The Orphanage of Cheswick Court (The Hollowbloods Book 1) by Haule Voss; Magical Training is Both Familiar and Exceptional

 The Orphanage of Cheswick Court (The Hollowbloods Book 1) by Haule Voss; Magical Training is Both Familiar and Exceptional 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The first book in Haule Voss’s The Hollowbloods Series, The Orphanage on Cheswick Court is both familiar and exceptional. It features a young magic user discovering and studying magic among other magically gifted students which is familiar. But it also has enough originality to create some unique characters and themes that make it an exceptional work.

In the kingdom of Alodia, Thaddeus Rigel Volkameria is born and raised in the woods so he wouldn't be found and destroyed by Orion, a cruel despotic wizard. He is one of the Hollowblood, those born with volatile and forbidden magic. He is then raised by the Angrec Wolves of Eldenwood and protected and educated by Ozzy, a wise owl. It is foretold that the one who wears the Robe of Astra will be powerful enough to defeat Orion. Thaddeus is given a map to guide him to the Robe and told that he must find and don it before his 18th birthday.

To do so, Thaddeus must be trained at the Orphanage on Cheswick Court, an institution that trains Hollowbloods. But he is not alone. He is accompanied by Gilgal “Gilly” Mezereon, his adopted wolf brother, and Elara Bramblefern and Emerson Thornwillow, two Fairies. Gilly and the Fairies have to take human form to accompany their friend to the Orphanage so they can protect and study alongside him.

There are some very familiar tropes and beats that The Orphanage on Cheswick Court has that can be found in many Occult Academia novels. Thaddeus is the typical wife eyed naive newcomer sent on his Hero’s Journey. He is somewhat of a blank slate where most of the more interesting character trajectories are given to the other characters. 

He goes through some darker transformations, especially when he and his friends go on a journey to receive some magical objects that will lead them to the Robe and empower them to face Orion. During this journey, the objects latch on to Thaddeus’s desire for power, obsessive need for success, desire for revenge against Orion, and hidden anger. While he tries to shake this influence off for now, there is a strong possibility that it may not be a good thing for Thaddeus to wear the Robe any more than it would be okay to let Orion gain more power. 

The Orphanage is both a home and a school for Hollowbloods so we have the usual trajectories of magical boarding school stories with eccentric teachers with hidden secrets, loyal friends and classmates, unique classes, and obnoxious bullies. They are also here in this book.

The Orphanage headmasters Mabel and Jack Calidora seem like a nice wise couple that know their stuff and are protective of the young ones in their care. But they also exhibit some sinister mannerisms and leave subtle auras of mistrust. They seem decent but there might be something potentially troublesome about them.

Most of the students are not very memorable. There are two antagonists, Clavian, who will be our bully for the evening, and Lydia, The Calidora’s niece and resident mean girl. There are some suggestions that there might be more to their characters than we have seen with Lydia's crush on Thaddeus and Clavian’s silent analysis and fear of Thaddeus but it's mostly hidden and speculated. Nothing is revealed so they are mostly one dimensional.

 Clavian and Lydia join forces towards the end suggesting a dangerous duo for the main characters but a delicious bickering and romantic duo for the Readers. However, I must admit after seeing how multifaceted Drake Corvus, the arrogant bully from The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk vol 2 Wings of Emifra by J. Bruno was written, Clavian and Lydia pale in comparison. It seems like their stories aren't quite finished, so perhaps they are only getting started. But for now, they could be less standard.

By far the best characters are Thaddeus’s friends, his adopted brother, Gilly, female friend, Emerson, and potential love interest Elara. Because they transform into humans, they have to weigh their former identities with their current ones. They are even told that the longer they are in human form, the more they will forget the beings that they once were.

Gilly is a protective loyal brother to Thaddeus. They never saw each other as different species but as brothers. Gilly still has many of his animal instincts like heightened awareness and extreme strength. However, he can't suppress his transformation and often goes into hiding when that happens. His struggles are balancing his new found human nature with his innate animal one.

