What do you think?
Rate this book
The Magickers #1
The Magickers
A long time ago, two great sorcerers fought a duel to determine the fate of the world. Magic itself was ripped from our world, its power kept secret by a handful of enchanters. The world of Magicks, however, still exists-and whoever controls the Gates controls both worlds.
In The Magickers...
Enter Jason Adrian and his friends-who have been recruited by Gavan Rainwater into the most unusual summer camp on earth-Camp Ravenwyng. There, they will learn about their own special talents. They'll develop their magick powers and unlock the secrets of controlling them.
To Jason, it seems like a dream come true. But there is one thing he will have to do before he leaves this very special face the evil minions of the Dark Hand...
In The Magickers...
Enter Jason Adrian and his friends-who have been recruited by Gavan Rainwater into the most unusual summer camp on earth-Camp Ravenwyng. There, they will learn about their own special talents. They'll develop their magick powers and unlock the secrets of controlling them.
To Jason, it seems like a dream come true. But there is one thing he will have to do before he leaves this very special face the evil minions of the Dark Hand...
379 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
7 people are currently reading
189 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 - 30 of 34 reviews
October 10, 2011
I expected The Magickers to not come close to Harry Potter, even though the cover says this is “America’s answer to the Harry Potter series.” I gave it a try anyway, and pushed all comparisons aside no matter how often the cover tells you to do otherwise. To me Harry Potter is whimsical and elegant, while The Magickers highlights most things I dislike about middle school children.
The story begins with a nightmare that is meant to grab attention, but completely fails at it. You begin by thinking exciting, creepy events are happening only to be thrown into 11 year old reality pages later. Fine, I’ll just pretend that never happened. We then get to experience the creepy raven moment. By that, I mean a raven runs into glass and the main character’s head a few times, drops off a note and leaves. All of that takes way too many pages, and isn’t as magically, weird, or special as it is meant to be.
Moving on from the raven event, we have page after page of typical eleven year old life. I really didn’t care that the main character Jason has issues with his relatives, or doesn’t make the soccer team. I didn’t care about the weird teacher with the crystal ball or the constant irritating childish dialogue. People are calling people dotty, picking on each other, and being generally irritating. If the book would focus on the magic and the fantasy instead of a typical day in the life of a misfit eleven year old, then we might have something, but I kept reading, because there is a magic camp after all, so that may be ok.
It wasn’t ok. Just typical middle school camp atmosphere. Know it all characters, I’m better than you characters, let’s pick on the new guy, and oh look at that semi strange thing over there, weird isn’t it hahaha. The magic here isn’t appealing to me, just like the kids aren’t. I’ve said this before in other reviews and have gotten a hard time about it, but I’ll say it again. I’m not 11, I’m not a misfit kid, I don’t find mundane middle school conversations remotely interesting, so I don’t like this book. Even if I were 11, I wouldn’t like this book. Honestly, if I had wanted to read a book about eleven year olds talking or going to camp I would have just talked to people at my school, but I read to go to a different place, a magical place, somewhere I’d like to be. I wouldn’t like to be at a camp with the same type of people I see every day, acting the same way they do here, but oh look there is a shapechanger. Fantasy books can be realistic without bringing in the worst of actual life.
The Magickers is more Percy Jackson than Harry Potter, but Percy Jackson was actually readable and decent, this is not. If you like to read about typical 11 year olds and their daily issues and problems, go for it, and I know there are people out there that wouldn’t mind that at all. I’m not one of them, I find it all extremely uninteresting, and more than a little irritating.
The story begins with a nightmare that is meant to grab attention, but completely fails at it. You begin by thinking exciting, creepy events are happening only to be thrown into 11 year old reality pages later. Fine, I’ll just pretend that never happened. We then get to experience the creepy raven moment. By that, I mean a raven runs into glass and the main character’s head a few times, drops off a note and leaves. All of that takes way too many pages, and isn’t as magically, weird, or special as it is meant to be.
Moving on from the raven event, we have page after page of typical eleven year old life. I really didn’t care that the main character Jason has issues with his relatives, or doesn’t make the soccer team. I didn’t care about the weird teacher with the crystal ball or the constant irritating childish dialogue. People are calling people dotty, picking on each other, and being generally irritating. If the book would focus on the magic and the fantasy instead of a typical day in the life of a misfit eleven year old, then we might have something, but I kept reading, because there is a magic camp after all, so that may be ok.
It wasn’t ok. Just typical middle school camp atmosphere. Know it all characters, I’m better than you characters, let’s pick on the new guy, and oh look at that semi strange thing over there, weird isn’t it hahaha. The magic here isn’t appealing to me, just like the kids aren’t. I’ve said this before in other reviews and have gotten a hard time about it, but I’ll say it again. I’m not 11, I’m not a misfit kid, I don’t find mundane middle school conversations remotely interesting, so I don’t like this book. Even if I were 11, I wouldn’t like this book. Honestly, if I had wanted to read a book about eleven year olds talking or going to camp I would have just talked to people at my school, but I read to go to a different place, a magical place, somewhere I’d like to be. I wouldn’t like to be at a camp with the same type of people I see every day, acting the same way they do here, but oh look there is a shapechanger. Fantasy books can be realistic without bringing in the worst of actual life.
The Magickers is more Percy Jackson than Harry Potter, but Percy Jackson was actually readable and decent, this is not. If you like to read about typical 11 year olds and their daily issues and problems, go for it, and I know there are people out there that wouldn’t mind that at all. I’m not one of them, I find it all extremely uninteresting, and more than a little irritating.
January 18, 2009
There are great books out there with character-driven plots, in which the unfolding events are the logical outcome of both the circumstances and the personalities of the characters, and the conclusion yields a satisfying dose of mixed plot and character resolution.
This is not one of those books.
As you may know, we here at Book End have been haunting the TEEN shelves of the public library lately, because most of the best fantasy lit these days seems to appear there. Alas, The Magickers makes it clear that dross can be found even amongst the shining gems we have found in our beloved TEEN section.
Emily Drake has achieved the polar opposite of the character-driven plot: a cast of plot-driven characters, whose actions are carefully orchestrated to move the plot along in the direction set out for it by the author. Thus, the adult characters are well-meaning but fumbling and clueless; the protagonist, along with the rest of the characters, is clue-resistant right up to the appropriate dramatic moment in the plot.
And what a plot it is! Guaranteed to send a certain friend of mine frothing to her keyboard for yet another rant, it made me feel that I'd wasted an afternoon I could have more profitably spent scraping loose paint off the side of my house. It seems that hundreds of years ago, a battle between two great magickers caused such damage to the fabric of magick that it mostly disappeared - until now. But now, a small group of good-guy magickers is trying to get a step ahead of the bad guys. Their method: opening a summer camp for young potential magickers.
I'm not going to go into detail about the painfully stereotypical adult characters and their inability to stave off disaster without the help of the eleven-year-old protagonist and his friends. You saw that coming, right? This is the plot where the adults couldn't find a clue with the help of a microscope, incautiously lead the kids into deadly danger, and are miraculously delivered from disaster by one of those self-same, barely-trained, but instinctively knowledgeable kids.
Instead of this book, I'd recommend The Children of the Lamp #1: The Akhenaten Adventure by P. B. Kerr, which is a lot wittier and has 12-year-old protagonists who are hardly clue-resistant at all and are very helpful in saving the day, but are *not* the sole and unassisted day-savers.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go scrape some paint off the side of my house.
This is not one of those books.
As you may know, we here at Book End have been haunting the TEEN shelves of the public library lately, because most of the best fantasy lit these days seems to appear there. Alas, The Magickers makes it clear that dross can be found even amongst the shining gems we have found in our beloved TEEN section.
Emily Drake has achieved the polar opposite of the character-driven plot: a cast of plot-driven characters, whose actions are carefully orchestrated to move the plot along in the direction set out for it by the author. Thus, the adult characters are well-meaning but fumbling and clueless; the protagonist, along with the rest of the characters, is clue-resistant right up to the appropriate dramatic moment in the plot.
And what a plot it is! Guaranteed to send a certain friend of mine frothing to her keyboard for yet another rant, it made me feel that I'd wasted an afternoon I could have more profitably spent scraping loose paint off the side of my house. It seems that hundreds of years ago, a battle between two great magickers caused such damage to the fabric of magick that it mostly disappeared - until now. But now, a small group of good-guy magickers is trying to get a step ahead of the bad guys. Their method: opening a summer camp for young potential magickers.
I'm not going to go into detail about the painfully stereotypical adult characters and their inability to stave off disaster without the help of the eleven-year-old protagonist and his friends. You saw that coming, right? This is the plot where the adults couldn't find a clue with the help of a microscope, incautiously lead the kids into deadly danger, and are miraculously delivered from disaster by one of those self-same, barely-trained, but instinctively knowledgeable kids.
Instead of this book, I'd recommend The Children of the Lamp #1: The Akhenaten Adventure by P. B. Kerr, which is a lot wittier and has 12-year-old protagonists who are hardly clue-resistant at all and are very helpful in saving the day, but are *not* the sole and unassisted day-savers.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go scrape some paint off the side of my house.
December 23, 2022
My first impression as I began to read The Magickers was "Great another Hary Potter rip-off."
As I continued through the book I began to see its differences.Yes, the protagonist is a young nerdy boy whose parents have died. He gets accepted to a - not yet known to the reader- magical institution. Meets other nerdy kids and always seems to get himself and his friend in dangerous situations. But, I believe the over-all sub-plots and character interactions distance this book from Harry Potter.
This book is by no means ground breaking or a Top 10 nominee. It was howerever a fun read for a rainy afternoon.
The biggest dissapointment for me was the lack of magic used by the characters. Seems like all the kids do are normal things that one would do at summer camp. Swimming, canoeing, crafts, and bongfires before bed. Even when the students are introduced to their crystals they are rarely tought how to use them - other then making it glow and cleaning the stones....
I will give the next few books in the series a try. I just hopetheres moremagic and a more complicated plot to pick up the pace a bit.
As I continued through the book I began to see its differences.Yes, the protagonist is a young nerdy boy whose parents have died. He gets accepted to a - not yet known to the reader- magical institution. Meets other nerdy kids and always seems to get himself and his friend in dangerous situations. But, I believe the over-all sub-plots and character interactions distance this book from Harry Potter.
This book is by no means ground breaking or a Top 10 nominee. It was howerever a fun read for a rainy afternoon.
The biggest dissapointment for me was the lack of magic used by the characters. Seems like all the kids do are normal things that one would do at summer camp. Swimming, canoeing, crafts, and bongfires before bed. Even when the students are introduced to their crystals they are rarely tought how to use them - other then making it glow and cleaning the stones....
I will give the next few books in the series a try. I just hopetheres moremagic and a more complicated plot to pick up the pace a bit.
December 3, 2013
Title: The Magickers
Author: Emily Drake (pseudonym of Rhondi A. Vilott Salsitz)
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: DAW
Date of Publication: 2002
Eleven-year-old Jason's dreams of attending a summer soccer camp are dashed when he is injured during tryouts. Just as he accepts that he must spend the summer with his grandmother, he receives an invitation to Camp Ravenwyng, a summer camp for the Talented. Jason is skeptical when he meets the oddly dressed counselors who usher him onto the camp bus. When the bus appears to crash into the side of a mountain only to come out on the other side of a dark tunnel, Jason realizes that this summer will not be ordinary. Jason eventually learns that his talent is to be a Magicker one that can use the forces of magic that exist for the greater good. His new talents are tested severely as he and his new friends must save the camp from certain destruction by the Dark Hand, those who would use magic for evil. This is book one in the series.
