I loved the first book in this series and book 2 is even better. As a reader, I was more familiar this time round with the set-up and the world and so there was more focus on the plot rather than the rules of the magic. This is high-end fantasy penned by an author who knows every last detail of the world she has created. It has a wealth of detail, a meticulous plot, loads of red herrings and high suspence. The stars of the show, of course, are the magical creatures that Bitsy and her friends learn to conjure in a race against time against Riddlejax, a villain that oozes danger and venom. This is a MG book for competent readers who want to be immersed in pure magic.

Bitsy and Kosh were such a lovable duo in Magicalia, that when the prospect arose in chapter one of Mateo joining them to form a trio, I didn’t know how I felt. However, what a revelation. Having finished the book, I have such a soft spot for Mateo, his vibrancy and strength of character. Some parts of this book would be hard for anyone to go through, let alone as someone new to everything. He’s a character I cannot wait to see grow as the series progresses and hope he continues to pop along for the adventures.

The other character plot I adored in this novel is Kosh’s journey. His sense of otherness and not belonging at the start of the book after Bitsy’s acceptance into this new world of Conservatoire really had me feeling for him. As we all know most of the best people have been othered at one point or another, and whilst it was sad to see Kosh go through this, I was happy to see his journey go from strength to strength.

I also want to shout out the strength of Jennifer Bell’s antagonists. With a fair few antagonists in one book essentially, I’ve seen instances where it’s hard for each of them to feel like an independent threat and they more become a blurred collective. Within Magicalia: Thief of Shadows, all of them shine as individuals and feel like separate entities, which is down to Jennifer Bell’s characterisation and shaping of identities. Dare I go as far as to say the Shadowsmith and Riddlejax features and elusiveness were my favourite parts of the book!

The Magicores are such a wondrous invention, especially as they continue to embody physical and behavioural characteristics of animals and creatures we all know and love, but with such a unique, magic-fuelled twist. As an animal lover myself, I spend half my time wanting a Hix of my own (and fortunately, while reading this book, my partner got a puppy so very much felt like I did). In this novel, the Mollowups stole my heart too as I could just see them being so much fun to be around!

I would recommend this to any reader ages 7/8+ whose imagination will LOVE the animals, the adventure, and most of all the chance to see magic in a world. All in all, this novel is a sensation sequel to the first Magicalia book and the series is driving itself in a wonderful direction. Without giving too much away, it’s safe to say the mystery is truly growing, and I cannot wait to see where it goes in Magicalia 3… In the meantime, I’m off to find my farthingstone.

This is a great middle-grade series that children will love, with relatable characters, an exciting story line, and plenty of magical creatures. This second story builds on the first book, with more world building and a fight between good and evil. Highly recommend.

Bitsy and Kosh have been thrown head first into a new world of conjuring, meeting magicores and discovering the hidden dangers of the Cosmodynamic world. Attending the renowned conservatoires, they are astonished at the classes and learning they are undertaking.

When Kosh is finally offered the chance to choose his farthingstone, he and Bitsy are accompanied into one of the Chrysalides. When a valuable item is stolen and attacks from the shadowsmith take place in quick succession, it is deemed that Bitsy and Kosh are the thieves and are working for Riddlejax.

The adventure they are forced into must prove their innocence and fight the shadowsmith from causing even more chaos than before. Mateo joins them and they will travel to Barcelona, Sri Lanka and Washington in interesting ways, all in a bid to get ahead of the shadowsmith. They will uncover hidden family secrets and rule out a series of suspects on this journey. It will test them in new ways, both physically and emotionally.

This sequel is as adventurous and exciting as the first book and I hope we get to return to this world again. Jennifer Bell writes such fantastic stories, filled with characters who show incredible courage while faced with dangerous situations.

THIEF OF SHADOWS continues expanding the world of cosomological conjurors.

Bitsy and Kosh now know about the world and so are able to deepen their knowledge through lessons, plus they have their trusty magicalia guidebook on hand. It's a nice dual pathway for explaining these creatures and their powers and I was glad to see the illustrations of the creatures were back. The creatures are unique and very different to others in books - a lot weirder (in the best way - so seeing pictures really helped me imagine them.

However, this book then diverges pretty fast from the school narrative. The duo are accused of theft and go on the run. While I do like school narratives, I also would agree that they are pretty common in middle grade so it's nice to have variety in how they're approached. This story gives you a bit of school and a bit of an outside adventure.

I liked the new magical areas we saw - the underwater sequence shown on the cover was really fun. Semi-heisty, which is always nice. The zen-goat's garden sounded so nice and I liked seeing another side of the magical world through Kosh's cousin.

That's one more Riddlejax plan foiled and a war between magical and unmagical people thwarted, but I doubt that chaos-agent will stop there so there looks to be more adventures to come!

An excellent middle grade book, enjoyable from ages 8 (a 9 yo read with me), with adventures and magic.
I highly recommend this series for its amazing balance between being contemporary - relevant and adventurous - mythical.
This can even be enjoyed as a stand alone book, but after you read this, you will want to read the previous book too.
5 star read for children.
4.5 star read for adults.

Another action packed adventure for Bitsy and Kosh. This time they're joined by Matteo and a whole host of magical creatures. Bitsy and Kosh learn more about themselves and their family and have to learn to trust each other and their instincts. There's never a dull moment in this book.

Several times in the past few weeks, the same question has popped up in my feed on Threads: Do you prefer standalone reads or series? As someone who enjoys both, I would never discount reading something simply because it fell into either of those categories but I do know people who refuse to be drawn into a series of books for a whole variety of reasons such as they don’t want to wait for the next title or are worried that the first instalment was so good, any subsequent stories won’t live up to their expectations.

Having loved the opener for this brilliant middle grade series when I read it earlier this year, this is a title that I – like many others – have been waiting patiently for and one that most definitely delivered on all fronts. An exciting magical adventure that doesn’t hang about but dives straight into the action very soon after it opens, this is another wonderful story that I downloaded pretty much as soon as it appeared on NetGalley and one that had me enthralled as I rejoined protagonists Bitsy and Kosh as they find themselves accused of a crime they haven’t committed and hot on the trail of the real culprit.

After learning of the existence of magicores, fantastical creatures that are conjured through experiencing different emotions, and rescuing Bitsy’s father, Eric, from the evil Riddlejax in their first outing, when we reencounter her and best friend Kosh they are in the middle of a lesson at the European Conservatoire of Conjuring as part of their training to become conjurors – not masters of illusion but those who can wield magic by using a resource called farthingstone to create magicores. Following the lesson, Kosh’s timetable indicates he has Chrysalides next and after asking fellow pupil and friend Mateo for help, finds himself somewhere within the Conservatoire that he has never seen, together with an uninvited Bitsy who has decided to accompany him.

Met by three members of staff, the two of them soon learn of their reason for summoning Kosh but while they are there, the chrysalides come under attack from the Shadowsmith, an individual responsible for a series of thefts around the world. Realising that they are searching for something in particular, Bitsy and Kosh quickly work out what it is and make good their escape from the chrysalides, taking it with them, but when the Shadowsmith also disappears, the finger of suspicion for the attack is very quickly pointed at Kosh.

With the authorities convinced that Kosh and Bitsy are behind the Shadowsmith’s recent crimewave, the two of them are forced to go on the run and conclude that to clear their names they will have to identify the real identity of the mysterious villain and bring them to justice themselves. But with their new enemy wielding powerful, dark magic and the two of them still conjurers-in-training, can they not only track them down but work out what their intention is and prevent them carrying out a terrible crime that will have implications not just for the magical, cosmodynamic, community but also the wider cosmotypical world around them?

Having discovered the secret, hidden world to which they and Eric belong in Book 1, here Bitsy and Kosh are both totally onboard with getting the most they possibly can from their membership of this highly exclusive community and are determined to become the best conjurers they can be when everything suddenly threatens to collapse around them. From early on in the book it is clear that the two of them are becoming more adept at using their abilities and creating their own magicores, informed by the Magicalia book that belonged to Bitsy’s late mother, but, perhaps more importantly, together with Mateo they are also becoming more able to use what is going on around them to work out exactly what to do next when they face a whole range of obstacles in this adventure, rather than either panicking – like many of us would – acting impulsively or just plain giving up.

As the three friends collect and interpret the clues as to what is going on, their already close relationships enable them to work as one in their battle to uncover the identity of the Shadowsmith in order to try to defeat them. While the narrative twists and turns as it unfolds, and carries us along with it, we can only read on with bated breath as together with Bitsy, Kosh and Mateo, we attempt to work out what are the red herrings with which we are presented, and just who the culprit is.

For anyone who has read the first book, this is a real treat but it will work perfectly well as a standalone read if you are jumping in here. As before, cover illustrator David Wyatt’s stunning pictures of magicores introduce each chapter, making this a visually appealing read too. I very much enjoyed it and am now eagerly awaiting Book 3, for which I don’t as yet have a date.

My enormous thanks, of course, go to Walker Books and to NetGalley for my advance, virtual read of this title. Magicalia: Thief of Shadows publishes 6th February.