What do you think?
Rate this book
Kenning Magic
Noni lives in a world where everyone, including infants, can cast magical spells. Everyone, that is, but Noni herself. But she alone can read; she has what her late mother called the ‘Old Knowing’, and this ability is a secret Noni must keep from everyone, including her best friend, Twig.
When magicians from an enemy country steal everyone’s Magic, Noni knows that she is the only one who can help save them. She must use the ‘Old Knowing’ to find the Book of Spells. Only the Book will enable her countrymen to re-learn Magic and have a fighting chance. Meanwhile, dragons have escaped from the ‘Hold’ and are burning dwellings and eating anything that moves. The enemy mages have learned of the Book of Spells and are also searching for it. Noni, with Twig at her side, must use her wits and whatever luck that crosses her path to reach the Book before it’s too late.
When magicians from an enemy country steal everyone’s Magic, Noni knows that she is the only one who can help save them. She must use the ‘Old Knowing’ to find the Book of Spells. Only the Book will enable her countrymen to re-learn Magic and have a fighting chance. Meanwhile, dragons have escaped from the ‘Hold’ and are burning dwellings and eating anything that moves. The enemy mages have learned of the Book of Spells and are also searching for it. Noni, with Twig at her side, must use her wits and whatever luck that crosses her path to reach the Book before it’s too late.
- GenresFantasy
326 pages, Paperback
First published March 6, 2013
1 person is currently reading
2 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 15, 2013
In the land of Mitlery, almost everyone is able to do magic. They use magic to perform everyday tasks like putting away clothes and planting seeds.
Except for Noni. No matter how hard she tries, she just cannot cast a spell. But she can do something that other people can't: decipher black marks on the page of a book. She calls it "kenning", but her mother also referred to it as the "Old Knowing".
But after a strange caravan comes to the village of Windrow, everyone's magic is gone, except for that of Noni's friend Twig, who always carries an amulet in his pocket. No one is able to do anything, because they've relied on magic to do the most mundane of tasks.
But Old Winesap, a village elder, remembers the Old Knowing, and tells Noni that she must find the Book of Spells, which will show her how to get the magic back. Noni is hesitant, but when they learn that all of the surrounding villages have also lost their magic, she realizes that she must, indeed, do this.
She's afraid to go alone, and no one wants to go with her, because they feel lost without their magic. Except for Twig, who simply takes his friend by the arm and leads her away from the village.
Their journey is long, and their adventures are many. Not knowing whom to trust, Noni is suspicious of everyone and worries because Twig is not.
Meanwhile, the magic thieves are also searching for the Book, but not only do Noni and Twig have to find it first, they have to avoid the dragons that are terrorizing the country.
Lizzie Ross's debut is terrific. The reader is quickly drawn into the tale and is soon accompanying the young people on their quest. Noni and Twig are well-drawn characters, and even the dragons have personalities.
The ending allows for the continuation of the story, which I await with eagerness.
Except for Noni. No matter how hard she tries, she just cannot cast a spell. But she can do something that other people can't: decipher black marks on the page of a book. She calls it "kenning", but her mother also referred to it as the "Old Knowing".
But after a strange caravan comes to the village of Windrow, everyone's magic is gone, except for that of Noni's friend Twig, who always carries an amulet in his pocket. No one is able to do anything, because they've relied on magic to do the most mundane of tasks.
But Old Winesap, a village elder, remembers the Old Knowing, and tells Noni that she must find the Book of Spells, which will show her how to get the magic back. Noni is hesitant, but when they learn that all of the surrounding villages have also lost their magic, she realizes that she must, indeed, do this.
She's afraid to go alone, and no one wants to go with her, because they feel lost without their magic. Except for Twig, who simply takes his friend by the arm and leads her away from the village.
Their journey is long, and their adventures are many. Not knowing whom to trust, Noni is suspicious of everyone and worries because Twig is not.