Elara and Emerson entered the book as flighty flirtatious mischievous fairies that would help but may tease or play pranks just for fun. They were charming but mostly just flat comic relief. When they became human, they had to encounter human emotions and experiences.

Emerson struggles with her sexuality and identity and reconciles her feelings for a female student. Elara develops romantic affection for Thaddeus and has to weigh becoming involved with him and leaving her life as a fairy behind. They and Gilly question what makes a human and where their real roles and identities lie.

The Orphanage on Cheswick Court is well executed as a first volume and leaves open ended questions and enough curiosity to contact into the second book. 

The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk vol 2. Wings of Emifra by J. Bruno; Steampunk Fantasy Science Fiction About An Aviation School Takes Flight

 

The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk vol 2. Wings of Emifra by J. Bruno; Steampunk Fantasy Science Fiction About An Aviation School Takes Flight 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Review

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery. 

Spoilers: J. Bruno's, The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk vol. 2 Wings of Emifra is another in the trend of a Magical Boarding School but unlike Miss Mabel’s School For Girls by Katie Cross, The Fearghus Academy by I.O. Scheffer, The Peacebringer Series by Raymond W Wilkinson, or their most famous cousin Harry Potter, which teach different magical skills and talents, this one is more specialized. It is laser focused on one particular special skill, the gift of flight.

In the previous novel (unread by me), Aaron grieves the death of his father in a flying crash and is treated as an outcast in his seaside village. He discovers a pair of metal wings and a map to an island called Solistasia. His mentor tells them that there is a place where he can learn how to fly. Not with an airplane, he can build a pair of wings and fly with them.. Aaron takes the wings and map and heads straight for Solistasia.

In this volume, Aaron wakes up on the island and is welcomed to the School of the Skies. Aaron takes many classes taught by some really cool teachers, has some great friends, receives a bully/rival, and tries to fit in this strange place. The students study, train, and practice hoping for the day when they can show their academic excellence by flying a dangerous route to Mt. Emifra, which is a great distance from the school. The mountain is surrounded by unpredictable wind currents, enormous land masses that obstruct flight paths, and unidentified species that live on the mountain.

There are many standards that The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk follows. It carries the usual tropes found in many school stories: the newcomer protagonist, the close friends, the potential love interest, the snobbish arrogant bully, the academic lessons that fit the theme, and the life lessons. The tropes exist and some of them don't do anything new here, but others provide some interesting twists and deviations from the normal procedures in these books.

One of the more interesting aspects to the book is the school’s central focus on flying. They revere Icarus from Greek Mythology who in this version survived his plunge to the earth and taught a younger generation the secrets of flight with wings. The School of the Skies teaches classes on how to construct wings. They learn how to use the wings properly, how to let gravity be their accomplice, how to avoid obstacles, and how to manage their speed and distance from the ground. It’s a fascinating curriculum unless you have aviophobia or acrophobia. But if you ever had dreams of flying with wings and without the assistance of aircraft it brings those fantasies to life. 

The teachers know their craft and how to share it with their students. Tarras, a young teacher whom Aaron meets on his first day in Solistasia, acts like a cool big brother mentor figure to the new recruits. Professor Thunderstruck is a thrill seeking aviation instructor who teaches students the basics of flying including the excitement and potential dangers that come with it. Professor Guildenstein not only teaches the students how to make their wings but how to incorporate their own personalities into them like increasing their speed, giving it a more airy design, or increasing elevation properties. Then there’s mysterious Professor Mangus, an export on wind charting whose Glamour AKA Shape Shifting ability seems out of place in an aviation school but proves to become a key talent later on. 

Aaron makes some friends including Eno who shows him the ropes and gives him and the reader much needed exposition before fading into the background,Trevin, his goofy roommate, and Alya, who like Aaron is an outsider invited to Solistasia and acts as the moral center but still can be one of the gang. She is the potential love interest and some of the book falls into a 

“Will-they-won’t-they” subplot. They are good loyal friends but there isn’t much that separates them from other similar characters in other similar stories. 

