Septimus Heap: Magyk
Angie Sage
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2005 Katherine Tegen Books
ISBN: 0060577312

The seventh son of a seventh son is stolen & an abandoned daughter is found.

Enter the world of Ordinary Wizard Silas Heap & The Ramblings, the crowded warren where everyone lives. His wife, Sarah, is about to deliver her seventh child, & Silas is on an errand, in the dread forest in the dead of winter, to get special herbs to help her through her labor.

Hurrying home before the gates of the Castle close for the night, Silas comes across a bundle in the snow containing a new-born girl with violet eyes. He can't leave her to freeze to death, so he tucks her into his cloak, & gets inside the gate just before curfew.

After he's made his long way through The Ramblings to his home the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia, appears before him, telling him to raise the babe as their own, & not tell anyone he found her. When he opens the door, there is Sarah weeping, telling him that the midwife had said Septimus was born dead, & she'd taken the baby away before anyone could see. Silas stands before his grieving wife, not knowing what to say, when the babe tucked into his cloak moves. He hands her to Sarah, who takes her to her heart, & names her Jenna.

Far outside the Heaps' happy if crowded family (remember Septimus had been the seventh son, so there are six other brothers all growing up in one room) rumors are flying among the people & six months later, at Sally Mullin's tea & ale shop, one rumor comes to roost: the court life of the Castle has taken a dangerous turn: the queen has been shot by her own Custodian Guards, as too the ExtraOrdinary Wizard Alther, who was defending her. Now the realm is under the control of the Supreme Custodian, & henceforth all joy & magyk are forbidden.

Be prepared to enter a truly magical realm where dishes wash themselves & magicians do marvelous things. Septimus Heap chronicles a fantastic journey & conflict about good & evil, lost & rediscovered identities. It is rich with humor & heart, & filled with quirky characters & magykal charms, kind ghosts & frightening towers, potions & spells.

“Marcia... needed to look impressive... and just a little scary. Well, quite a bit scary if necessary. She just hoped it wouldn't be... [she] wasn't sure if she could do scary. She tried a few expressions in the mirror, which shivered quietly to itself,... [she] was unaware that most people thought she did scary very well indeed...” (p.52)

A gladsome & grand fantasy with lots of goosebumps & giggles, & a serious theme. Angie Sage hails from London, England & is now living in darkest Cornwall. She has infused this first book about a boy who grew up without a name, with both the light & dark side of life. For those of us who remember learning about the civil war of the 1600s when the colorful Cavaliers & dour Roundheads battled for the throne (as too for anyone who's read anything about communism), the life of Septimus Heap, until he is found by his family, will ring many alarms bells.

A word about the actual book with its own mini-CD: it looks like a book of spells & Mark Zug's delightful illustrations make it a treasure.
(05/22/05)

Rebecca