Anna James is starting a new middle grade series and it's a pretty good start! I enjoyed this story of enchantment and school and conspiracies.
It was a pretty captivating plot and I liked getting to know the characters. I also really liked the interludes with the grandfather reading to children.
It was a great first book, with a complete story but, mostly, I think it has a huge series potential and I'm really looking forward to reading the next installments.

This was a reasonably good book. It had good worldbuilding, nothing overwhelming, but nothing particularly standout.
I do enjoy James' writing style, as i read all of her previous books (the bookwanderers series), so i knew that i'd enjoy this, and I did for the most part.
the characters didn't really grab my attention too much, and it took til about the halfway mark for anything to really start happening, as a lot of it was the setup for the main character going to the fancy Enchanter School, and settling in there.
I think perhaps I just wasn't in the mood for this kind of book, because it had a lot of elements i'd normally really enjoy. So I might have to give this one another go at some point in the future. As it is, I wasn't totally grabbed by it, and was kind of struggling to want to pick it up to keep reading.

This is an absolute gem of a book - a really special magical story that I think will enchant most children (and adults!)

Juniper and Rafferty live in Whetherwhy where magic is linked to the seasons. Everyone has a magical talent but some have more than others and become enchanters. At their magical test during their thirteenth year, Juniper discovers that she is an enchanter and so goes to Thistledown Academy to learn how to control and use her magic. Coming from a family of bookbinders, Juniper has never been apart from Rafferty before so he follows her to the capital of Stormgrove to be closer to her.

It's a story full of magic and heart but also of mystery - throughout the book I wasn't sure who could be trusted. The story was really carefully crafted so the world was built slowly and the characters introduced gradually. I raced through it, wanting to know what happened next and was fully invested in both Juniper and Rafferty's stories and their new friends.

I loved the Pages and Co series by Anna James but I think this is even better; a really special story with so many lovely magical details and a really gripping plot. This would make a magical class read aloud, a great novel study or a fantastic independent read for any confident middle grade reader. Definitely one of my favourite books of the year so far and I can't wait to read more from the series!

If you like books such as Harry Potter, you will love this book too! Full of adventure, friendship, and magic, you will instantly connect with the main characters Rafferty and Juniper and their friends they make along the way. Can't wait for the next book to continue this adventure! I will definitely be getting a few copies for our library once the book is released in May. Thank you @NetGalley_UK for the opportunity to read in advance!

“Seasonal magic”
A grandfather starts telling a story...
Whetherwhy is an island on which the "magic" come from the power of the different seasons. When children are 13 they are tested for being an Enchanters (recruited from all over the regions) and go to the Thistledown Academy to learn their arts , as their magic combines the power of ALL the seasons.

We start with a happy family, focusing in particular on twins Rafferty and Juniper. Juniper is chosen as an Enchanter. Rafferty meanwhile decides to go to the city to be as near his twin as possible, as he finds it hard to deal with his separation from his beloved sister . At the city , he goes to work for the Aufero Bindery as an apprentice. However he finds that this place is not all that it seems...

On the way to the Thistledown Academy, Juniper's travel is disrupted by strange and powerful enemies. It would have been "easy" for Juniper to have travelled there without incident, but Anna James is too skilful and author to do this. It introduces the idea of threat early on. Also Juniper is initially unable to work magic when she first arrives. Her two friends are Olivor (from a rich mansion) and friend/enemy Zinnia. The dynamic between the 3 characters is intriguing, just as is the "triangle" of Harry, Ron and Hermione.

Rafferty's fellow apprentice , Jessy, has a history bound up with the Aufero Bindery and makes an interesting companion to Rafferty's attempts to solve the mystery behind the cosy façade of the bindery.

Gradually the two stories entwine to work their own magic.

I loved Anna James' Bookwanderer series , but this is equally enjoyable and I love the seasonal/natural source of the magic. There is reference to looking after the natural world and preserving balance. I guess a lot of readers might like a test for which season they would be (the equivalent of the Sorting Hat)

I am really looking forward to the next instalment in this absorbing fantasy. It's exciting, a page turner and has underlying themes of conservation, power, friendship and resilience.

Everyone’s aligned to a season, of course, by the small piece magic contained within us all. Except for the Enchanters. They’ve got the magic of all the seasons and can see the very threads that make up Whetherwhy. But when a plot is revealed to be attempted to steal the Enchanters’ magic, can Juniper and her twin brother Rafferty untangle it all before it’s too late?

The Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment is the first in a new 4-book series by Anna James of RCW and published by Harper Collins Children’s Books.

When you imagine the opener of a new Middle Grade fantasy series, The Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment is everything you want it to be.