What is unique to this book is how the arrogant bully character is written. Drake Corvus at first appears as the typical rival challenging Aaron every chance that he gets. He mocks his background, his deceased father, and his mistakes. He appears jealous of his achievements and potential for success. He is a walking stereotype, almost too much like a stereotype. 

There are moments where Drake shows vulnerability like crying when he is alone, quietly analyzing Aaron’s movements, and showing concern for his plight, usually covering it up with a sarcastic remark. In one moment, he actually saves Aaron’s life when he is in a tight spot. It shows more depth to his character, leads to an interesting reveal about his origins, and answers questions about his arrival at the School.

There is a long section where Aaron is left on his own and explores many darker issues from his past, most of which were probably elaborated upon in the previous book so don’t make any sense if you haven’t read it. It also puts the book into another territory which started out as a school story but became a fight for survival in a fantasy landscape. 

This section has some interesting aspects to it particularly the arrival of Emberly, a witty saucy fairy who occasionally saves Aaron’s life while bantering with him making his attractions clear. There are also some interesting cliffhanger suspense like when Aaron faces an opponent who knows more about him than she should. But it all seems to belong to another type of book than the one that we were given so far. It flirts with Fantasy while the academic aspects flirt with Steampunk Science Fiction. 

Despite the complexities of the survival subplot, The Amazing Flight of Aaron William Hawk is an excellent YA novel that really takes flight. 

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems by I.O. Scheffer; Magic Users Get Some Serious Game Play

 

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems by I.O. Scheffer; Magic Users Get Some Serious Game Play

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: In this third installment of the Fearghus Academy Series, Artesia Addison and her friends get to know more of the rest of the world around them. They also are affected with that illness that strikes every teenager: an overabundance of hormones and deep romantic feelings for classmates and other peers.

Another school year is in the air in Domhan and this year coincides with the Magic Research and Cooperation Triennial Tournament. Good news, Fearghus Academy students are permitted to participate in the Tournament in nearby Naomh. They have to use their magical abilities of Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Ice, and others against students from other schools. So in other words, it's something like Hogwarts' Triwizard Tournament combined with a human Pokemon battle.

To top it all off, sworn enemy Alptraum Engel is still around and is ready to take her villainous act on the road to fight those meddling kids. Just as big as the athletic tournament and the ever present threat of Engel, is the romantic lives of these kids who are starting to view their classmates as more than friends. 

Because I am not fond of books or episodes where most of the action is an athletic tournament, I find Precarious Gems to be the weakest volume in the series. However, it is the weakest volume in an outstanding series so the weakness isn't very much and Fearghus Academy is still strongly recommended as a whole.

The Tournament sections are interesting especially for those who like athletic competitions or magical duels. The characters often have to use their intelligence as well as their skill sets to best their opponents. A Water Mage Vs. A Fire Mage or Ice Vs. Fire is easy enough to figure out. But what sparks could fly in a Fire Vs. Fire battle (pun not intended)? What would result in Light Vs. Earth besides a scorching summer day? What powers are those in Other and how can one compete with a rival who has powers that they don't know about? 

There are some pretty clever means that Team Fearghus uses to defend themselves like building an ice wall or creating a bright light to throw their opponent off kilter. But a little of the competition goes a long way and ends surprisingly anticlimactic when unforeseen circumstances force Fearghus to withdraw from the competition.

What is more important is the development of our lead characters. As adolescents, they are experimenting with their bodies and their emotions. Many of the characters are pairing up. Wild girl Marnie and the steadier Gretel have fallen in love. The devout Lulu and class clown Douglas have been involved since the ending of the last book. They are strange attractions of opposites, but so far seem to work well.

Deuteragonists, Artesia and Eilam get the most attention and this book explores their romantic lives as they struggle to survive in this exciting but troubling world. In the previous book, Eilam was afflicted with a parasite which caused him to have great pain hearing or seeing religious things. He was then kidnapped and subjected to torture and abuse from his birth parents. 

This volume clearly shows that those events left their mark on him physically and emotionally. He is easily subdued a few times in this book and is unsure of himself or his abilities. He makes a few new friends, some turn out to be beyond fair weather friends, and exposes his fears and vulnerabilities even more. He has many heart to heart conversations with Artesia and Telemachus.

One of the most emotional ones between Eilam and Telemachus involves Telemachus pouring out his heart to Eilam. While Telemachus is certainly gay, Eilam is asexual but this conversation suggests that Eilam may actually be demisexual, asexual except where Telemachus is concerned or at least feels an emotional romantic connection with his friend, just not a sexual one. It's nice that finally after flirtations, jokes, and loyalty in the past two books the two young men are ready to admit their true feelings towards each other and take that step into becoming a couple.

Artesia also has her own love life to sort out. She breaks up with her former boyfriend, Jun, because the long distant relationship becomes harder to keep up with. At first, she thinks that she may have feelings for Eilam but since she knows of his sexuality and recognizes their platonic friendship, she does not pursue it.

Instead her latest romance comes from another place. In my review of October Jewels, I wrote that Artesia treats both Jun and Marnie, who are infatuated with her, equally and speculated that perhaps her sexuality was something that was waiting to be explored.

Well the wait is over. While Artesia had a romance with Jun, she is now interested in someone else: Callie Rose Boutique, a model and student from a rival school. Callie and Artesia at first get into teasing conversations that border on flirting. They go on dates first in groups then single. Then finally they become physical. Artesia is captivated by this beautiful self-assured woman who is unafraid to pursue a romantic relationship with another woman despite objections from her homophobic classmates. 

Artesia herself is uncertain at first. Even though she sympathizes and understands her friends' sexualities, her own has never been explored. There is still something of the 1860's Earth girl in her that causes her to think those feelings are wrong for her. Callie gives her a chance to understand and accept those emotions within herself and realize that they are perfectly natural and normal. Artesia is bisexual and she finally acknowledges that.

Another important aspect to this volume of the series is how it explores the relationships between the adopted parents and the children in their care. After the previous volume where we met Eilam's horrible abusive birth parents and learned a painful depressing secret about Artesia's, it is demonstrated that in Domhan they are in good hands. 

Mr. Peterson shows deep affection for Eilam and his other adopted son, Cadence. He becomes the person that Eilam can confide in and respect. He gives what the young man never had before: unconditional love and acceptance.

Nichole Harvey also steps up in her parenting of Artesia. She acts like a mother tiger or bear protecting her cub. She is concerned about Artesia's relationship with Eilam because of his parentage but slowly comes around. She also shares stories of her own youth to lead by example but also to let Artesia know that nothing is off the table and they can talk about anything.

Nichole's best moment comes at the end when she has to defend her adopted daughter from Engel's latest trap. While Engel reveals a dark secret of her own, Nichole's actions show that there is no excuse for her to mistreat children, particularly her daughter. 

While the Tournament takes a lot of Precarious Gems' time, it is the romantic and familial relationships that stand out in this book.

Weekly Reader: Miss Mabel's School For Girls (Book One in The Network School) by Katie Cross; Dark Fantasy About Magical Girl's School is Spooky and Spectacular

 

Weekly Reader: Miss Mabel's School For Girls (Book One in The Network School) by Katie Cross; Dark Fantasy About Magical Girl's School is Spooky and Spectacular

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Okay, I admit it. As much as I love most books and other works about witches and other magic users, I am not nor have I ever been a big fan of the Harry Potter Series. I recognize J.K. Rowling's attention to world building, the influence on getting kids to enjoy reading, and the impact that it had and continues to have on Children's Literature and the Fantasy Genre. 

However, personally I never cared that much for the series itself. I find Harry Potter himself the worst kind of Chosen One insufferable lead, a Gary Stu. The other characters are mostly flat and the dimensions that they possess happen too late for me to really care. The series falls to the standard good vs. evil conflict without much gray area interest. It calls back to the late 19th early 20th century of the so-called Golden Age of English Literature in terms of structure and subtle themes of classicism, racism, and adherence to traditional gender roles.

