A Wild Kind of Magic

A Handful of Magic #3

by Stephen Elboz

The third in a series of books about Kit Stixby and his friend, Prince Henry, which began with A handful of Magic and continued with A Land Without Magic. The kidnapping of the visiting American president plunges Kit and Henry into another wild adventure. They have a race against time to rescue the president, and as if that weren't enough, there's a killer on the loose in London, vampires prowling everywhere, and a mysterious plant is coming to life... All three books in this series have been extremely well received with A Handful of Magic being picked as the Guardian's book of the month.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Aelvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Home for the holidays, Kit discovers London to be a somewhat darker place than when he left at the beginning of term. The visiting American president is kidnapped right from under the very noses of the court; Jack the Ripper is stalking the city's slums; a strange new plant is growing everywhere. And when the mysteries strike a little closer to home, Kit is determined to solve them.

The story's pace and plot leave little room for Kit to be the annoying brat he's been in previous books---although that side still surfaces. Most of the book is about Kit's deepening fascination with the visiting Indians, the potentially resident vampires, and the shadowy Jack the Ripper. And although a familiar source is contributing to much of the trouble, his hand remains unseen for much of the story (and less of it is his machinations than usual, which helps).

But there are a few annoying plot holes that leave the story less than it could have been. Why is Mudwur the only shaman the president brings? Why aren't any settlers represented in the visiting Americans (the president is supposed to be a half-blood, which has made peace between settlers and Indians, but the whole deal came off decidedly one-sided in favor of the Indians)? And why is Mudwur, the only apparent magic-user, so keen to go off with Kit during the banquet, leaving his chief to the protection of non-magical braves and the queen's guard? I also found it hard to swallow the final scene in the warehouse: a vampire with superior night vision doesn't notice four people sneaking off? And he's answering their every question, spilling information in a manner totally unlike his previous self. And his final move only made sense as a ploy to escape, except it didn't appear to be the case (I guess vampire mythology is different in the book, although nobody ever explained if what he was doing would, in fact, actually kill him, or whether or not vampires could come back).

Overall, it's not a bad cap to the trilogy, but it still isn't much better than the previous books. A lot of it felt randomly thrown together for effect, such as the fact that only Indians are visiting, and they tend to act extremely crassly in the presence of the queen by insisting on their own customs all the time. It wasn't exactly what I expected visiting dignitaries to do, particularly when several of these incidents embarrassed the queen in front of her own ministers. So, plot-wise it improved, but the general worldbuilding fell apart. This isn't a terrible waste of time, but there are much better London-based steampunk books for young adults. I rate this book Neutral.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sort of sub-Potter magical adventure, but the writing is only average; the characters cartoonish and the plot rather Emmental like. I think I may have read an earlier book which would account for this one having been one shelf for 14 years. I don't think my 8 & 9 year old grandchildren would think much of this. And how on earth did the cover pass OUP's quality control.