Once again, H.G. Parry has written a wonderfully engrossing fantasy adventure, this time set in early 20th century Ireland and Britain. Her heroine is the eponymous magician's daughter, Biddy. Aged seventeen, she's grown up on a magical island, with only her adoptive father and his magical familiar for company. The 'real world' of the mainland she knows of only through books. Until she discovers her father has powerful enemies from whom they can hide no longer. To save her home and the only people she has ever loved, Biddy must travel to London and help undertake a dangerous plan to defeat the sinister Magicians' Council.

Of course, from the description alone you can tell it has all the ingredients you'd expect for such a story - a naive but likeable young main character, who must come of age as part of saving the world; a fantastical location we can all dream of travelling to, contrasting with a grittier real world setting; and an exciting plot line. But the thing that makes this stand out from lots of other fantasy novels with a fairly similar premise is the sheer quality of Parry's writing. Her ability to vividly evoke a sense of place is unparalleled. She makes every scene, every character, every place so real you feel it is around you as you read. You can almost smell the grotty streets of Whitechapel (luckily only almost), and nearly see the green-gold magic in the air around you.

The supporting characters are also well written - some nicely ambiguous goody/baddie types that you can't quite trust, and the magician himself is a well rounded and interesting creation. Biddy is a very likeable and sympathetic heroine - neither implausibly tough nor irritatingly soft. She also has no magical ability of her own, which is an interesting element to the story - although she can use some magical artefacts. But it does mean she has to use her wits more than the average magically endowed character might.

The underlying logic of the fantasy elements is easy to understand and she is one of those rare authors who can explain a new concept without pages of description or the reader feeling like they've had to make an effort (I don't like making too much effort when I'm reading for pleasure). Some fantasies - especially one-offs like this - you feel like you need to make notes in order to understand what is going on. Parry has the skill to get across the set-up of her world in a way that makes you feel as though you've always known it.

The only thing I found uncomfortable about the book was the concept of the 'ravenstone' - an enchanted stone that enables the bearer to turn into a raven. But the stone seems to work by having somehow trapped the essence of an actual raven inside, which has a mind of its own and is prone to panic and anxiety in small spaces... this seems incredibly cruel, and yet none of the 'good' characters seem to feel any concern about this. Even when freed from the stone, it is being forced around by a controlling human mind, including into situations it clearly doesn't want to go into. Whilst I know it's just a fantasy and no real animals were harmed, it felt a bit at odds with the attitudes of the characters using it.

Overall this is an excellent standalone novel (and it's nice sometimes to read a novel without feeling like you've signed up for a lengthy series as well!) that should appeal to all fantasy fans. It's compelling, engrossing and hard to put down. It is also an easy, flowing read that would be good for a time when you want something that doesn't require too much additional brainwork but is still high quality and intriguing.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This is a story about a world where magic once permeated everything, but is now nearly gone. Our protagonist is a 16/17 year old young woman, who is living on a magical island, with a mage and his familiar. More than anything, this is a coming of age story - what it means for a young woman to grow up and leave home and what it means for the parents to let that young woman go. There is also a lot here about what a real family is, and how the role parents play evolve as the child grows, and discovers, perhaps, their weaknesses and imperfections. It is also a story of compassion, forgiveness, and human nature. There are no real villains here - even bad deeds, at their core, are driven by plain human emotions, which are neither rare nor complex. These are the things I liked about the book - it had more than perhaps meets the eye, and perhaps even more than the author's previous books. There was deep humanity here, and I enjoyed experiencing it through the eyes of our protagonist.

There are a few things I still struggled with. I still can't get my head around whether this is more a YA novel, or an adult one. The story is told through the perspective of a young woman, and is therefore steeped in teen simplifications and extreme emotions. Nothing wrong in this per se, but I personally did not like the style. It came across as naive and overly simplistic, and the interpretations of people's behaviours felt too immature for me to care about. Whether it was done on purpose (to reflect how a teen might see the world), or as part of YA vibe, I still struggled with it.