Many of the plot points are predictable and even some of the twists were obvious. Even the idea of a school of witches and wizards had been used before in works like The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy. When it comes down to it, the Harry Potter series wasn't any better written than the OZ series.

Not only that, but I found the publicity and media attention to be overblown, making what I found to be an average series at best overrated. (I'm the contrary sort that the more you tell me that I am supposed to like something the more I will dislike it to the point of hating it.) Worst of all, the single minded attention to Harry Potter overshadowed other books that were also about witches, wizards, and magic users that were better in quality that came out around the time but not near as well known and certainly deserved even some of the publicity that Potter got. Books like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke which was one of my favorite fantasy books during the Aughts.

Another of the books which has similar ideas to Harry Potter but is also better written is Katie Cross' Miss Mabel's School For Girls. It has a better plot, characters, and is less defined in its themes of recognizing darkness in others and recognizing power and darkness in oneself.

16 year old, Bianca Monroe gets accepted to the prestigious Miss Mabel's School For Girls, a boarding school for young witches. It is one of the most notable schools in The Network, a sockety of witches and other magic users with their own government, schools, society, economic structure and so on. 

Bianca makes friends with fellow first years, Camille and Leda and gets the attention of instructors like Miss Bernadette, Miss Scarlet and Miss Celia. When a competition comes for third years only, Bianca raises her hand. She doesn't want to show off her abilities, though they are impressive. She wants to face Miss Mabel, the headmistress. Mabel put a curse on Bianca's family years ago and she wants the curse either removed by Mabel voluntarily or by her death.

Bianca is no Harry Potter. She is not stunned and amazed by this new world where she is propped up as a prophecized hero since she was a baby simply by surviving. She knows about The Network. She is experienced and even cynical about the way the magical world works. 

For lack of a better world, Bianca was home schooled by her father to practice magic. He also teaches her to suppress her thoughts and knowledge so the treacherous Miss Mabel doesn't catch on. She is even told to suppress the magic that she learned outside of school so she can act like the average student and no one knows where or from whom she learned her powers. During her education, Bianca behaves like a spy in enemy territory being a good student but always knowing that the enemy is within.

While the Harry Potter series gets progressively darker, the older the kids get and the more the series continues, the darkness in Miss Mabel's School For Girls is present from the beginning. Many characters pay a terrible price for using and specializing in magic. Leda, Bianca's friend, has precognitive abilities but they make her so physically ill that she prefers to be alone rather than inadvertently reveal a future that someone doesn't want to know.

Many of the tests in the competition are meant to bring out the more sinister side to the characters. Even the smallest assignments like finding the student's individual butterfly comes with the caveat not to trust anyone or anything. The participants have to face their deepest fears and go through psychological torture to move ahead in the competition. 

One of the final tests puts the young witches through a personal physical and mental pain that will only be recalled if the witch withdraws from the competition. The test and results reveal a lot about Bianca and the other participants, what's most important to them, and what drives them to succeed.

Instead of Hogwarts which appears to be a kid's wish fulfillment where Readers long to visit,Miss Mabel's School For Girls should come with a warning: Enter at Your Own Risk. Warning: Physical and Mental Side Effects May Occur.

When Bianca finally gets some alone time with Miss Mabel, it becomes a one on one battle. Bianca has to use all of her self taught magic, love of her family, and desire to end this painful and destructive curse to face Mabel who has power, influence, and a strong ambition to be at the top of the Network. 

Mabel gives off this impression of being a stern but loving leader and headmistress to young witches. However, she has a ruthless cunning nature that destroys anyone who dares oppose or disagree with her. 

To fight against her, Bianca has to be ruthless, cunning, and duplicitous and hide that nature. To face that darkness in Miss Mabel, Bianca has to find that darkness in herself. It takes her one book to learn what it took Harry seven (and eight movies). 

While some could call Miss Mabel's School For Girls, a Harry Potter knockoff, it is less concrete, deals less with absolutes of black and white, and contains less of the old school Golden Age of Literature structure disguised as a new experience. Miss Mabel's has the nuances in character and plot development and shades of gray that Rowling's franchise lacks.