Glitter Ponies

Clockpunk Wizard #4

by Lita Burke

Wizard Kadmeion and his assistant Sir Bright promised Lady Luck's daughter, Probability, a getaway to see unicorns. Bright's brother tends a herd of the captivating creatures on Wuddlekins Island. During their visit, Kadmeion plans some quiet time studying the local boggart magic. But their visit soon becomes troubled.

Something is sickening the unicorns' magic, and the illness is spreading to neighboring islands. Without unicorns, the magic in Kadmeion's plate-shaped ocean world will fall into disarray. Just when things could not get worse, Bright's parents drop by Wuddlekins for a visit. The unicorn problem is nothing compared to what Bright's aristocratic father has planned for his twice-seventh son.

Kadmeion and Bright must somehow fix the unicorns' magic, see to an elf-prince's demands, and make sure that Probability has a wonderful vacation. After all, it is unwise to disappoint the future Lady Luck.

Genres: Fantasy

342 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2015

About the author

LITA BURKE is an indie fantasy author. She is an avid reader and enjoys downloading titles by new authors onto her Kindle. Lita works a day job and writes her stories early in the morning before the day clutters up her brain.

Reviews

[E.A. Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Glitter Ponies is enchanting, almost literally! I took it for a middle-grades fantasy, and so it is, but it’s also quite a bit more. There are distinctly dark elements, and perfectly aptly done references to grown up ‘intimacies’. The outstanding aspect of this book is how Burke handles magic – its complexity, interdependencies, practice, ethics and yes, fun too. I felt the story was almost too complicated. There are so many wonderfully odd characters, and so many strands, that at times I struggled to keep up. (This is why it’s four stars rather than five.) To this was added a realistically imagined social structure inhabited by a wide range of beings. I was as fascinated by little Probability (Lady Luck’s little daughter!) as wizard Kadmeion seems to be.
The conclusion is both painful and transcendent, and demonstrates why this is much more than just a children’s book. It is a rewardingly rich and wonderfully eccentric fantasy.