The Magician's Workshop Review

Hi everyone, it's Shani here today and I'm back with a book review!

Title: The Magician's Workshop
Author: Hansen Fehr
Publisher: Wondertale
Published: November 8th 2016
My rating: 4/5

When my colleagues asked if I wanted to review The Magician's Workshop, a fantasy YA novel, I was extremely excited to read it. I love reading fantasy novels. They've always been a major part of my reading, and I tend to lean towards the fantasy side of fiction more than anything. Fehr's novel had all the magical elements I was looking for and actually reminded me a lot of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series - which is one of my favourite children's fiction series, and I am unashamed to say I still read when I'm feeling down.

The plot was interesting. It focuses around a young girl named Layauna, who's characterisation I adored, who is aspiring to become a great magician. Her magic - or projections as they are known - is very high in skill, and she, like many other sixteen year old people, is attempting to win her colour which allows her to become a magician. Many people are born without colour, which is what sets the magician's and the regular people apart. It was intriguing to see this social hierarchy that Fehr had set up, with the magician's being deemed as 'better' than the regular people who could also create strong projections. Layauna was a character I connected strongly with, she had a very sarcastic attitude throughout the novel, despite working extremely hard for what she wants. She reminded me of myself, when I was sixteen and it was nice to be able to connect with her so strongly.

Another aspect of the novel which I thoroughly enjoyed was introducing Kai as another main protagonist. Kai is deemed as an outcast through out the novel. He is one of the strongest projectors on his island, but people stay away from him because of his father's legacy. Kai was another character I grew to like a lot, and his band of friends Talia, Weston, Luge and Snap. Their dynamics as friends was sweet and I enjoyed watching how their friendship shifted throughout the novel as well.

Whilst I really enjoyed the plot of this novel, and the numerous characters it presented, what did irk me slightly was the multiple P.O.V. chapters. The reader first starts from Layauna, and then jumps to Kai, Talia, Kai's grandmother Jade, and numerous other characters which I felt were at times completely irrelevant to the story. This made me lose some connection with my favourite characters. I also felt that the novel should be aimed at children rather than YA fiction.

Overall, I really enjoyed the novel and I would definitely consider reading the next volume in the series at a later date! If you're interested in reading The Magician's Workshop the link for it is here: https://www.amazon.com/Magicians-Workshop-One-Christopher-Hansen-ebook/dp/B01MQGHGBH