Furthermore, while the worldbuilding was fine, for the most part, it was also quite simplistic and devoid of any innovation. The magical lore, the plot, and the characters all felt like I've seen them before. Again, nothing wrong in this either, but I didn't feel excited enough to really find out what happens next, because I mostly saw everything coming.

Overall, I think a solid read about magic in Victorian England, for those who are taking their first steps into the world of urban fantasy. Also likely a great read for teens who like this genre.

Take me back to the world of this book. Right now. I don't care if the characters are only reading a book under a tree, cooking, or any of the things I could do myself. I loved this book. No, I *LOVED* it. The pacing was perfection itself, the characters amazing, the setting solid, and the story incredible. I didn't mention the writing, did I? It's perfect, amazing, solid, and incredible! More (much, much more) from H. G. Parry, please.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I think the best indication of my response to HG Parry’s, The Magician’s Daughter, is that I cannot wait to be able to give this book to my own daughter. This is, unashamedly, just a story about growing up, with a fairly straightforward plot, but it’s also cleverly constructed, immaculately paced and the prose is as lean and sleek as a greyhound. There are obvious shades of Howl’s Moving Castle as it opens, and the ghosts of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations thread through as well, but heroine Biddy cuts through the background as an incredibly solid and timeless character.

Biddy, sixteen, grounded on the shores of the enchanted island of Hy-Brasil as a baby, and was taken in and raised by a magician and his rabbit familiar. She has lived a life defined by magic and fairy tales, though she herself is separated from magic. She has never left the island, though the magician, Rowan, does so all the time, transforming himself into a raven and flying away. He promises that she can too, when the time is right. Rowan keeps things from Biddy, but she never doubts that he loves her. But when, inevitably, the secrets he’s been keeping come crashing home to their hidden island, that love is tested to breaking, as Biddy and Rowan both have to head into an unforgiving Victorian London to save the magic they’ve been hiding in all these years.

The whole story is cleverly told in small spaces. The enchanted otherworld is just a small island, and the magical castle at its centre is a ruin, and only a few small rooms can be lived in. Outside the island, the story occupies tight, windowless cells, endless chimney shafts, cramped dormitories and neat, close drawing rooms. Even the characters themselves find agency to overcome their challenges only by literally shrinking into the bodies of birds. Everything reminds us of how small Biddy’s world is as she teeters on the brink of adulthood. For Biddy, magic is what it means to be an adult, and she’s been brought up knowing that magic is something she can never have. And yet, she understands it, makes use of it, and—in her heart—is waiting for it to suddenly show up and tell her who she really is. But magic is leaving the world. And as time goes on and every adult around her—all magical—proves less reliable, less solid, especially her beloved Rowan, the rewards of growing up drain from the world as well. This book is at its most beautiful when revealing the fears and insecurities of that moment when childhood is definitely, finally and naturally ending, and looking honestly at what disillusionment about who our parents actually are does to you. Even after all the action of the plot is resolved, the realities of finding out that the parent you thought embodied everything it meant to be full-grown and unquestionably good is anything but, dominate the takeaway of this remarkable book. Still, love abides.

My own child is 13 (at time of writing) and I can think of no better story to help her understand that feeling of being small that never seems to go away, and to recognise it in me as much as it is in her. A future classic.

Parry has done it again. I have read every single one of her books, and not one has let me down in anyway. The Magician's daughter takes us back to our childhood, to a time when we believed in magic, that it could do anything and a time when we would have given anything for the chance to see it in action. It's a coming of age story that, apart from being magical and set on an island that doesn't exist, reads as incredibly realistic, and it's a story that I adored.

Biddy loves her life in Hy Brasil, a legendary Island off the coast of Ireland, where she lives with Rowan, a mage and Hutch, his Rabbit familiar. Orphaned as a child she found herself there, and has been there ever since, but she longs to see the real world, something Rowan has forbidden claiming it is too dangerous. But one night Rowan fails to come home from one of his mysterious journey's and Biddy is determined to find and help him, something that sets her on a path she could never have imagined. A path that will take her away from the safety of the Island and to the mainland where she see's that reality isn't all it's cracked up to be. Now embroiled in a plan to bring magic back to the world. Biddy starts to question everything Rowan has told her, about herself and about him, and she will soon come to realise that the cost of bringing back magic may be one she doesn't want to pay.

Telling this story from Biddy's pov was a stroke of genius. She is naive and sheltered, but she is also incredibly headstrong and determined when she puts her mind to something. But what makes it so special was Parry's decision to have her live a life that most of us would have dreamed of as a child, with Biddy herself wishing nothing more than to return to the 'real world' and live a life like anyone else. Her life of magic, of running wild, climbing tree's, never knowing true danger is something we could only ever have dreamed of, have read about in our books. But for Biddy it was the opposite, she loves her life, but she longs for more, for normality, to see the world, the people the places, but the only vision she has of this life is through her readings, and when she reaches this ever elusive reality, she realises that it is nothing like she imagined.

Alongside Biddy we meet a multitude of characters with the two main ones being Rowan her guardian and the only person she has ever known, Hutch, Rowan's familiar and someone who spends his time mostly in Rabbit form. We also meet multiple other Mage's from Rowan's past life, but Parry makes the decision to keep our main cast small which means we get to spend more time with them, learning more about them, their past, their wants and desires and this all helped to propel, not only Biddy's story, but the overall story as well.

The magic system in this was truly unique and, for me, linked back to the kind of magic I used to believe in as a child, magical magic if that makes sense. The magic that could change your path in life, cure an illness, make your day seem a little bit better, the invisible magic we can't see, and might otherwise claim as a miracle, but we appreciate when it chooses to help us. Parry chose never to go into too much detail about the types of mage's, their skill set's, instead she lets us view it through the lens of Biddy who never looses her sense of wonder, nor her disappointment that she will never be able to access it like Rowan and the other Mage's do, but this decision brings a bit more magic to the story itself.

Parry uses the treatment of magic in this story as an almost scathing incitement of humanity. She shows how we would rather use something to the point of extinction than risk never using it at all, that we never truly look for balance in our treatment of things, rather ownership and how these beliefs will slowly but surely rid our world of any magic it has left. Through Rowan's POV we see his fellow mages treating magic as a commodity, something to be hoarded rather than shared knowing what a difference it would make. But he teaches Biddy that magic is for everyone, that it's good, it only gets used for bad in the hands of humans, and although she spends the story having magic just out of her grasp seeing her delve into the world, not as a mage, but as something wholly more important, was truly amazing to read.

Though the first part of the book took a little time to warm up, once Biddy reaches the mainland, the story sets off at a breakneck pace and I found it near impossible to put down. This isn't as descriptive, nor intense as Parry's previous books, so it is easier to fly through. There are multiple plot twists, so many of which I tried to guess at but failed miserably, but the true heart of this story lies in the relationships. Parry writes them so incredibly realistically of a parent and child style relationship. One which is never truly equal, one filled with hidden truths, secrets kept with the intention of safety, but one's that generally bring more danger. Biddy loves Rowan and Hutch more than she can ever articulate, they have kept her safe and given her a life most children would dream of, but through the story she also comes to see them as fallible beings, people that can be wrong, that can make bad decisions, people that haven't always been truly good. She really comes of age in this book and every single interaction, every single relationship she forges is incredibly realistic and added an extra dimension to the story.

Absolutely mega long review there... sorry, but when I love a book I do struggle to stop talking about it! Parry was already one of my all time favourite authors and an insta pick, but she just cements my love for her more with every book. The Magician's Daughter is a story that doesn't shy away from reality and I adored every single part of it.

The Magician's Daughter was wonderfully unique compared to the other books about magic that I've read. We follow the story of Biddy, a teenage girl who has been raised on a hidden island away from danger, but also away from all the other exciting things that the world has to offer. But Biddy is surrounded by that which the outside world doesn't have much of: magic. While not being a mage herself, Biddy interacts with magic on a daily basis and it was fun experiencing a fantastical world from the point of view of someone who doesn't wield magic at all.

This was a well-written novel that wound magic into the mundane streets of 19th century London in subtle ways, and I loved that the magic itself wasn't just something that a magician could control - it was its own thing entirely. It's wild and kind, only being dangerous in the hands of someone who wished it to be used in that way.

The characters were extremely lovable, Rowan is a fun and quirky mage who perhaps has a little too much on his plate and no doubt needs a good hug and a cup of tea. His familiar, Hutchincroft - a small golden rabbit (with the best name!), was no doubt my favourite character throughout the entirety of this adventure. I'm going to miss them all now that I'm finished and I doubt it'll be long before I'll be grabbing a physical copy so I can revisit them again!

This is a story of mages and familiars, of ravens and magical beasts, and definitely not one that I'll be forgetting any time soon.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I am a staunch HG Parry fan. I am pleased to report that her new book "The Magician's Daughter" has not disappointed me. It is a very wholesome coming of age story, with high magical stakes, of course. I will not bore anyone with the summary of the book (spoiler-free or otherwise), but I will say that Hutchincroft is a revolutionary figure in the world of animal companions. There is one aspect apart from immersive prose and excellent world building, HG Parry absolutely excels at-- that is writing believable relationships, especially familial relationships and that of relationship between friends. In this regard, The Magician's Daughter delivers a very wholesome Parent-daughter dynamic that is very satisfying. I cannot simply wait for more HG Parry books!

Everyone has a different taste in books, a book I love someone else might not, and unfortunately, this book wasn't for me and I decided to DNF it. Other readers may enjoy it, but just personally for me, I couldn't get into the style of writing and the claustrophobic feel of the start of the book.

Since I had other books from this author on the radar, I was so intrigued to find out about this new release and so happy to have been approved for an ARC through NetGalley!

This is the story of Bridget, called Biddy, a girl who had lived all her life on a magic hidden island off the coast of Ireland, called Hy-Brasil (despite the funny name, it has nothing to do with Brazil, and I did some research and found out this place was actually on maps until the 1800s).
The only company Biddy has ever had was the magician Rowan and his familiar, Hutchincroft, who never told her the full truth about who she is and what is happening—that magic is disappearing from the world and there are evil forces at play trying to track her down.
Once she starts knowing, she has to leave the place that kept her safe her entire life to try to restore magic to the world.

I loved the main character and how she gained confidence as the story progressed. You can really relate to her, and, despite the fact that she has a lot to learn, she is never annoying.

"It was just that when she had thought of seeing the world, she had never realized what it would be like to have the world see her back."

Not gonna lie, in my head Rowan is just Howl from Howl's Moving Castle; he is full of himself, mysterious, and he even turns into a raven!
I really liked all the other characters as well, especially Hutch.

As some reviews I have read state, the setting of this book brings so much comfort, and it feels like the story has always been there, despite you not knowing.
I think this is probably due to the beautiful writing, the fact that the main character is not the chosen one and therefore so much easier to connect with, and the presence of so many cozy elements like magic, a library hidden in the trees, familiars, a hidden magic world underneath our own, enchantments, portals to magic dimensions, mythical creatures, and so many cute rabbits.

"It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it."

Will be published on Goodreads on 15 February 2023.

Sixteen-year old Biddy lives on a hidden, magical island off the west coast of Ireland, called Hy-Brasil. Her only companions on the island are the magician Rowan and his rabbit familiar Hutch. When Hy-Brasil comes under threat, it is up to Biddy to head to the mainland for the very first time, in order to help Rowan enact a plan to protect the island.

The Magician’s Daughter is a great Historical-Fantasy, that had me staying up until the early hours to finish. The characters are well-rounded, and I found myself completely invested in the fates of Biddy, Rowan and Hutch. The story is well paced and will keep you turning the pages. Overall, I loved this novel, and I will be looking out for more of the HG Parry’s work on the strength of this book.