What do you think?
Rate this book
Half-Wizard Thordric #1
Unofficial Detective
For his whole life, Thordric has been told that his magic is dangerous, and that he must never use it. All over Dinia, half-wizards are treated the same, their magic labelled as dangerous and uncontrollable.
When High Wizard Kalljard is murdered, it falls to young Thordric to solve the case. The only trouble? The murder was done by magic, and though Thordric is a half-wizard, he has never fully used his powers.
To prove himself right and find the murderer, Thordric has to learn how to control his own powers. But can he learn fast enough, and find the perpetrator in time?
When High Wizard Kalljard is murdered, it falls to young Thordric to solve the case. The only trouble? The murder was done by magic, and though Thordric is a half-wizard, he has never fully used his powers.
To prove himself right and find the murderer, Thordric has to learn how to control his own powers. But can he learn fast enough, and find the perpetrator in time?
190 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 30, 2017
237 people are currently reading
412 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Wells
18 books13 followersThis author also writes under the pen name Kathryn Rossati.
Kathryn Wells is an old penname of author Kathryn Rossati, and is only used on a few of her novels.
Kathryn Rossati is an author of YA and children’s books, and a poet. She is neurodivergent and has hypermobility spectrum disorder. Her favourite hobbies include: country walks (despite her achy limbs and misbehaving joints), tai chi, painting, and anything to do with The Legend of Zelda games. She lives on the Isle of Wight and is often found daydreaming or receiving “constructive” criticism from her boisterous parrot and chatterbox budgie.
Kathryn Wells is an old penname of author Kathryn Rossati, and is only used on a few of her novels.
Kathryn Rossati is an author of YA and children’s books, and a poet. She is neurodivergent and has hypermobility spectrum disorder. Her favourite hobbies include: country walks (despite her achy limbs and misbehaving joints), tai chi, painting, and anything to do with The Legend of Zelda games. She lives on the Isle of Wight and is often found daydreaming or receiving “constructive” criticism from her boisterous parrot and chatterbox budgie.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 19, 2018
Delightful
I found this to be an appropriate book and story line for young and older adults. There are good examples of prejudices and how they lead to the downfall of many.
I found this to be an appropriate book and story line for young and older adults. There are good examples of prejudices and how they lead to the downfall of many.
June 27, 2019
Unofficial Detective is a delightful tale of a young half-wizard who (with the help of his medical-examiner mother) lands a job as go-fer for a police inspector who has the unenviable job of investigating the unusual death of the head of the Wizard's Council. Young Thordric must hone his own (seldom-before-exercised) magic skills in order to help the inspector figure out what happened. It is a story of prejudice, of magic, and of a young man coming into his own. It's also an enjoyable fantasy with a decent mystery - quick to read and thoroughly fun.
January 21, 2019
Thordric has been living his 14 years under the impression he is not "good enough" to be a wizard and use magic. When he gets a job with the local police and a High Wizard dies, he convinces the officer to reopen the case and declare it murder. The murder was done by magic - so Thordric, to prove himself and others like him, learns to control his magic and help to solve the murder.
Adventure, magic, mystery, strong protagonist
Adventure, magic, mystery, strong protagonist
Read
January 4, 2019Too juvenile. Read more as if it’s for ten year olds than YA sadly. The humour was facile and more suited to ten year olds. Getting someone's name wrong is funny once, funny twice, but when it happens several times its just plain infantile and annoying. The boy was meant to be 14, not 4, the Inspector is a professional not an idiot and the humour was verging on slapstick.
DNF early on.
DNF early on.
November 1, 2020
I received this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Written by Kathryn Wells and narrated by Morgan Keller, Unofficial Detective: The Mage Apprentice follows the adventures of half-wizard Thordric. Fifteen-year-old Thordic is forced to take a job with the police inspector, where he does chores and interacts with his mortician mother. He quickly meets Lizzy, the inspector's sister, who teaches him to hone his magical abilities. He eventually uses his skills to aid the inspector in his investigations.
Wells writes interesting characters with dynamic moods and emotions. I particularly appreciate her female characters, who have depth and substance. The world isn't very expansive, but it serves as an adequate backdrop. Although the story is somewhat simplistic, it remains fairly unpredictable throughout. Overall, the story is engaging, and it makes for a great light read.
Morgan Keller does a good job with his narration. He speaks clearly, and his voice remains appealing throughout the 4 hour and 40 minute run time. The only issue I noticed was that he doesn't flow naturally through every sentence. Rather, it sounds more like the sentences are broken into sections. Despite this, Keller's narration never detracted from the narrative.
I really enjoyed this book. Wells writes a fine story that moves at a good pace. Her characters are entertaining, and she includes twists and turns to keep things interesting. Keeler does a fine job narrating. I'm excited to start on Half-Wizard Thordric book 2.
Written by Kathryn Wells and narrated by Morgan Keller, Unofficial Detective: The Mage Apprentice follows the adventures of half-wizard Thordric. Fifteen-year-old Thordic is forced to take a job with the police inspector, where he does chores and interacts with his mortician mother. He quickly meets Lizzy, the inspector's sister, who teaches him to hone his magical abilities. He eventually uses his skills to aid the inspector in his investigations.
Wells writes interesting characters with dynamic moods and emotions. I particularly appreciate her female characters, who have depth and substance. The world isn't very expansive, but it serves as an adequate backdrop. Although the story is somewhat simplistic, it remains fairly unpredictable throughout. Overall, the story is engaging, and it makes for a great light read.
Morgan Keller does a good job with his narration. He speaks clearly, and his voice remains appealing throughout the 4 hour and 40 minute run time. The only issue I noticed was that he doesn't flow naturally through every sentence. Rather, it sounds more like the sentences are broken into sections. Despite this, Keller's narration never detracted from the narrative.
I really enjoyed this book. Wells writes a fine story that moves at a good pace. Her characters are entertaining, and she includes twists and turns to keep things interesting. Keeler does a fine job narrating. I'm excited to start on Half-Wizard Thordric book 2.
December 25, 2019
I couldn’t get past Chapter 4 ( a little over an hour of play time) I feel like the story needed some more editing and rewriting, and some dialogue tweaking.
The book has an interesting premise. A young half-wizard, Thordric, has some strings pulled by his Pathologist/coroner Mother to get a job as the police chiefs errand boy.
The mother doesn’t want her son to use magic so she forbids it.
Thordric can’t really control his powers and has had a few interesting uses of them. Once his mother is berating him and he stamps his foot and she changes the subject.
The Chief sends the boy on an errand for his sister Lizzy. Who takes the boy under her wing to teach him magic on Sunday.
Some goofy things happen like the Chief takes a Thordric, a 14 year old to see a dead body. Thordric then smells magic on the body and decides to solve the murder.
And his mother goes to berate Lizzy for teaching Thordric magic and after 30 seconds and a cup of tea, she changes her mind.
I love YA but I feel like this is written for 10 year olds. Sorry just couldn’t finish it.
I received the audiobook free in exchange for an honest review.
The book has an interesting premise. A young half-wizard, Thordric, has some strings pulled by his Pathologist/coroner Mother to get a job as the police chiefs errand boy.
The mother doesn’t want her son to use magic so she forbids it.
Thordric can’t really control his powers and has had a few interesting uses of them. Once his mother is berating him and he stamps his foot and she changes the subject.
The Chief sends the boy on an errand for his sister Lizzy. Who takes the boy under her wing to teach him magic on Sunday.
Some goofy things happen like the Chief takes a Thordric, a 14 year old to see a dead body. Thordric then smells magic on the body and decides to solve the murder.
And his mother goes to berate Lizzy for teaching Thordric magic and after 30 seconds and a cup of tea, she changes her mind.
I love YA but I feel like this is written for 10 year olds. Sorry just couldn’t finish it.
I received the audiobook free in exchange for an honest review.
Read
January 26, 2023This is a highly unlikely tale of a fourteen-and-a-half-old half-wizard Thordric. Most stories worth telling and reading are the unlikely ones, in my opinion... So, that's already a plus!
I liked the book overall, but I have a complaint: it's too short. Also, even within the constraints of its fantastic world, Thordric's magical development is too accelerated to be interesting. Since there are multiple mysteries and sufficient villainy going on, it seems like plenty of material to go on with.
Some other reviewers mentioned the infantile humour in a disparaging manner. I enjoyed that quite a bit. I like children's literature and Dad jokes, so the inspector's "inability to remember" Thordric's name was appreciated.
I will not rush to get to the next installment, but would not refuse reading it either.
I liked the book overall, but I have a complaint: it's too short. Also, even within the constraints of its fantastic world, Thordric's magical development is too accelerated to be interesting. Since there are multiple mysteries and sufficient villainy going on, it seems like plenty of material to go on with.
Some other reviewers mentioned the infantile humour in a disparaging manner. I enjoyed that quite a bit. I like children's literature and Dad jokes, so the inspector's "inability to remember" Thordric's name was appreciated.
I will not rush to get to the next installment, but would not refuse reading it either.
May 26, 2022
Truly exceptional
I cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this book. Its been so long since I've been able to devour a book in a few days. Let alone a book so amazing that it reminds me of why I love reading so much. It reminded me of why I started reading in the first place, to escape the boring world and become immersed in another. The characters are so relatable and you side with them quickly. You decide who you'd be friends with and who you'd like to hit with a stick. Then there's they world Wells created that is phenomenal. I highly recommend this to anyone that needs a little magic and mystery in their life.
I cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this book. Its been so long since I've been able to devour a book in a few days. Let alone a book so amazing that it reminds me of why I love reading so much. It reminded me of why I started reading in the first place, to escape the boring world and become immersed in another. The characters are so relatable and you side with them quickly. You decide who you'd be friends with and who you'd like to hit with a stick. Then there's they world Wells created that is phenomenal. I highly recommend this to anyone that needs a little magic and mystery in their life.
June 5, 2018
Simple but interesting mystery, magic coming-of-age and great writing skills makes for a very good book. The adventures of Thordric are definitely fun and well thought out, the author has a great sense of pacing and her subtle world-building is quite effective. The secondary characters are all interesting and expose enough for the reader to want to know more and care about them. I really like the atmosphere of "easy going" that permeate the book even if a death/mystery is the main plotline. I will be reading the next books in this fun series and you should too.
September 21, 2019
I received a review copy of this book.
This book is fun, clean, and interesting. The characters are likable. It's neither slow nor long (the Audible edition lasts 4 hours and 40 minutes). The story holds together.
Unlike many fantasy stories, it is neither gory nor sexually suggestive/explicit. I would have no trouble letting my second grader read this.
There are one or two details that might be considered plot holes or flaws, but they in no way ruin the story and are no worse than what you might find in any similar book.
This book is fun, clean, and interesting. The characters are likable. It's neither slow nor long (the Audible edition lasts 4 hours and 40 minutes). The story holds together.
Unlike many fantasy stories, it is neither gory nor sexually suggestive/explicit. I would have no trouble letting my second grader read this.
There are one or two details that might be considered plot holes or flaws, but they in no way ruin the story and are no worse than what you might find in any similar book.
dnf
February 18, 2024I started this book and then I am not sure why but I took a long hiatus and didn't read it for quite a while and now I have decided to DNF, I have so much I want to read and I have very little interest in coming back to this. I will say my first impression was that the premise/plot was interesting but it felt rushed and the writing also gave the same impression, like there is going to be a really good and interesting bit and the author cannot wait to get there so we are all speeding along to get there. Those are the first impressions and I will update this review once I continue the story.
September 2, 2019
Very quick young adult read.
Expect everything to arrive exactly on time in this plot. Need someone to teach you magic? There you are. Learn a new skill that almost immediately becomes relevant? That too. Nonetheless it's an interesting enough premise, and for all its simplicity, reads well.
One surprise I did not expect appears near the end of the book, but otherwise, expect no challenges to the unravelling of the mystery.
Expect everything to arrive exactly on time in this plot. Need someone to teach you magic? There you are. Learn a new skill that almost immediately becomes relevant? That too. Nonetheless it's an interesting enough premise, and for all its simplicity, reads well.
One surprise I did not expect appears near the end of the book, but otherwise, expect no challenges to the unravelling of the mystery.
June 14, 2025
I enjoyed this book quite a lot more than I expected to. The characters are lively, interesting, and display more intelligence than many I have read about. The plot is straightforward and the premise is seeing if half wizards are as dangerous as everyone thinks and who killed the head wizard and why. The answers were quite illuminating and there are quite a few surprises in store for the readers. I most definitely recommend this book.
January 11, 2025
An enthralling story
I thoroughly enjoyed Kathryn Wells' clever portrayal of a gifted young man and the way a kind stranger taught him to use his magic. His age and speed of learning were slightly unbelievable but I loved the realistic details of the Inspector's moustache and his difficulty with Thordric's name. The twist at the end of the tale was delightful.