Meanwhile, the magic thieves are also searching for the Book, but not only do Noni and Twig have to find it first, they have to avoid the dragons that are terrorizing the country.
Lizzie Ross's debut is terrific. The reader is quickly drawn into the tale and is soon accompanying the young people on their quest. Noni and Twig are well-drawn characters, and even the dragons have personalities.
The ending allows for the continuation of the story, which I await with eagerness.
September 10, 2013
Ms. Ross has created an interesting and innovative world in this young adult fantasy fiction novel. She adeptly describes a world where almost everyone has magic and what happens when they lose it. By the time the story gets rolling, the reader understands the setting and can concentrate on plot and characterization. As is the case with more successful novels, it is the characterization that distinguishs Kenning Magic. The characters are believable and the readers can relate to them. Even though there are heroes and villains both have good and bad qualities. This is a must read for YA fantasy fiction fans.
September 2, 2014
Well written, plot is developed well. Is a notable contribution to the genre. A good read for fantasy lovers.
November 11, 2013
You'll look in vain for Mitlery and its neighbour Sarony in an atlas: they are to found only in the minds of their author and her readers. A miniscule map in Kenning Magic does at least help you orientate yourself: the western tip of Mitlery lies across a strait from Sarony (which we glimpse in the northwest corner of the map) while to the east are mountains harbouring goats and the creatures that prey on them. Rivers drain down from the mountains to feed into the Zilfur Zee, and habitations dot the land, from villages and towns in the countryside to fishing villages, ports and the country's capital on the coast.
In a village in the centre of Mitlery lives young teenage orphan Noni. She's different from everybody else in this land: in a country where magical ability is the birthright of every individual she is the exception. But she does have is the ability to read, the 'kenning' magic of the title, and this grants her access to Oma's book, an heirloom filled with tales and poems. When virtually everyone in Mitlery loses their magical ability (apart from her friend Twig, a sixteen-year-old boy who luckily carries an apotropaic talisman) her reading skills give her and Twig the chance to find a way to restore magic to her countrymen as they set off on a journey to find the mysterious Book of Spells.
Lizzie Ross has, in Mitlery, created a believable secondary world, one inhabited by fallible humans similar to us and which has climates, seasons and physical geography that are easy to relate to and appreciate. These touches of realism are heightened by the accepted use of magic, the existence of creatures like dragons and the butterflies that feed off their scales (a singularly striking conception) and the accepted fairytale convention that allows the meek to, if not exactly inherit the earth, at least prove the catalyst that rights the balance between good and evil. Because, of course, conflict resolution requires that there are two opposing sides and, as Ross notes in her acknowledgements, this story "began with the villains' names and grew from there". The baddies -- DeBoyas and siblings Printz and Wanda -- are deliciously evil and clearly render the task of two youngsters to overturn their maleficence an uphill struggle.
I'm sure the target readership (around the 14-16 age of the two protagonists Noni and Twig) will find this a read that draws them in; as an adult reader I particularly liked the plotting which ensured that the fantasy was unputdownable. In addition to the thirty-six chapters (and an epilogue) there are the Tolkien-like nine appendices, nominally stories from the "Book of Tales by Oma, Rima's daughter" that Noni inherits, and which have the Tolkienesque conceit of being "translated from Mitlerian" by the author. These for me were a real deepening of Ross' secondary world creation: origin stories, fables, poems elucidating calendric lore, anecdotes, hints at sagas, all printed with a typeface that distinguishes them from the text of the novel. I can't decide if I like these where they are at the end or whether they would work better interweaving the main story, perhaps after every fourth chapter.
There was much that I liked in this novel, but tighter editing would have made it even better: a dozen named individuals are thanked for their input, but a dispassionate editor would have upped the opening tempo and ironed out the few passages where I lost sight of character motivation (Printz seemed particularly inscrutable to me), where the action at times seemed to be put on pause (the final denouement was a bit stop-start to fully convince me) and where Noni's destiny seemed due more to happenstance than to the workings of Fate in the world of Mitlery. I also found the manner of indicating magic actions slightly clumsy (initial capital and inverted commas, as in 'Reached' or 'Ascended') -- simple italicising might have been less distracting perhaps.
But this mild carping is only because I want Kenning Magic to be perfect: it embodies such wonderful concepts, such as that reading is a magical activity, a talent to be treasured as much as oral lore; that we can remain individuals and yet by working co-operatively achieve so much more; that evil-doers aren't always completely evil in themselves and, while deserving punishment, should also have a chance to redeem themselves or be rehabilitated. Or, as the epilogue seems to suggest, that the villains have an opportunity to regroup, to pave the way for a sequel. And that is something I do very much look forward to.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-kenning
In a village in the centre of Mitlery lives young teenage orphan Noni. She's different from everybody else in this land: in a country where magical ability is the birthright of every individual she is the exception. But she does have is the ability to read, the 'kenning' magic of the title, and this grants her access to Oma's book, an heirloom filled with tales and poems. When virtually everyone in Mitlery loses their magical ability (apart from her friend Twig, a sixteen-year-old boy who luckily carries an apotropaic talisman) her reading skills give her and Twig the chance to find a way to restore magic to her countrymen as they set off on a journey to find the mysterious Book of Spells.
Lizzie Ross has, in Mitlery, created a believable secondary world, one inhabited by fallible humans similar to us and which has climates, seasons and physical geography that are easy to relate to and appreciate. These touches of realism are heightened by the accepted use of magic, the existence of creatures like dragons and the butterflies that feed off their scales (a singularly striking conception) and the accepted fairytale convention that allows the meek to, if not exactly inherit the earth, at least prove the catalyst that rights the balance between good and evil. Because, of course, conflict resolution requires that there are two opposing sides and, as Ross notes in her acknowledgements, this story "began with the villains' names and grew from there". The baddies -- DeBoyas and siblings Printz and Wanda -- are deliciously evil and clearly render the task of two youngsters to overturn their maleficence an uphill struggle.
I'm sure the target readership (around the 14-16 age of the two protagonists Noni and Twig) will find this a read that draws them in; as an adult reader I particularly liked the plotting which ensured that the fantasy was unputdownable. In addition to the thirty-six chapters (and an epilogue) there are the Tolkien-like nine appendices, nominally stories from the "Book of Tales by Oma, Rima's daughter" that Noni inherits, and which have the Tolkienesque conceit of being "translated from Mitlerian" by the author. These for me were a real deepening of Ross' secondary world creation: origin stories, fables, poems elucidating calendric lore, anecdotes, hints at sagas, all printed with a typeface that distinguishes them from the text of the novel. I can't decide if I like these where they are at the end or whether they would work better interweaving the main story, perhaps after every fourth chapter.
There was much that I liked in this novel, but tighter editing would have made it even better: a dozen named individuals are thanked for their input, but a dispassionate editor would have upped the opening tempo and ironed out the few passages where I lost sight of character motivation (Printz seemed particularly inscrutable to me), where the action at times seemed to be put on pause (the final denouement was a bit stop-start to fully convince me) and where Noni's destiny seemed due more to happenstance than to the workings of Fate in the world of Mitlery. I also found the manner of indicating magic actions slightly clumsy (initial capital and inverted commas, as in 'Reached' or 'Ascended') -- simple italicising might have been less distracting perhaps.
But this mild carping is only because I want Kenning Magic to be perfect: it embodies such wonderful concepts, such as that reading is a magical activity, a talent to be treasured as much as oral lore; that we can remain individuals and yet by working co-operatively achieve so much more; that evil-doers aren't always completely evil in themselves and, while deserving punishment, should also have a chance to redeem themselves or be rehabilitated. Or, as the epilogue seems to suggest, that the villains have an opportunity to regroup, to pave the way for a sequel. And that is something I do very much look forward to.
http://wp.me/s2oNj1-kenning
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews