. She got married which seemed to be the apex of satisfaction. Whoopee. Now that I think about it, I’m going to leave this review as is, but I’m lowering the stars to 2 stars. I suppose I expected more from Patricia Wrede to comment on equality and that women have more to do in life than just have kids. Quite disappointing. Not recommended.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2020
TL;DR: This book is written by a white lady. What more can I expect? The main character is an initially downtrodden white girl. It’s set in a magical parallel to the USA during its Western Expansion phase.
It’s very…. Susan B. Anthony hating Black people but wanting white women to have the power to vote. And then other white women lauding her as an amazing suffragette for years, while there are some muted voices of people of color trying to point out that she was a virulent racist in the background. Ya get me?
I have so many thoughts about this series. This will be a long review/ramble about my ideas…
I read book 1 in this series when I was younger, probably when it first came out. If you are familiar with Patricia C. Wrede’s other work (specifically The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, like I was), this series is completely different. The other book I read by her was a collection of short stories that varied in setting but overall had a similar lighthearted tone that fantasy readers would expect from a children’s author. This series is very different, and while I wouldn’t necessarily say to skip it, I wouldn’t reread this (I am a reader that rereads everything at least once, if I like it at all, for some context).
The literary stuff: the story moves a bit slowly, and takes place entirely in the main character, Eff’s, head. Again, pretty typical for a YA fantasy that deals in magic (a lot of push-pull stuff… this is an unflattering comparison, but I thought it, so you have to read it: if you read the Twilight series, a lot of Eff’s magicking, especially in book 3, reminded me of the section in Breaking Dawn when Bella figures out how to do that protection thingy on the good vamps when they’re having the last fight).
It is called the Frontier Magic series, so expect a lot of what I lump in as “camping talk” – but not enough to satisfy you if you love adventure stories (I’m thinking of Hatchet, etc.). It was vague enough to bore me (I skimmed a bit… Eff is long-winded, but it makes sense for the book is told in first-person and she is very close-mouthed around others so all her thoughts get told to us), and I never felt the world was truly fleshed out. That fits, because it’s a frontier story that spends a lot of time emphasizing how little the characters know and understand about their world.
I know I just said Eff is long winded, but I particularly liked the scenes where she was figuring out a puzzle (to do with her identity, her magic, the spells in her talisman, etc.) and that was when I felt she was most interesting and well-written. Other than that, she was pretty ordinary for the seventh-daughter of a seventh-son and twin-sister of a seventh-son and, of course, a thirteenth child (yadda yadda), which I suppose might be refreshing in a protagonist to some people. I also didn’t think there was enough emphasis placed on her relationship with Lan, or even William, but as I say that I think it’s a testament to the strength of Wrede’s writing. We’re so in Eff’s head (the entire series is told in first person) that we don’t ruminate on her twin because she doesn’t ruminate on him, either. Same goes for what eventually happens with William (whom I loved!!!! Such a good character and a refreshing change from the typical masculinity of all the other men). I also think Eff’s relationship with her siblings (and her seeming powerlessness against their nagging) was portrayed realistically, as well as the lasting issues from the trauma she suffered in her childhood at the hands of her extended family.
Okay, I feel like I’ve been fair enough by stating the things I enjoyed/admired about this series. Now, for the big one: where the heck were the indigenous peoples??? I wish I did this as a buddy read with my friend Amara, because she surely would have good articles to explain and expand on the settler-colonial mindset of this entire series. Instead (if you’ve got this far), you’ll have to deal with my mostly emotional and random memories of the theory I studied in college to guide me along my ramble.
So, Wrede is a white lady who chose to write a novel featuring a landscape that she created. She included sexism, racism, SLAVERY, and yet erased the genocide of Native Peoples that created America. In her world, the analog would be Columbia. I think this is an attempt at the sanitation of history, for her. She is too ambitious, and should have dealt with that before publishing books dealing with this if she couldn’t handle it. I spent the entire first book waiting for her to introduce some inkling of Natives, and by the middle of the 2nd I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. I was preoccupied with dissecting this decision throughout my entire read, and in fact the whole settler-colonial premise of the book annoyed me as I tried to connect to Eff (who was the draw to the novel, for me).
By not including any people living “out West,” the only adversaries the colonizers (that is what they literally are, people who are settling previously wild lands and trying to force the environment to concede to them) have to face are the magical creatures that would attack them. For much of the series, it is inconceivable for human life to exist outside the rigid framework that the Columbian settlers have created. So, there’s no one to wrest lands from besides the animals. Simple, right? Our main character doesn’t have to be a bad guy. The white people aren’t evil in this one!
If that was the case, why does Wrede include race at all? The white people in this story have still enslaved Black people. That tells me that Wrede wasn’t shying away from all of America’s history – just a huge piece of it. Not that she handled this whole slavery thing any better! It’s mentioned briefly, a few times… in fact, one of the settlements that existed outside the white Columbian framework was a settlement that was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad. That fascinating tidbit is just dropped in, and then largely ignored. That annoyed me, at first, but it does lead me to another good point.
Eff is a white woman. That is made clear many times throughout the novel, like the way non-white characters are described. I appreciated that none of the darker skinned characters are ever described as having “chocolate” skin, but race/specific features aren’t mentioned unless the character is not white. The closest Eff comes to specifically describing white people is when she states the difference in her and Lan’s noses.
Eff starts learning Aphrikan magic from a Black teacher, Miss (and then Professor) Ochiba. However, though the other Black characters seem to have side discussions (without Eff’s knowledge) about her taking part in this tradition (I’m thinking of when Miss Ochiba and Wash have an off-page, slight argument about Wash giving Eff the Aphrikan pendant), Eff just takes learning Aphrikan knowledge as a given. The spirit of curiosity that the Columbian magicians share is a literal parallel to the spirit of white explorers/scientists poking into things with no regard to the people who created the things they want to examine. (There is a small, I think unintentional, nod given to this when the Cathayan magician tells Lan he just can’t do that type of magic. I say unintentional, because Eff immediately disputes this – albeit internally – by saying the Cathayan magician isn’t looking at things differently, and Lan could possibly still do that type of magic. The looking at things argument references a technique she learned from Aphrikan magic. You see where I’m going? Eff is this special person who is able to connect all of these magical traditions together and see clearly. Part of this is to be expected because she’s our protagonist, but it’s impossible to ignore the racial narrative that is inadvertently being told here. I say inadvertent because I’m trying to give Wrede the benefit of the doubt, for nostalgia reasons.)