I thoroughly enjoyed Kathryn Wells' clever portrayal of a gifted young man and the way a kind stranger taught him to use his magic. His age and speed of learning were slightly unbelievable but I loved the realistic details of the Inspector's moustache and his difficulty with Thordric's name. The twist at the end of the tale was delightful.
January 15, 2019
Fast paced
I enjoyed this book because it moved along well and had a good storyline. At the end, I was left wondering what would come next like a good series book should but it was complete in and of itself without having to get involved in the series.
I enjoyed this book because it moved along well and had a good storyline. At the end, I was left wondering what would come next like a good series book should but it was complete in and of itself without having to get involved in the series.
January 28, 2019
So much fun! Perfect? No. But the story's so good, whatever flaws it has fell away as I got sucked into the magic of it all. I can't wait to read more about Thordric and the rest of the characters.
March 21, 2019
Well worth the effort
Although a little simple and predictable in places it was a good,flowing read. Aimed,I feel, at younger readers. Plenty of the plot a d fun remains for the older reader. I'm hoping the rest of the series is as much fun.
Although a little simple and predictable in places it was a good,flowing read. Aimed,I feel, at younger readers. Plenty of the plot a d fun remains for the older reader. I'm hoping the rest of the series is as much fun.
August 13, 2019
•audiobook•
3.5 stars
The Unofficial Detective is a true YA book. The writing, plot, and development were subpar for a seasoned reader or someone looking for a whirlwind escape.
The world building was above average and whole, including touching on magic, beliefs, and prejudices.
The narrator was excellent.
I would pick up another book in the series, but I’m not breathlessly waiting for it to become available on Audible.
This is my voluntary review of an audiobook received for free.
3.5 stars
The Unofficial Detective is a true YA book. The writing, plot, and development were subpar for a seasoned reader or someone looking for a whirlwind escape.
The world building was above average and whole, including touching on magic, beliefs, and prejudices.
The narrator was excellent.
I would pick up another book in the series, but I’m not breathlessly waiting for it to become available on Audible.
This is my voluntary review of an audiobook received for free.
December 27, 2020
This is a fun book! I recommend it for upper elementary level in particular. The writing is a bit clunky, but the characters, world-building, and plot are just fine. I love how Thordric's boss keeps changing his name - just a little bit, every time he says it.
October 4, 2022
Enjoyable
This was an enjoyable story. I liked the comedic way Thordric stumbled through life until someone took him seriously. I didn't expect the plot to go in the direction it did. Surprise! And well done.
This was an enjoyable story. I liked the comedic way Thordric stumbled through life until someone took him seriously. I didn't expect the plot to go in the direction it did. Surprise! And well done.
Read
October 18, 2022Awestruck magic
This book was entertaining and full of mystery and magic. This was well written and kept my interest from beginning to end. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
This book was entertaining and full of mystery and magic. This was well written and kept my interest from beginning to end. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
December 29, 2023
I liked it, didn't love it. Character's felt original and fresh, not much on the larger world or how the magic actually works. A royal family was mentioned but no further details given. A good story, but I wanted more world building.
December 25, 2018
I found the start of this book a little juvenile, but as it progressed, I became engrossed with the story.
A good read for all ages.
A good read for all ages.
January 2, 2019
Great Book
Great Book I love it it was great and powerful and cute I love it 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘,
Thank You For Letting Me Read This Book
Great Book I love it it was great and powerful and cute I love it 💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘💘,
Thank You For Letting Me Read This Book
January 13, 2019
Good start
Will get the next and see. 4stars".............why thirteen words I have given my review one two three four five six silly
Will get the next and see. 4stars".............why thirteen words I have given my review one two three four five six silly
January 16, 2019
A fun well written book. Love the story as well as the characters.
January 26, 2019
Fun
I enjoyed reading this book. It had some very interesting twists and was so fun to read. I definitely would recommend this book!😊
I enjoyed reading this book. It had some very interesting twists and was so fun to read. I definitely would recommend this book!😊
March 4, 2019
I honestly did not like this book. It was well written with well drawn characters but it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I’m sure many will love it, especially YAs.
March 28, 2019
Fun Wizard read
Fun. Good world building. Great for teens and adults. 14 year old half wizard faces his future. Highly recommended book!
Fun. Good world building. Great for teens and adults. 14 year old half wizard faces his future. Highly recommended book!
June 23, 2019
A fun read sure to delight with a fresh take magic. Kids will love it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews