The book Hatching Magic, by Ann Downer, is about a wizard, Gideon, from thirteenth century England who looses his wyvern, Wycca, through a bolt-hole to a different Where and When and ends up following her to twenty-first century Boston, Massachusetts. A girl, Theodora Oglethorpe, who suddenly finds his wyvern trump card on the bottom of her shoe, but if it falls into the hands of Gideon's half brother, Kobold, Kobold will gain more power and try to get his revenge on Gideon. Wycca, who's hatchling is about to come out of her shell, is also having trouble finding a nice comfortable place to hide her nest from the new world. As Gideon explores the new world he is introduced to Professor Iain Merlin O'Shea who works at Harvard University. Merlin, as he is called in the book, shows Gideon all the new technology of the twenty-first century. With the help of some magic and friends Gideon gets his card back and returns to thirteenth century England with Wycca and Theodora has an exciting summer and gets to actually touch a real, live wyvern. This book is interesting and adventurous with action. I'd recommend this to someone who likes fantasies and magic.
This book is interesting because the author makes the book seem real like it could happen. The book is also interesting because the details of different characters are so perfect and that the author doesn't say that the animal is a dragon, the author says it's a wyvern and that's what gets me thinking that it's real. It's also interesting how the author tells the reader how Gideon is seeing things in the new world. When the author is talking about him she'll explain what things he finds new to him how he sees it. The author does that with every character. The names in this book are interesting too, like Gideon, Wycca, Kobold, Febrys, and Oglethorpe. The first four names mentioned are from medieval times it seems like, and Oglethorpe is an outrageous name I've never heard of.
This book is adventurous because once Theodora finds the wyvern trump card everything gets put into place and everyone's trying to get something from the other. Febrys, the demon serving for Kobold, acts as a human woman in public who has foot problems. She also can go into someone's body and act as that person, and just like Gideon, although, they are from thirteenth century England. At the end of the story Gideon and Kobold are fighting for the wyvern trump card and they yell spells at each other trying to kill each other for the card. It's also adventurous when Theodora's trying to take care of the baby wyvern because Wycca had fallen in flight with the baby and were separated. Febrys was in Mikko, the caretaker for the Oglethorpe household, so Theodora was noticing differences like when Mikko made the omelet of eggshells and anchovy dip with dish detergent apple juice. Theodora had to try and feed the wyvern but it every time she did it threw up on her.
Also this book has some action at the end where Kobold and Gideon were fighting with spells. Kobold made Gideon sink into a hole in the floor of the Oglethorpe household. Then Gideon said a spell that created Kobold's coat into live moles that itched really badly. Then Kobold made Ouroboros, Gideon's trusted snake into an anaconda to suffocate Gideon which cracked one of his rib bones. Then Gideon yelled a spell which created bees all over Kobold's face. What topped it off though was Kobold's banned spell that produced a ghost of Gwenylyn, Gideon's love when he was sixteen.
This book is recommended to people who like fantasy and magic because it's a story of a wyvern and a wizard that go through a bolt-hole through time to a century 800 years later. People will like the interesting and adventurous parts finally because it's a story about magic, wyverns, demons, and wizards that makes anything adventurous.
T. Shepard