All of this is to say, as a white woman bound by gender constraints and the unluckiness she thinks she’s cursed with, I suppose it makes sense that Eff is not more curious about the Underground Railroad, or Columbian history in general. Leave it to the privileged to take the world as is. But I find it shocking, because in the story, Eff’s mentor, Wash, literally fought in the Secession War (aka Civil War)! He’s only 15 years older than Eff, so the abolition of slavery (I mean, the vice president elected at the end of the book is Abraham freaking Lincoln) is only a recent thing. I was preoccupied in every interaction with this knowledge. How was Wash moving through settlements? Did the white settlers give him trouble, or take his help because they needed it, despite him being a Black man? Did Wash mentoring Eff bring up problems? What about Miss Ochiba’s position as the only freaking Black woman in Mill City? How the hell do you include a Civil War in your world but don’t consider the implications afterward???
Perhaps I have too much faith in the author. None of the things I mentioned were ever addressed, but again, the series is told from Eff’s view. It is entirely plausible that she was completely unaware of these issues going on around her, though even William alludes to it once in the first book (when Miss Ochiba is seemingly forced to leave the day school, and leaves to teach at Triskelion University, William says that now at least “they” won’t say Miss Ochiba wasn’t a good teacher). Eff spends most of the entire book very self-absorbed, thinking herself the harbinger of doom.
The only time these issues could be mentioned are in relation to the Universities, however Eff always couches it in terms of what the universities will teach. Triskelion University is the only school (if I recall correctly) that teaches all 3 types of magic styles present in the book. Eff never moves beyond these descriptions to attack the foundations upon which they’re built – the assumed superiority of Apruvan (white, western European) magic. But, again, maybe she is unable to, trapped as she is in the patriarchy. Her character does not seem like it has stopped growing in the last book, though she does get married, which annoyed me. However, as I said, Eff seems very ordinary… she reminds me of Pam from The Office (who I simp for, but shhh). She’s complacent and resists her extraordinariness in a repeatedly annoying way (like when she does cool magic things and doesn’t tell Lan or William til the end of the last book). She is too comfortable within the confines of her life to challenge the world meaningfully, and perhaps that’s why the book ends with her continuing on her journey farther West, where she is able to forget those constraints (rather than challenging them meaningfully).
I have so much more to add… I would say, to the reviewers downplaying the issues with the erasure of Native Peoples from this book: fuck off. The whole fun in including different types of magicians and magic styles is in finding people to identify with. I spent a lot of time while reading trying to figure out if the Hijero-Cathayan people could be Indian so I could orient (hah) myself within this world. It’s what fantasy readers do. So for a story to be created that deals with a disgusting aspect of American history (for all that it’s a fantasy, this fiction is a commentary on society/the author’s worldview whether you like it or not) to ignore the basis of it completely is unforgivable. It’s not even a missed opportunity – that’s capitalistic language, in any case – it’s actually just so… white. The inclusion of some peoples of color just makes the glaring omission worse (and I’m not even going into the sly and mystical motifs surrounding the Cathayan characters that are introduced at the end of book 3).
I could go on and on, but overall, this was a mediocre series that got me thinking about sensitivity readers. I do not envy anyone that has that job. How do you reshape a narrative that is so clearly trapped within the white supremacist hegemony of our (USAian) society?
Anyway, I’m thankful that this book woke me up enough to have strong opinions, and to actually write them out. If you do read it, please discuss it with me before I get about the important parts lol.
It’s very…. Susan B. Anthony hating Black people but wanting white women to have the power to vote. And then other white women lauding her as an amazing suffragette for years, while there are some muted voices of people of color trying to point out that she was a virulent racist in the background. Ya get me?
I have so many thoughts about this series. This will be a long review/ramble about my ideas…
I read book 1 in this series when I was younger, probably when it first came out. If you are familiar with Patricia C. Wrede’s other work (specifically The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, like I was), this series is completely different. The other book I read by her was a collection of short stories that varied in setting but overall had a similar lighthearted tone that fantasy readers would expect from a children’s author. This series is very different, and while I wouldn’t necessarily say to skip it, I wouldn’t reread this (I am a reader that rereads everything at least once, if I like it at all, for some context).
The literary stuff: the story moves a bit slowly, and takes place entirely in the main character, Eff’s, head. Again, pretty typical for a YA fantasy that deals in magic (a lot of push-pull stuff… this is an unflattering comparison, but I thought it, so you have to read it: if you read the Twilight series, a lot of Eff’s magicking, especially in book 3, reminded me of the section in Breaking Dawn when Bella figures out how to do that protection thingy on the good vamps when they’re having the last fight).
It is called the Frontier Magic series, so expect a lot of what I lump in as “camping talk” – but not enough to satisfy you if you love adventure stories (I’m thinking of Hatchet, etc.). It was vague enough to bore me (I skimmed a bit… Eff is long-winded, but it makes sense for the book is told in first-person and she is very close-mouthed around others so all her thoughts get told to us), and I never felt the world was truly fleshed out. That fits, because it’s a frontier story that spends a lot of time emphasizing how little the characters know and understand about their world.
I know I just said Eff is long winded, but I particularly liked the scenes where she was figuring out a puzzle (to do with her identity, her magic, the spells in her talisman, etc.) and that was when I felt she was most interesting and well-written. Other than that, she was pretty ordinary for the seventh-daughter of a seventh-son and twin-sister of a seventh-son and, of course, a thirteenth child (yadda yadda), which I suppose might be refreshing in a protagonist to some people. I also didn’t think there was enough emphasis placed on her relationship with Lan, or even William, but as I say that I think it’s a testament to the strength of Wrede’s writing. We’re so in Eff’s head (the entire series is told in first person) that we don’t ruminate on her twin because she doesn’t ruminate on him, either. Same goes for what eventually happens with William (whom I loved!!!! Such a good character and a refreshing change from the typical masculinity of all the other men). I also think Eff’s relationship with her siblings (and her seeming powerlessness against their nagging) was portrayed realistically, as well as the lasting issues from the trauma she suffered in her childhood at the hands of her extended family.
Okay, I feel like I’ve been fair enough by stating the things I enjoyed/admired about this series. Now, for the big one: where the heck were the indigenous peoples??? I wish I did this as a buddy read with my friend Amara, because she surely would have good articles to explain and expand on the settler-colonial mindset of this entire series. Instead (if you’ve got this far), you’ll have to deal with my mostly emotional and random memories of the theory I studied in college to guide me along my ramble.
So, Wrede is a white lady who chose to write a novel featuring a landscape that she created. She included sexism, racism, SLAVERY, and yet erased the genocide of Native Peoples that created America. In her world, the analog would be Columbia. I think this is an attempt at the sanitation of history, for her. She is too ambitious, and should have dealt with that before publishing books dealing with this if she couldn’t handle it. I spent the entire first book waiting for her to introduce some inkling of Natives, and by the middle of the 2nd I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. I was preoccupied with dissecting this decision throughout my entire read, and in fact the whole settler-colonial premise of the book annoyed me as I tried to connect to Eff (who was the draw to the novel, for me).
By not including any people living “out West,” the only adversaries the colonizers (that is what they literally are, people who are settling previously wild lands and trying to force the environment to concede to them) have to face are the magical creatures that would attack them. For much of the series, it is inconceivable for human life to exist outside the rigid framework that the Columbian settlers have created. So, there’s no one to wrest lands from besides the animals. Simple, right? Our main character doesn’t have to be a bad guy. The white people aren’t evil in this one!
If that was the case, why does Wrede include race at all? The white people in this story have still enslaved Black people. That tells me that Wrede wasn’t shying away from all of America’s history – just a huge piece of it. Not that she handled this whole slavery thing any better! It’s mentioned briefly, a few times… in fact, one of the settlements that existed outside the white Columbian framework was a settlement that was one of the stops on the Underground Railroad. That fascinating tidbit is just dropped in, and then largely ignored. That annoyed me, at first, but it does lead me to another good point.
Eff is a white woman. That is made clear many times throughout the novel, like the way non-white characters are described. I appreciated that none of the darker skinned characters are ever described as having “chocolate” skin, but race/specific features aren’t mentioned unless the character is not white. The closest Eff comes to specifically describing white people is when she states the difference in her and Lan’s noses.
Eff starts learning Aphrikan magic from a Black teacher, Miss (and then Professor) Ochiba. However, though the other Black characters seem to have side discussions (without Eff’s knowledge) about her taking part in this tradition (I’m thinking of when Miss Ochiba and Wash have an off-page, slight argument about Wash giving Eff the Aphrikan pendant), Eff just takes learning Aphrikan knowledge as a given. The spirit of curiosity that the Columbian magicians share is a literal parallel to the spirit of white explorers/scientists poking into things with no regard to the people who created the things they want to examine. (There is a small, I think unintentional, nod given to this when the Cathayan magician tells Lan he just can’t do that type of magic. I say unintentional, because Eff immediately disputes this – albeit internally – by saying the Cathayan magician isn’t looking at things differently, and Lan could possibly still do that type of magic. The looking at things argument references a technique she learned from Aphrikan magic. You see where I’m going? Eff is this special person who is able to connect all of these magical traditions together and see clearly. Part of this is to be expected because she’s our protagonist, but it’s impossible to ignore the racial narrative that is inadvertently being told here. I say inadvertent because I’m trying to give Wrede the benefit of the doubt, for nostalgia reasons.)
All of this is to say, as a white woman bound by gender constraints and the unluckiness she thinks she’s cursed with, I suppose it makes sense that Eff is not more curious about the Underground Railroad, or Columbian history in general. Leave it to the privileged to take the world as is. But I find it shocking, because in the story, Eff’s mentor, Wash, literally fought in the Secession War (aka Civil War)! He’s only 15 years older than Eff, so the abolition of slavery (I mean, the vice president elected at the end of the book is Abraham freaking Lincoln) is only a recent thing. I was preoccupied in every interaction with this knowledge. How was Wash moving through settlements? Did the white settlers give him trouble, or take his help because they needed it, despite him being a Black man? Did Wash mentoring Eff bring up problems? What about Miss Ochiba’s position as the only freaking Black woman in Mill City? How the hell do you include a Civil War in your world but don’t consider the implications afterward???
Perhaps I have too much faith in the author. None of the things I mentioned were ever addressed, but again, the series is told from Eff’s view. It is entirely plausible that she was completely unaware of these issues going on around her, though even William alludes to it once in the first book (when Miss Ochiba is seemingly forced to leave the day school, and leaves to teach at Triskelion University, William says that now at least “they” won’t say Miss Ochiba wasn’t a good teacher). Eff spends most of the entire book very self-absorbed, thinking herself the harbinger of doom.
The only time these issues could be mentioned are in relation to the Universities, however Eff always couches it in terms of what the universities will teach. Triskelion University is the only school (if I recall correctly) that teaches all 3 types of magic styles present in the book. Eff never moves beyond these descriptions to attack the foundations upon which they’re built – the assumed superiority of Apruvan (white, western European) magic. But, again, maybe she is unable to, trapped as she is in the patriarchy. Her character does not seem like it has stopped growing in the last book, though she does get married, which annoyed me. However, as I said, Eff seems very ordinary… she reminds me of Pam from The Office (who I simp for, but shhh). She’s complacent and resists her extraordinariness in a repeatedly annoying way (like when she does cool magic things and doesn’t tell Lan or William til the end of the last book). She is too comfortable within the confines of her life to challenge the world meaningfully, and perhaps that’s why the book ends with her continuing on her journey farther West, where she is able to forget those constraints (rather than challenging them meaningfully).
I have so much more to add… I would say, to the reviewers downplaying the issues with the erasure of Native Peoples from this book: fuck off. The whole fun in including different types of magicians and magic styles is in finding people to identify with. I spent a lot of time while reading trying to figure out if the Hijero-Cathayan people could be Indian so I could orient (hah) myself within this world. It’s what fantasy readers do. So for a story to be created that deals with a disgusting aspect of American history (for all that it’s a fantasy, this fiction is a commentary on society/the author’s worldview whether you like it or not) to ignore the basis of it completely is unforgivable. It’s not even a missed opportunity – that’s capitalistic language, in any case – it’s actually just so… white. The inclusion of some peoples of color just makes the glaring omission worse (and I’m not even going into the sly and mystical motifs surrounding the Cathayan characters that are introduced at the end of book 3).
I could go on and on, but overall, this was a mediocre series that got me thinking about sensitivity readers. I do not envy anyone that has that job. How do you reshape a narrative that is so clearly trapped within the white supremacist hegemony of our (USAian) society?
Anyway, I’m thankful that this book woke me up enough to have strong opinions, and to actually write them out. If you do read it, please discuss it with me before I get about the important parts lol.
January 31, 2019
This book is incredible! (in addition to the previous two books in the series)
In addition to all the things that make any fantasy work interesting (good plot, adventure, interesting magic system and world), this book contains many things that are not generally included in your typical fantasy work of fiction:
-First, the relationships between characters are nuanced and interesting; they reflect real life. Eff has mixed feelings about many of the people she knows.
-Characters are interesting and true to life.
-Eff does great things that only she can do, but she doesn't do them alone. She has the support and help of older, more experienced people. Her breakthroughs are often not enough without their help and knowledge.
-The author re-introduces previously mentioned details for scenes where they are not necessary, but do enrich the portrayal of the characters
-The Rationalists provide a great message about the dangers in separating yourself from others, even if it's for something you believe in and of the value of all kinds of people in a community.
-Eff overcomes her personal shortcomings over a long period of time instead of a day, a week, or even a month.
-It contains a romantic relationship that didn't end in marriage (unusual in fiction!)
-The story relies on character development--not only adventure--to progress.
-Eff is unassuming and doesn't expect (or even want) a lot of recognition for her work.
-Eff's twin brother Lan creates a great foil for Eff: He is powerful, confident, and has all of the qualities of the usual fantasy fiction protagonist, while Eff has different methods and talents. He doesn't achieve his dream of success, but Eff goes beyond anything she thought possible for herself. This book shows that power and natural ability are not all that you need to do great things.
I felt that the book was true to life in so many ways.
I was, however, disappointed in some of the repetitiveness of details from previous books and there was at least one inconsistency (at one point, it said that Roger hadn't been west of the Mammoth river which was untrue, since he'd gone with the group that took the menagerie's mammoth to West Landing).
In addition to all the things that make any fantasy work interesting (good plot, adventure, interesting magic system and world), this book contains many things that are not generally included in your typical fantasy work of fiction:
-First, the relationships between characters are nuanced and interesting; they reflect real life. Eff has mixed feelings about many of the people she knows.
-Characters are interesting and true to life.
-Eff does great things that only she can do, but she doesn't do them alone. She has the support and help of older, more experienced people. Her breakthroughs are often not enough without their help and knowledge.
-The author re-introduces previously mentioned details for scenes where they are not necessary, but do enrich the portrayal of the characters
-The Rationalists provide a great message about the dangers in separating yourself from others, even if it's for something you believe in and of the value of all kinds of people in a community.
-Eff overcomes her personal shortcomings over a long period of time instead of a day, a week, or even a month.
-It contains a romantic relationship that didn't end in marriage (unusual in fiction!)
-The story relies on character development--not only adventure--to progress.
-Eff is unassuming and doesn't expect (or even want) a lot of recognition for her work.
-Eff's twin brother Lan creates a great foil for Eff: He is powerful, confident, and has all of the qualities of the usual fantasy fiction protagonist, while Eff has different methods and talents. He doesn't achieve his dream of success, but Eff goes beyond anything she thought possible for herself. This book shows that power and natural ability are not all that you need to do great things.
I felt that the book was true to life in so many ways.
I was, however, disappointed in some of the repetitiveness of details from previous books and there was at least one inconsistency (at one point, it said that Roger hadn't been west of the Mammoth river which was untrue, since he'd gone with the group that took the menagerie's mammoth to West Landing).
January 10, 2013
I loved this conclusion to the Frontier Magic trilogy! These books are so fun. Like the other two, there's a lot of dawdling in the first half of the books, as Wrede lingers over slow building changes and Eff's daily life as the years go by. Weirdly, this stuff is almost as enjoyable as the second half, where they're actually doing stuff.
Eff is a great character, and there are several other characters who get some more arc in this book, which is great. I also love the way Wrede has layered and built on Eff's explorations with other kinds of magic, and the way that plays into the climaces of the plot but without it being a panacea.
Wrede also does a pretty good job incorporating characters of different ethnicities into the series by this point, which is important because this is a series that takes place in a version of America where there were no Native Americans, and while this is absolutely logical within the world-building, it's obviously problematic. I appreciate Wrede showing that she's not only interested in white people, and that she's willing to take on racial dynamics and develop characters of color well.
The reason this gets four stars (which are really three and a half) instead of five (four and a half) is because it doesn't FEEL like the last book in a series! It's not a cliffhanger, but it IS open-ended, and there is a LOT of this world left to explore - not even in the broad sense of what's going on at this time period and others across the whole globe (although a Naomi Novik-style 9 book global exploration in this alternate world sounds GREAT), but just in the sense of these characters, this frontier, the next ten years. And I haven't heard that Wrede plans to write any more books in this world. VERY FRUSTRATING! If she ever writes more, I may upgrade this to five stars.
Eff is a great character, and there are several other characters who get some more arc in this book, which is great. I also love the way Wrede has layered and built on Eff's explorations with other kinds of magic, and the way that plays into the climaces of the plot but without it being a panacea.
Wrede also does a pretty good job incorporating characters of different ethnicities into the series by this point, which is important because this is a series that takes place in a version of America where there were no Native Americans, and while this is absolutely logical within the world-building, it's obviously problematic. I appreciate Wrede showing that she's not only interested in white people, and that she's willing to take on racial dynamics and develop characters of color well.
The reason this gets four stars (which are really three and a half) instead of five (four and a half) is because it doesn't FEEL like the last book in a series! It's not a cliffhanger, but it IS open-ended, and there is a LOT of this world left to explore - not even in the broad sense of what's going on at this time period and others across the whole globe (although a Naomi Novik-style 9 book global exploration in this alternate world sounds GREAT), but just in the sense of these characters, this frontier, the next ten years. And I haven't heard that Wrede plans to write any more books in this world. VERY FRUSTRATING! If she ever writes more, I may upgrade this to five stars.
August 23, 2013
Conclusion to Wrede's Frontier Magic series.
Not as exciting personally for Eff as I had anticipated. Nor as spectacular a climax overall, though the realization that Eff comes to about magic was monumental and the fact that she alone looks at it in that way.
She and William (whom I always thought would end up together) were a quiet, lovely pairing.
I had very much hoped to see more interaction between Lan and Eff, but alas.
I liked how much Wrede acknowledges the pull of family, the ties that binds us to them, the affection (even when rancour and disagreements abound), how they influence us and have a sway upon Eff's decisions, but yet ultimately while they influence her, all her choices are her own and her parents make it clear to her that they will abide by her choices and they support her. So very refreshing to see a good, solid family. Ideal? No, but realistic.
Also, I liked how Eff told off her two older sisters when they tried to shove an anti-pregnancy charm on her she leaves for the trip. Aghast and disappointed by their low opinion of her choices and will-power, she tells them to shove off. Brava!
Wrede ties up the issue with the magical creatures on the rise, but does leave the story open to further exploration and adventure for all.
Not as exciting personally for Eff as I had anticipated. Nor as spectacular a climax overall, though the realization that Eff comes to about magic was monumental and the fact that she alone looks at it in that way.
She and William (whom I always thought would end up together) were a quiet, lovely pairing.
I had very much hoped to see more interaction between Lan and Eff, but alas.
I liked how much Wrede acknowledges the pull of family, the ties that binds us to them, the affection (even when rancour and disagreements abound), how they influence us and have a sway upon Eff's decisions, but yet ultimately while they influence her, all her choices are her own and her parents make it clear to her that they will abide by her choices and they support her. So very refreshing to see a good, solid family. Ideal? No, but realistic.
Also, I liked how Eff told off her two older sisters when they tried to shove an anti-pregnancy charm on her she leaves for the trip. Aghast and disappointed by their low opinion of her choices and will-power, she tells them to shove off. Brava!
Wrede ties up the issue with the magical creatures on the rise, but does leave the story open to further exploration and adventure for all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2012
Eff has dreams. Of a forest. And mountains. And choices.
Then the news arrives that there is to be an expedition. Farther west than anyone has ever traveled before. Her twin brother, her brother-in-law, her would-be fiancé, and her childhood friend, William, have all been invited.
But Eff is the one with the dreams.
This is the third novel in Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic series. A wonderfully written story of an alternate-fantasy history in which Columbia (aka America) has hardly been settled west of the Mississippi due to all the dangerous magical wildlife (eg. steam dragons, swarming weasels, and invisible foxes). Ultimately, though, the real magic of Eff’s story is Eff herself. Her ability to look beyond the obvious. With relation to magic, people, and The West.
Just an FYI: As an Oregonian, I have to add one little heads-up, which is that the goal of the expedition in this novel is the Rocky Mountains, rather than the Pacific Ocean. I would LOVE another book in the series!
Then the news arrives that there is to be an expedition. Farther west than anyone has ever traveled before. Her twin brother, her brother-in-law, her would-be fiancé, and her childhood friend, William, have all been invited.
But Eff is the one with the dreams.
This is the third novel in Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic series. A wonderfully written story of an alternate-fantasy history in which Columbia (aka America) has hardly been settled west of the Mississippi due to all the dangerous magical wildlife (eg. steam dragons, swarming weasels, and invisible foxes). Ultimately, though, the real magic of Eff’s story is Eff herself. Her ability to look beyond the obvious. With relation to magic, people, and The West.
Just an FYI: As an Oregonian, I have to add one little heads-up, which is that the goal of the expedition in this novel is the Rocky Mountains, rather than the Pacific Ocean. I would LOVE another book in the series!
January 25, 2020
Excellent YA fantasy. This is the third in the Frontier Magic (trilogy? series?). I could see this being the last book; the epilogue wrapped up the loose ends very nicely, but it did leave room for another book too.
You probably want to read the books in the proper order. First one is "Thirteenth Child" and second is "Across the Great Barrier". Main character is female, and a school girl in the first book but about 18 in the second books and 21 or 22 at the end of the third book. The setting is pioneer days in an alternate universe where magic exists as well as steam engines on trains.
You probably want to read the books in the proper order. First one is "Thirteenth Child" and second is "Across the Great Barrier". Main character is female, and a school girl in the first book but about 18 in the second books and 21 or 22 at the end of the third book. The setting is pioneer days in an alternate universe where magic exists as well as steam engines on trains.
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July 19, 2012Eff continues her exploration of the far west, and this book again contains dragons (whole packs of them!) and also magic that works in a relatively logical kind of way, both good things. My favorite new magical creature of the book: the invisible disappearing giant foxes. Can we have more of them, please?
October 19, 2014
This are totally in the spirit of Little House books, if Laura was magically dyslexic, and and interested in natural history. And there were mammoths and steam dragons and medusa lizards.
May 12, 2015
Still no native americans. Did settlers succeed in wiping them out in this universe and nobody talks about it because everyone involved is terrible or what?
July 7, 2016
I saw the romance coming from the first third of the first book, but it was still well done and satisfying. :)
March 14, 2021
Great series, excellent story, fantastic World Building!
August 1, 2012
This was a very satisfying finale to Eff's trilogy, and if Patricia Wrede ever wants to write a fourth book she has left herself space to do so. That makes me happy because I (and my 10 year old nephew) *love* this series. I read it in one stayed-up-too-late-to-finish-my-book evening and I thoroughly enjoyed myself while I was doing so. I do have some concerns with the world building in this series, and they did nag at me extra hard during this book especially, but the story of Eff growing up and finding a place in her frontier world was lovely anyway. This is the story of Eff's early 20s, as a young woman with a job, home responsibilities and a couple of suitors but it's still entirely suitable for children. There's one passage where Eff's elder sisters embarrass her beyond belief by bringing up the issue of birth control since Personally, I'm entirely happy with the idea of kids reading about responsible family planning and the steamiest this book gets is a bit of very chaste hand holding but YMMV so I thought I'd mention it. Wrede does an excellent job of bringing the frontier mores of Eff's world to life and I really felt for her struggles with her domineering sisters who seem disappointed in their own lives and who don't see why she should be excused her share of the household work just because she has a job as a research assistant. Eventually Eff This provides lots of scope for Eff's many talents as a researcher and as a magician and while she stays humble, she also seems to shed that debilitating self-doubt she has always carried with her, legacy of her "unlucky 13th child" status. It's all very satisfying.
What isn't entirely satisfying is Wrede's vision of the world she has built. In short, she's written the American West without any Native Americans in it. It's so ironic that Wrede has taken so much care to write such an inclusive, multicultural story of the settling of the west that has three main magical cultures (they map on to our Europe, Africa & China), she addresses slavery and there's even a couple of characters who I'm fairly sure are meant to be lesbian (devoted friends and colleagues that we're assured would never be interested being courted) and yet she's fallen at such an obvious point, and one that does real damage to her world building. Having a place richly capable of sustaining life that doesn't have any humans living in it goes totally against everything we know about of species. Homo Sapiens are an amazingly resilient, adaptive, aggressive and downright sneaky species and we get everywhere, and all evidence suggests that we have been doing this for many tens of thousands of years.
The idea that there aren't any people beyond a few recent settlers living outside the Great Barrier Spell is just absurd. Yes it's dangerous out there but that never stopped us anywhere else in the world and even in this book Wrede admits that humanity is the most dangerous species in the west. All through the book I kept hoping that they'd find a few petroglyphs or something to indicate previous human inhabitants of the plains . I can understand that maybe Wrede didn't want to extensively dwell on the Native American side of the western frontier in her story, but if so, why not just relegate it to a few sentences the way she treats slavery which is part of her world but not the focus of her story? Writing Native Americans out of the story entirely is massively problematic because in our world that settlement was only made possible by their genocide so to turn around and write a charming frontier tale of a frontier where they simply don't exist is like rubbing a whole salt mine in the wound. The fact that the Chinese (OK, the Cathay) are honored and extremely rare guests in Wrede's 19th Century Columbia is also a bit unexamined, but I can see it sitting a bit better as Eff explains at one point that the gold rush is just starting so presumably the extreme anti-Chinese racism that followed hasn't really got started up yet?
So yes, the world building is a bit of a mess and he series would have been better if it was sorted out a bit but I've still given the book five stars, though I probably wouldn't have if it had been written by an unknown author rather than the great Patricia Wrede. She's given three generations of my family a lot of pleasure over the years, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. There is an awful lot to love in this book. I just wish the world was more coherent.
What isn't entirely satisfying is Wrede's vision of the world she has built. In short, she's written the American West without any Native Americans in it. It's so ironic that Wrede has taken so much care to write such an inclusive, multicultural story of the settling of the west that has three main magical cultures (they map on to our Europe, Africa & China), she addresses slavery and there's even a couple of characters who I'm fairly sure are meant to be lesbian (devoted friends and colleagues that we're assured would never be interested being courted) and yet she's fallen at such an obvious point, and one that does real damage to her world building. Having a place richly capable of sustaining life that doesn't have any humans living in it goes totally against everything we know about of species. Homo Sapiens are an amazingly resilient, adaptive, aggressive and downright sneaky species and we get everywhere, and all evidence suggests that we have been doing this for many tens of thousands of years.
The idea that there aren't any people beyond a few recent settlers living outside the Great Barrier Spell is just absurd. Yes it's dangerous out there but that never stopped us anywhere else in the world and even in this book Wrede admits that humanity is the most dangerous species in the west. All through the book I kept hoping that they'd find a few petroglyphs or something to indicate previous human inhabitants of the plains . I can understand that maybe Wrede didn't want to extensively dwell on the Native American side of the western frontier in her story, but if so, why not just relegate it to a few sentences the way she treats slavery which is part of her world but not the focus of her story? Writing Native Americans out of the story entirely is massively problematic because in our world that settlement was only made possible by their genocide so to turn around and write a charming frontier tale of a frontier where they simply don't exist is like rubbing a whole salt mine in the wound. The fact that the Chinese (OK, the Cathay) are honored and extremely rare guests in Wrede's 19th Century Columbia is also a bit unexamined, but I can see it sitting a bit better as Eff explains at one point that the gold rush is just starting so presumably the extreme anti-Chinese racism that followed hasn't really got started up yet?
So yes, the world building is a bit of a mess and he series would have been better if it was sorted out a bit but I've still given the book five stars, though I probably wouldn't have if it had been written by an unknown author rather than the great Patricia Wrede. She's given three generations of my family a lot of pleasure over the years, so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. There is an awful lot to love in this book. I just wish the world was more coherent.
March 30, 2014
This is the third and final book in the Frontier Magic series by Wrede. This has been a great series, it is very deliberately paced but I really enjoy the characters and world. This book is a very satisfying conclusion to the series.
When the threat of the Medusa lizards became apparent in the last book it is decided that someone needs to go on an expedition to explore the Far West and figure out what is driving the Medusa lizards into the settlements. Eff, Lan, William, Professor Torgeson, Wash, and Professor Ochiba are all asked to participate in the expedition. They are hoping to discover new magical creatures, learn more about the magical creatures they already know about, and hopefully find the cause for all of these magical animals migrating east.
As with previous books in the series the pacing is a bit slow and the story takes a bit to get started. This is more a day to day telling of the events in Eff's life than a complex epic story. I do really enjoy watching Professor Torgeson and Eff as they catalogue a ton of new magical animals and discuss new theories. I like the scientific aspect of their travels (even if most of it is the made up science of magic).
I enjoyed this reimagined Wild West. I love that for the most part the people work together without bias. There are women professors, a woman Army Sergeant, and many races and skin colors all working together. It’s a world I would love to visit.
Eff has grown a lot from the first book. She is more confident in her skills. Her main contribution is her ability to look at all types of magic and use them together. She just has a very different way of looking at things from everyone else. This is the first book where she has to also seriously deal with some romantic issues.
Lan has also changed quite a bit throughout the series. He is no longer just concerned about power, but wants to learn new things and figure out how to do something great.
All of the other characters are wonderful, interesting, and engaging to read about. Their journey through the Far West is a good one. The plot is well done and brings together a number of elements from the previous two books nicely.
I had two complaints with this book. The first is it takes absolutely forever to get to the expedition to the Far West in the book. The second is that when they discover the problems they are able to bandage it but not actually fix it. This made the ending feel a bit rushed and incomplete. There is an Epilogue that did a good job of tying up some of these unresolved issues, but again it just felt very dense and rushed. It was odd considering the deliberate pace of the rest of the book.
Overall I enjoyed the way this wrapped up this series and I enjoyed this series overall. This is one of the few series where I kept thinking I would love to visit this world and travel with these characters! I enjoyed the world, the engaging characters, and the fascinating magical animals. My only complaint really is pacing...it takes forever to get the story moving and then the ending is incredibly rushed.
When the threat of the Medusa lizards became apparent in the last book it is decided that someone needs to go on an expedition to explore the Far West and figure out what is driving the Medusa lizards into the settlements. Eff, Lan, William, Professor Torgeson, Wash, and Professor Ochiba are all asked to participate in the expedition. They are hoping to discover new magical creatures, learn more about the magical creatures they already know about, and hopefully find the cause for all of these magical animals migrating east.
As with previous books in the series the pacing is a bit slow and the story takes a bit to get started. This is more a day to day telling of the events in Eff's life than a complex epic story. I do really enjoy watching Professor Torgeson and Eff as they catalogue a ton of new magical animals and discuss new theories. I like the scientific aspect of their travels (even if most of it is the made up science of magic).
I enjoyed this reimagined Wild West. I love that for the most part the people work together without bias. There are women professors, a woman Army Sergeant, and many races and skin colors all working together. It’s a world I would love to visit.
Eff has grown a lot from the first book. She is more confident in her skills. Her main contribution is her ability to look at all types of magic and use them together. She just has a very different way of looking at things from everyone else. This is the first book where she has to also seriously deal with some romantic issues.
Lan has also changed quite a bit throughout the series. He is no longer just concerned about power, but wants to learn new things and figure out how to do something great.
All of the other characters are wonderful, interesting, and engaging to read about. Their journey through the Far West is a good one. The plot is well done and brings together a number of elements from the previous two books nicely.
I had two complaints with this book. The first is it takes absolutely forever to get to the expedition to the Far West in the book. The second is that when they discover the problems they are able to bandage it but not actually fix it. This made the ending feel a bit rushed and incomplete. There is an Epilogue that did a good job of tying up some of these unresolved issues, but again it just felt very dense and rushed. It was odd considering the deliberate pace of the rest of the book.
Overall I enjoyed the way this wrapped up this series and I enjoyed this series overall. This is one of the few series where I kept thinking I would love to visit this world and travel with these characters! I enjoyed the world, the engaging characters, and the fascinating magical animals. My only complaint really is pacing...it takes forever to get the story moving and then the ending is incredibly rushed.
August 8, 2012
Eff joins an expedition trying to reach the Rockies, and along with discovering even more kinds of deadly magical creatures deepens her own magical abilities while participating in a massive collective spell to head off a disaster that is brewing for all of her family and the settlers back home. None of this even begins until halfway through the book, though, and while I do enjoy Wrede's leisurely, amiable style of story spinning the chapter after chapter of mundane activities and explication became pretty tedious. I think that might be because while the characters here are inventively imagined they're not quite up to the cast in her Enchanted Forest series...OK for the previous two books but sort of same old, same old in this third one. Possibly in recognition of that, Wrede ends this in a way that could make it the final volume.
This series has been criticized for positing a New World with no human residents until the European settlers arrived. On the one hand, I see how that could be construed as a sort of authorial genocide---but on the other, the premise is really essential to the world she builds. She does have the right to do it, it being her created world after all, but it still leaves me a little disturbed.
This series has been criticized for positing a New World with no human residents until the European settlers arrived. On the one hand, I see how that could be construed as a sort of authorial genocide---but on the other, the premise is really essential to the world she builds. She does have the right to do it, it being her created world after all, but it still leaves me a little disturbed.
August 25, 2012
I always knew Patricia Wrede was a good writer, but this series proves it to me, because the stories it tells could so easily be dull--it's a quiet, character-driven series with a sensible, undramatic heroine, in which the world is mostly saved with infrastructure engineering (_magical_ infrastructure engineering, but still)--and she makes it fascinating.
At this point, there's been a lot of discussion about the lack of Native Americans in this alternate universe--my own personal view is that it's a missed opportunity, a pulled punch, but it's not inherently racist to posit a world in which humans never crossed the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, any more that it would be to posit a world where Columbus never said, or the Ice Age never lifted. They are all hinge point in history, and writers love to play with them.
That said, even as someone who has privilege, I can see how this particular authorial choice might be viewed as a damaging erasure, in a way that changing Columbus's journeys wouldn't, particularly in a context where there's lots of marginalization going on already.
At this point, there's been a lot of discussion about the lack of Native Americans in this alternate universe--my own personal view is that it's a missed opportunity, a pulled punch, but it's not inherently racist to posit a world in which humans never crossed the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska, any more that it would be to posit a world where Columbus never said, or the Ice Age never lifted. They are all hinge point in history, and writers love to play with them.
That said, even as someone who has privilege, I can see how this particular authorial choice might be viewed as a damaging erasure, in a way that changing Columbus's journeys wouldn't, particularly in a context where there's lots of marginalization going on already.
July 24, 2021
2019 bk 419. 2021 bk 229. The third of a unique series - a look at an alternate North American west (Columbia) with magical animals, a magical barrier down the (to us) Mississippi River. With the knowledge brought back by the Professor, Wash, and Elf, and the interest of all three schools of magic, a new expedition to reach the mountains across the plains is formed. There are new animals, but we are given only brief glimpses of those, more of the action is based on the wider variety of folks who are on this expedition and how they relate to each other. I really liked this one, but felt like some things that might have been important were edited out. Still, it was a very satisfying read and I will miss Eff and her friends as I believe this was the last of the series.
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March 8, 2022I liked it the best of the trilogy. I sometimes wished all the books in the trilogy would have gone a different direction — like there was a lot of potential with everything that was set up that it barely scratched the surface. Overall a much slower tale with less plot than I expected — maybe I’d like it better re-reading it now that I know what to expect. I did like the ending however.
July 1, 2024
2022: This series is so delightfully readable that I just raced through it this weekend. I like the way this concludes the story and brings all our favorite characters together again, but with the notion that there is more to happen in the future.
September 27, 2020
I waffled between giving this book 1 and 2 stars. I finally decided to give it a low rating because of my personal grievances and annoyances with this book.
Much has been said about the lack of representation in this series, but that wasn't even the biggest issue for me. I'm currently pursuing a PhD and my entire family has had a college education. So I was uncomfortable with Eff's attitude towards higher education. She seemed to be quietly disdainful of 'book learning'. She was also dismissive of her own talents, and seemed to have unscientific methods, which bothered me. At one point, she neglected to tell her twin Lan and William some important aspect of her magic, which exasperated them and me as well...It was like reading the point of view of a brilliant but uneducated person convinced that she/he was ordinary. Although this isn't really a shortcoming in the strictest sense, it made it difficult for me to empathize with Eff.
I didn't like Lan's insufferable attitude either, and he ended up being a thoroughly unlikable character. If anything, there is virtually no real representation of academia in YA fiction, at least, and that irritates me more than no racial diversity. And no, the trigger-happy professor who Eff worked for does not count as accurate representation.
I know that I can be a wet blanket about animal killings but the casual disregard for animal lives also upset me. It wasn't so blatant in the first book and got progressively worse in the sequels.
Some reviewers have griped about the lack of romance in this book but I called it from the first book itself. The romance was subtle and I liked it more because it was understated. Not every book has to be a 'kissing book'. The love triangle was unnecessary but was thankfully resolved and glossed over fairly quickly.
The final denouement was unsatisfying in the extreme. Despite my waning interest, I had ploughed on with this book to get some closure. Not only was the magic system never explained beyond a point, there was also zero resolution. It kind of felt like the author had just slapped something together and didn't even bother to think of how the problem of the Great Barrier would be fixed. The ending just felt very incomplete, unassuaged by the epilogue.
All in all, while I enjoyed 'Thirteenth Child', I cannot recommend this book or this series. I might try some other novel by Patricia Wrede though.
Much has been said about the lack of representation in this series, but that wasn't even the biggest issue for me. I'm currently pursuing a PhD and my entire family has had a college education. So I was uncomfortable with Eff's attitude towards higher education. She seemed to be quietly disdainful of 'book learning'. She was also dismissive of her own talents, and seemed to have unscientific methods, which bothered me. At one point, she neglected to tell her twin Lan and William some important aspect of her magic, which exasperated them and me as well...It was like reading the point of view of a brilliant but uneducated person convinced that she/he was ordinary. Although this isn't really a shortcoming in the strictest sense, it made it difficult for me to empathize with Eff.
I didn't like Lan's insufferable attitude either, and he ended up being a thoroughly unlikable character. If anything, there is virtually no real representation of academia in YA fiction, at least, and that irritates me more than no racial diversity. And no, the trigger-happy professor who Eff worked for does not count as accurate representation.
I know that I can be a wet blanket about animal killings but the casual disregard for animal lives also upset me. It wasn't so blatant in the first book and got progressively worse in the sequels.
Some reviewers have griped about the lack of romance in this book but I called it from the first book itself. The romance was subtle and I liked it more because it was understated. Not every book has to be a 'kissing book'. The love triangle was unnecessary but was thankfully resolved and glossed over fairly quickly.
The final denouement was unsatisfying in the extreme. Despite my waning interest, I had ploughed on with this book to get some closure. Not only was the magic system never explained beyond a point, there was also zero resolution. It kind of felt like the author had just slapped something together and didn't even bother to think of how the problem of the Great Barrier would be fixed. The ending just felt very incomplete, unassuaged by the epilogue.
All in all, while I enjoyed 'Thirteenth Child', I cannot recommend this book or this series. I might try some other novel by Patricia Wrede though.
April 7, 2021
i've come back to this series a couple of times to try to sort out the mystery of eff. are we meant to dislike her because of her misogyny towards her sisters? or are meant to like her because she's ~not like other girls?~
culturally this is obviously written by a white lady and edited by one and i kept waiting for indigenous people and seeing what their magic was like so it was confusing frankly appalling to find literally no mention of native columbians anywhere.
i absolutely adore the enchanted forest chronicles and named my old cat after one of morwen's cats. but i think my love of wrede's writing starts and ends there.
(also don't listen to this one as an audiobook unless you love over exaggerated accents)
culturally this is obviously written by a white lady and edited by one and i kept waiting for indigenous people and seeing what their magic was like so it was confusing frankly appalling to find literally no mention of native columbians anywhere.
i absolutely adore the enchanted forest chronicles and named my old cat after one of morwen's cats. but i think my love of wrede's writing starts and ends there.
(also don't listen to this one as an audiobook unless you love over exaggerated accents)
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