James has crafted a world so filled with lore, potential, history, and magic that I already cannot wait to jump back in at the next chronicle. The depictions of every environment throughout the whole book will satisfy everyone, no matter what your favourite seasons. Senses will be drawn into the storytelling by how alive Whetherwhy feels. There’s no brushstroke application of ‘Middle Grade Fantasy World’ here. James has clearly thought out every nook and cranny of this world and it pays off by the bucketload.

Split protagonists can be hit or miss, but twins Juniper and Rafferty are so strikingly different yet similar in the way a good set of literature twins are, it makes for compelling storytelling. Their stories combine at essential points, but standalone in their own power too, which is what makes this a truly beautiful novel. No matter how a reader defines, they will be able to see themselves in the protagonists of this novel.

The split perspective also works brilliantly for pacing. When you hear the phrase magic school, you’re encountered by the belief that we’re about to follow one protagonist through a whole period of education. And thanks to Rafferty, we don’t. We get to see the pivotal moments in Juniper’s school education alongside Rafferty’s apprenticeship (a metaphor that blissfully challenges the traditional stereotype that school is the only way to success).

Having read several novels as of late that utilised threads as a form of magic, I was worried this would feel fatigued to me, but again James has mastered a depiction of threads on a global level, it was entirely unique. As someone with BPD, I oftentimes have spoken to therapists about how I see emotions and words and music notes as colours, so this idea lent itself to this concept. I’m unsure whether this was intensional, but for someone who’s lived like this for 30+ years, it was beautiful to see it referred to as magical.

All in all, this is absolutely stellar first novel in The Chronicles of Whetherwhy and I absolutely cannot wait for the second instalment. With the makings of an instant classic, I can already tell this is a novel that, not unlike the interludes in the text, I will hopefully be reading to my grandchildren one day…

This was SO good. I didn’t expect to be so captured - the magic, the characters, the story was compelling and I didn’t even notice the page numbers go down.

I loved getting to know the twins - Rafferty and Juniper. The whole concept and idea of the magic in this magical world was so novel and greatly built. The world was so vivid and a beautiful setting for the book.

With magical inclinations set around the seasons, 13 years old go through testing to discover their predilection towards a certain season: spring, summer, autumn or winter. Occasionally however, an enchanter will emerge with the connection to all four. They are admitted to a special school to develop their skills which sees Juniper travelling to a new city away from all she has ever known.

Rafferty follows when he gets himself an apprenticeship but finds himself embroiled in mystery. He crosses paths with his sister and they find everything may be more connected than they ever could have thought.

I was absolutely hooked and was so sad to have finished it! This series is going to be absolutely brilliant and I can’t wait to rejoin the twins again on their adventures in Whetherwhy.

3,5 stars

I love the Pages & Co series by Anna James so I’m very grateful for getting this opportunity to honestly review the arc of her new book! Thank you HarperCollins UK, Children’s and NetGalley.

The cover and the illustrations inside by David Wyatt are gorgeous!

What I didn’t really found adding anything to the story, was that this started with a grandpa reading this story to a bunch of his grandchildren. And the story paused sometimes to just let the grandchildren ask some questions. We never get to know anything about any of them, apart from a few details and I didn’t like the interruptions so I think I would have preferred this not being a part of the book.

The actual story starts at Honeyvale, a small town where our main character Juniper Quinn lives with her wonderful family (I loved them!) who own a bookbindery.

Honeyvale is part of the Island Whetherwhy, which is hidden away from the rest of the world to protect itself and its magic.

Everyone in Whetherwhy has a little bit of magic, unless you are born as an enchanter like Juniper. Then you have a lot more magic (which comes from the power of the seasons and the island itself) and get the chance to study at Thistledown Academy.

Magic thieves and dark magical creatures made the trip to the academy pretty awful and scary (I found the humans more scary than the actual beasts :o). The tole this took on Juniper is pretty big which makes her first days at the academy pretty nerve wrecking.

Juniper’s twin brother Rafferty hates not living with his sister anymore and he starts as an apprentice at a bookbindery close to the academy but the people he works for are hiding something and not all the people at the academy are to be trusted either.

The Harry Potter and Frozen 2 vibes were definitely there but I think this story would have benefited from being longer because I would have liked it better if there were more (detailed) descriptions of the academy, certain events and some of the characters and the reason behind their intentions. I didn’t know how to feel about some of them.

Anna James has delivered another cracker !
The children adored reading this book , it certainly kept them all engrossed and their only complaint was that it was not longer / immediately followed by another book. A new classic.

After having loved the author’s Pages and Co series I was excited to see what she’s do next. And she has very much delivered. The Chronicles of Whetherwhy is a whimsical story of magic, friendship and family. I loved the seasonal aspect and can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.