Blackwood offers a story of enchanting texture and depth, and series fans will be elated to have another outing with the sweetly sardonic hero, whose conscience is almost as troublesome as his grasp of spells. Fans of Cornelia Funke should add this to their stacks.” — ALA Booklist
“A solid conclusion to a trilogy...threaded with proper amounts of heroism, humor and ingenious twists of character.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Blackwood keeps an astonishing number of balls in the air for this third book, exploiting facets of her versatile magical world by means of multiple alliances, complex plans of attack, and sticky wizardly puzzles to solve. It’s the puzzles within Jinx himself, however, that give the tale its heart.” — Horn Book Magazine
“The author’s multifaceted invention and sprawling, brawling, well-delineated cast combine forces for a tight, cohesive conclusion.” — Horn Book Magazine
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “This series deserves a permanent place in the children’s fantasy pantheon, with Narnia and Earthsea.” — Booklist (starred review)
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “The unique setting, smart pace, likable characters, and sprightly voice hold the narrative together while keeping Jinx’s fans eager for more.” — The Horn Book
Praise for JINX’S MAGIC: “As Blackwood extends Jinx’s experiences to other lands, she adds layers of complexity that hint at future developments. The next installment can’t come along soon enough.” — School Library Journal
Praise for JINX: “In this expertly paced, beautifully written fantasy, Blackwood elevates familiar fantasy elements with exquisitely credible characters who inhabit a world filled with well-drawn magic and whimsy.” — Booklist (starred review)
Prasie for JINX: “Blackwood fills her tale with drama and delightfully funny dialogue.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “Readers will thrill to journey with Jinx.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “[Blackwood] puts her central three [characters] through a string of suspenseful, scary situations before delivering a properly balanced closing set of resolutions, revelations and road signs to future episodes.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for JINX: “Flowing dialogue, easy interactions between the characters, a mixed Diana Wynne Jones/Lloyd Alexander vibe, and a setting both familiar and original make the novel immediately inviting and compelling.” — The Horn Book
Praise for JINX: “Complex characters, compelling fun, a marvelously dastardly villain, all steeped in a tasty stew of mystery and magic. What more could a reader ask for?” — Bruce Coville
Praise for JINX: “JINX is filled with real magic, not just the magic young Jinx learns, but the magic of a great book: memorable, engaging characters,humor that’s actually funny, an original, fantastic world, and real human feelings. I can’t wait for the next one.” — John Stephen, NYT bestselling author of THE EMERALD ATLAS
2014-12-06
Multiple threats to his beloved Urwald send tree whisperer Jinx down magical Paths of Ice and Fire in this populous closer.Readers who haven't followed Jinx from his eponymous beginning (2013) will likely stumble along behind in confusion as he makes his way through crowds of new and previously introduced (and uniformly contentious) wizards, witches, werewolves, trolls, elves and human refugees from two worlds in a desperate effort to save his (equally contentious) trees from three invading armies and the evil wizard Bonemaster. Ominously, not-so-cryptic prophecies indicate that he will succeed only by overcoming his stubborn reluctance to kill and embracing the Bonemaster's icy "deathforce"—a moral test he's been avoiding. The pseudonymous author saddles Jinx with other challenges too, from a really close friend bearing a curse that forces her to answer any question with the truth to an almost satirically archetypal journey up a glass mountain and then down through Eldritch Depths to the Nadir of All Things. Many references to the mixed hazards and benefits of choosing paths, keeping to them and leaving them add further thematic underpinnings. A solid conclusion to a trilogy that, though overcrowded and about a half volume too long, is nonetheless threaded with proper amounts of heroism, humor and ingenious twists of character. (map, not seen) (Fantasy. 10-12)
