Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass by Erica Kirov. (Grades 4-7.)Moving from hotel to hotel with his Las Vegas magician dad, Nick is used to making new friends and losing them as soon as their vacations are over. And he's used to having a tiny room and not much money (his dad is not a very talented magician). But on Nick's thirteenth birthday, everything changes as he learns that he comes from a line of very powerful magicians called the Magickeepers. Nick learns that he has the gift of sight and he's whisked away to train in magic and learn about the Magickeepers' glorious history. There he meets Isabella and her intimidating trained tiger Sascha and he learns about the Shadowkeepers, evil magicians who will stop at nothing to collect the most powerful relics in the world. And they seem to be after Nick...
The action is very fast-paced and I'd definitely try this on Harry Potter or Percy Jackson fans who just can't get enough magic. I love that Erica Kirov wove strands of Russian culture and history into the story. That definitely makes it stand out.
But to be honest the book didn't completely grab me. I'll be the first to admit that I've got a lot on my mind at the moment with the start of the Summer Reading Club and all that goes with it. It's very possible that it's just my state of mind that's keeping me from getting hooked.
Anymore, any good or middling children's fantasy novel gets compared to Harry Potter and this one has a lot of the same elements. True, the Russian elements do add to the story, but I didn't really feel connected to the characters enough to really enjoy the novel. Again, maybe that's my state of mind, but 80 pages in I sat up and realized that the only thing I really knew about Nick was that he loved cheeseburgers...
So, it wasn't totally my thing, but many other bloggers have liked it quite a bit. Check out the other blogs participating in the Magickeepers' blog tour*:
YA Books Central
Booking Mama (5/28)
A Childhood of Dreams (5/29)
Eva’s Book Addiction (5/29)
Word Candy (5/29)
Book Views (6/1)
Looking Glass Review (6/5)
Alea Pop Culture (6/18)
Beth Fish Reads (6/23)
One more thing... I've heard several compliments on the cover of Magickeepers: The Eternal Hourglass, but whenever I look at it I can't help but think of the cover of Larklight. What do you think? Am I stretching?
*And yes, I was supposed to post on May 28, but a ridiculously slow FedEx delivery nipped that in the bud... Apologies for the delay!