The story progresses quickly and the characters personalities are very quickly established. The story has great background, but the writing takes away from the story. Even though the story is interesting, it could have been written in a better way. In the three quarters of the book, there is virtually no transition between scenes. For example, the kids just started running towards the main hall which was a fair distance away, and then suddenly they are in the middle of the hall in a sentence or two. There is also a fair amount of dialogue, but little scene set. Initially the characters are believable, but the reaction to the introduction of magic seems a little underwhelming. As well, the introduction to magic is sparse, and does not adequately give enough background to fully understand the concept of magic. I learned more background information from the synopsis than in the story itself. Near the end of the book, the writing dramatically improves and the story falls into a less hurried pace. Even though this is the climactic point, the slowing down of the pace was a relief since so much of the book seemed hurried. A promising read, but the pace is very quick, rushing the story along and leaving much out. This was a good story that was poorly written.
Author: Emily Drake (pseudonym of Rhondi A. Vilott Salsitz)
Edition: Paperback
Publisher: DAW
Date of Publication: 2002
Eleven-year-old Jason's dreams of attending a summer soccer camp are dashed when he is injured during tryouts. Just as he accepts that he must spend the summer with his grandmother, he receives an invitation to Camp Ravenwyng, a summer camp for the Talented. Jason is skeptical when he meets the oddly dressed counselors who usher him onto the camp bus. When the bus appears to crash into the side of a mountain only to come out on the other side of a dark tunnel, Jason realizes that this summer will not be ordinary. Jason eventually learns that his talent is to be a Magicker one that can use the forces of magic that exist for the greater good. His new talents are tested severely as he and his new friends must save the camp from certain destruction by the Dark Hand, those who would use magic for evil. This is book one in the series.
The story progresses quickly and the characters personalities are very quickly established. The story has great background, but the writing takes away from the story. Even though the story is interesting, it could have been written in a better way. In the three quarters of the book, there is virtually no transition between scenes. For example, the kids just started running towards the main hall which was a fair distance away, and then suddenly they are in the middle of the hall in a sentence or two. There is also a fair amount of dialogue, but little scene set. Initially the characters are believable, but the reaction to the introduction of magic seems a little underwhelming. As well, the introduction to magic is sparse, and does not adequately give enough background to fully understand the concept of magic. I learned more background information from the synopsis than in the story itself. Near the end of the book, the writing dramatically improves and the story falls into a less hurried pace. Even though this is the climactic point, the slowing down of the pace was a relief since so much of the book seemed hurried. A promising read, but the pace is very quick, rushing the story along and leaving much out. This was a good story that was poorly written.
August 20, 2014
Jason should have been at soccer camp, but a bully busted his ankle and he ends up going to a creativity/leadership camp instead that won't require running. It's the mysterious Camp Ravenwyng, to which he is also recruited mysteriously, and it's in terrible shape when he gets there--ratty living conditions, no order, counselors who don't seem to have any intention of teaching the kids anything. Jason allies with another camper or two and soon they're realizing the camp is much more--it's both a training ground for teaching magick, and it's the site of a magickal battle between good and evilllll. Jason has to learn fast and perhaps use his ingenuity to stop evil magickers from controlling their own world and ours.
This book just had no soul to it at all--characters were led around by their poorly organized outline notes, reciting important information and then doing what they're told, and the purpose of the camp not being disclosed to them at first is pointlessly shoehorned in as a mystery so we can have the shock of them discovering it. And of course, the premise. Of course children have to be recruited to fight. Using skills they just got. That they have no experience using. In DEADLY BATTLE. Nobody could have foreseen this coming and maybe trained them six months in advance, or given them a waiver to sign in case they didn't want to die for the cause. It just seemed so absurd, and the characters and their interactions being so lifeless stopped me from wanting to excuse it. The plot threads that fizzled into nothing or just didn't need to be there were also weird and made the novel feel full of speed bumps.
This book just had no soul to it at all--characters were led around by their poorly organized outline notes, reciting important information and then doing what they're told, and the purpose of the camp not being disclosed to them at first is pointlessly shoehorned in as a mystery so we can have the shock of them discovering it. And of course, the premise. Of course children have to be recruited to fight. Using skills they just got. That they have no experience using. In DEADLY BATTLE. Nobody could have foreseen this coming and maybe trained them six months in advance, or given them a waiver to sign in case they didn't want to die for the cause. It just seemed so absurd, and the characters and their interactions being so lifeless stopped me from wanting to excuse it. The plot threads that fizzled into nothing or just didn't need to be there were also weird and made the novel feel full of speed bumps.
August 26, 2008
A friend recommended this because I told her I like modern fantasy. Unfortunately, I also like books that don't suck, and this one did so mightily. Every supposedly innocent occurrence was written specifically so certain scenes could be stitched into the action; there was no solid ending; characters were just butt-ass one-dimensional; and a whole bunch of continuity glitches had a big fat party in the text. I only finished it because I wanted to make sure it was the same through and through before I gave it a deserving review on Amazon.com.
September 7, 2018
If you were to take Harry Potter and his group and combine it with Percy Jackson and his crew, you would come up with this book series! Warning: if you, like me, are an adult (61 years old) with a penchant for fantasy...this book is geared for the teenage reader. (In my opinion). That's not to say it wasn't a good book, in fact, if I were a teenager, it would rank among my favorites I'm sure. The writing was a tiny bit uneven but only an adult would notice. The plot was (for me) easy to figure out and the ending left you hanging, but since I knew it was a series, I expected that. The characters were pretty fleshed out for barely being teenagers. The teachers at the camp were very fleshed out and you grew to like them all. To make a long story short, I did like this book but I wish I had read it when I was of the age group it was intended for. Hopefully, as the series goes on the characters will age until I can identify with them. :) I am definitely giving this book to my grandsons (ages 11 and 13) to read. I'm sure they will both love it! :)
July 31, 2017
I wanted to like this very much, the summary sounded so cool! The execution fell very flat though. I couldn't bring myself to care very much about the two-dimensional characters. We get a lot of background information that isn't really important to the story, but then all the actual events seem disconnected and contrived. It might have first-book-in-a-series syndrome, but I don't really want to bother to find out. :( Sorry.
June 7, 2023
Totally enjoyable. I hate series when I don’t have all the books though. Will be looking for the next.
Having thought on it for a bit, wondering which came first- owl or pack-rat? Drake or Rowling? Will need to do some homework!
Having thought on it for a bit, wondering which came first- owl or pack-rat? Drake or Rowling? Will need to do some homework!
June 7, 2020
Magick, and enigmatic dragons...
I would have given 5* having read all 4 in series however the ending was simply too abrupt . I was left wanting at least one more chapter.
I would have given 5* having read all 4 in series however the ending was simply too abrupt . I was left wanting at least one more chapter.
July 15, 2020
I remember liking this one, and I'm scoping out books for my nephew who is now inhaling all the fantasy we hand him!
July 7, 2018
What could have been considered a decent homage to Harry Potter is actually an unapologetic rip-off, with direct references to the HP universe without explanation. And it's not nearly as entertaining.
May 27, 2025
2025 Reread Review
The Magickers is one of those books that (especially given the blurb on the back of the book), could be compared to the Harry Potter books. At the present moment, I'm gonna go ahead an say it combines the wizarding school aspect of Harry Potter with the camp aspects of Percy Jackson... well, the camp setting anyway. The Magickers definitely does the camp stuff better. After all, Camp Ravenwyng is, first and foremost, a summer camp and a newer one at that (as far as operational terms). This reread marks my fourth or fifth time reading the series. I happened to starting rereading it this time around the same time I'm reading Percy Jackson for the first time, so that's been an interesting thing to have also running through my mind.
Emily Drake has a very nice writing style that far and away trumps Rick Riordan in descriptive terms. Camp Ravenwyng actually feels like a real camp, which I appreciate. The kids are being taught about their abilities at the same time they're having camp activities. Though, honestly, I feel like the way the Magickers were introduced as such wasn't the best. I do understand that this is Gavan's first time essentially giving the "You're a wizard, Harry" speech, but... it still felt very stilted. I don't feel like anyone in that room would have actually taken him seriously, even with the small displays of magic alongside the history lesson. Of course, the "and now back to your regularly scheduled camp activities" immediately afterward didn't help with that feeling. I did like the rest of the world-building. It feels full and vibrant, both specific to Jason's experience and hinting at a much wider Magicker world to expand into.
I did, and still do, quite like the characters. Bailey remains my favorite, probably reminding me of myself at that age, some. In hindsight, Trent's whole thing toward the latter half of the book is clear as day... I don't remember my reaction to his behavior the first time, but... yeah. I liked the diversity of the Magickers, though I do feel like Tomaz and Dr. Patel felt quite stereotypical of their ethnicities/cultures. I guess it's fine, given this is a Young Adult book, but still felt kinda icky to me. I might be being hyper-sensitive, not sure.
I think the over-arching Dark Hand stuff was pretty well-handled as something that would need to be dealt with in the future. The wolfjackals are a semi-interesting starter "villain."
So yeah, The Magickers is a good introduction to a series as well as being a good jumping in point for a young fantasy fan. Definitely a good alternative to Harry Potter if you're trying to avoid introducing it to your kids.
The Magickers is one of those books that (especially given the blurb on the back of the book), could be compared to the Harry Potter books. At the present moment, I'm gonna go ahead an say it combines the wizarding school aspect of Harry Potter with the camp aspects of Percy Jackson... well, the camp setting anyway. The Magickers definitely does the camp stuff better. After all, Camp Ravenwyng is, first and foremost, a summer camp and a newer one at that (as far as operational terms). This reread marks my fourth or fifth time reading the series. I happened to starting rereading it this time around the same time I'm reading Percy Jackson for the first time, so that's been an interesting thing to have also running through my mind.
Emily Drake has a very nice writing style that far and away trumps Rick Riordan in descriptive terms. Camp Ravenwyng actually feels like a real camp, which I appreciate. The kids are being taught about their abilities at the same time they're having camp activities. Though, honestly, I feel like the way the Magickers were introduced as such wasn't the best. I do understand that this is Gavan's first time essentially giving the "You're a wizard, Harry" speech, but... it still felt very stilted. I don't feel like anyone in that room would have actually taken him seriously, even with the small displays of magic alongside the history lesson. Of course, the "and now back to your regularly scheduled camp activities" immediately afterward didn't help with that feeling. I did like the rest of the world-building. It feels full and vibrant, both specific to Jason's experience and hinting at a much wider Magicker world to expand into.
I did, and still do, quite like the characters. Bailey remains my favorite, probably reminding me of myself at that age, some. In hindsight, Trent's whole thing toward the latter half of the book is clear as day... I don't remember my reaction to his behavior the first time, but... yeah. I liked the diversity of the Magickers, though I do feel like Tomaz and Dr. Patel felt quite stereotypical of their ethnicities/cultures. I guess it's fine, given this is a Young Adult book, but still felt kinda icky to me. I might be being hyper-sensitive, not sure.
I think the over-arching Dark Hand stuff was pretty well-handled as something that would need to be dealt with in the future. The wolfjackals are a semi-interesting starter "villain."
So yeah, The Magickers is a good introduction to a series as well as being a good jumping in point for a young fantasy fan. Definitely a good alternative to Harry Potter if you're trying to avoid introducing it to your kids.
March 14, 2008
i thought that this book was really good, if a bit wandering in plot. i thought that if there had been more concentration on the central idea that it would have been slightly better. i did enjoy the theme (i always enjoy people discovering that they have magical powers) but i thought that it was a bit odd that Jason seemed to be "special" in some way (more so than everyone else). i realize that he was a gatekeeper, but wasn't there books or something on the subject? i feel that he did a bit too much by trial and error. otherwise, it was an engaging read (even with the extraneous side plots).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2008
11 YEAR OLD JASON ATTENDS SUMMER CAMP AT CAMP RAVENWYNG, FOR KIDS WITH CREATIVITY AND IMAGINATION. HE SOON LEARNS THAT EVERYONE THERE HAS SOME KIND OF "TALENT" THAT HAS TO DO WITH MAGICK AND THAT THE STUDENTS ARE BEING TRAINED TO UTILIZE THEIR POWERS TO STOP THE DARK HAND BEFORE ALL MAGICK IS DESTROYED.
VERY REMINISCENT OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS. AT FIRST, I WAS PUT OFF BY THIS, BUT THE READER IS SOON DRAWN IN BY THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT. THE ENDING LEAVES LOTS OF ROOM FOR A SEQUEL AND POSSIBLE MORE. KIDS WHO ARE WAITING FOR THE NEXT HARRY POTTER SHOULD DEFINITELY PICK THIS ONE UP.
VERY REMINISCENT OF THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS. AT FIRST, I WAS PUT OFF BY THIS, BUT THE READER IS SOON DRAWN IN BY THE CHARACTERS AND PLOT. THE ENDING LEAVES LOTS OF ROOM FOR A SEQUEL AND POSSIBLE MORE. KIDS WHO ARE WAITING FOR THE NEXT HARRY POTTER SHOULD DEFINITELY PICK THIS ONE UP.
September 21, 2014
It's the first in a series; not certain I will plunge through to the others, though the imagination (particularly in description of the working with crystals) is admirable here, and the characters...while in some ways stereotyped...include some well drawn and attractive ones. There was for me a certain jumpy incoherency to the narrative, but that might be because of the disjointed way in which I was able to find time to read it.
March 16, 2009
This is one of my favorite books ever! When I first picked it up, I didn't think I'd like it so much, the cover art was weird, but the story description intruiged me, so I picked it up and soon I was totally engrossed in the story of Jason, Bailey, and Trent. There are definately some unexpected plot twists in it, and it gives a fresh new angle on the sometimes over-done genre of 'Magick'.
July 12, 2015
In the tradition of Harry Potter, we have The Magickers. A young boy finds himself in geek camp after a soccer try out accident. Mystery abounds and strange creatures makes this a great read as Jason finds out that camp is more weird then he thought. Great characters and slow starter. All together I think this is worth the time.
January 16, 2011
Much better than reading Harry Potter.Everyone has their own talent.And I like the fact the group in the consist of those two guys who made fun of them at first.Excellent,though I knew Jon was evil a few chapters before I found out.
March 27, 2011
This is a fun book; there are definite shades of Harry Potter, but it's different enough to be enjoyable.
Just finished- and while the four book set was somewhat enjoyable it doesn't hold a candle to Harry Potter.
Just finished- and while the four book set was somewhat enjoyable it doesn't hold a candle to Harry Potter.
October 16, 2007
This was a refreshing new spin on the whole 'summer camp adventure' genere of books. I've enjoyed the entire series thus far.
June 16, 2009
The book is very slow starting and kind of hard to get into. But after the first 90 pages it is a good story. I think she is pretty good at writing the teenager roles.
August 12, 2010
Jason Adrian has been recruited into the most unusual summer camp on earth-Camp Ravenwyng. As the campers learn about their own special talents for magic, they attract the forces of evil.
It was ok.
It was ok.
January 4, 2011
I am reading this in a volume combined with 2 of the 4 books. I enjoyed this book, and I will read the rest of the series, or try to anyway. Nothing earth shattering here, not a bad read.
February 11, 2011
Interesting book. My daughter claimed that it is as good as the Harry Potter's series. I agreed. Although unable to find the subsequent books here in Sarawak, Malaysia.
April 4, 2011
Really disliked this and was very disappointed.
April 4, 2011
A classic fantasy novel. Nothing extremely extraordinary or unique about it. Refreshing in its cliche-ness.
May 23, 2011
The poor man's "Harry Potter."
September 29, 2011
The book was good.thw tow kides went into a magic place they stayed their for tow days.They thought it was a fun place to go.But it was not it was just old trees and a man who werd werid clothes.
December 3, 2011
Had a hard time picking it up because of the awful cover of all things. But so glad I did. A delightful & unexpected freshness! Can not wait for the second in series!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews