Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic Book 1)

As always Patricia C Wrede has written a book that is stimulating on all levels. She has such an uncanny knack for writing things that are both exciting, fantastical and humourous. She has taken two worlds that aren't normally connected and seamlessly worked them together. Her sense of character development and dialogue style make me read every book by her that I can get my hands on and this one is certainly among the exceptional of her work. I settled down for an entertaining, yet intellectually stimulating read and was not disappointed in the least! I can't wait to read more!!!!

The way this world is designed is excellent. A world which has controllable magic should develope differently than our own. Eff, Francine Rothmer, is an engaging character. I look forward to reading her further adventures

Nice story, but very slow-moving. Not very exciting until the end. I hope the rest of the series is more fast-paced. Also, it was hard to keep up with all the characters, with 14 siblings and all the relatives. The story did stay on track, though, so that was good. The book skipped by several years in a row, so Eff, the main character went from 4 to 18 years old.

"Everybody knows that a seventh son is lucky. Things come a little easier to him, all his life long...A lot of seventh sons go for magicians, because if there's one sort of work where luck is more useful than any other, it's making magic. And everybody knows that the seventh son of a seventh son is a natural-born magician."

Lan Rothmer just happened to be born the seventh son of a seventh son, and his promising future awaits him, at least according to his large family. While everyone dotes over Lan, they have turned a suspicious eye on his twin sister, Eff, the thirteenth child in the family. If the double-seven son possesses amazing abilities, then the thirteenth child will certainly wreak havoc and destruction on all those around them. As a child, Eff gets blamed for anything that goes wrong: spilling soup, kicking balls astray, and losing hair ribbons. After one intense episode in which five-year-old Eff's uncle tries to arrest her for being a thirteenth child, Eff's father decides to move the family away to the North Plains Territory.

The frontier promises a new beginning for Eff, away from constant teasing and ridicule from her extended family --- and danger. The college where her father is a professor of magic is close to the untamed wilderness that swarms with perilous creatures. Only the great barrier spell protects Mill City and all of its inhabitants from dangerous attacks. Plus, Eff is simply waiting until the supposed evil of a thirteenth child takes hold of her and casts everything into ruin.

Eff, Lan and the entire Rothmer family ease into life in their new surroundings. As the years progress, Lan continually excels in his magical studies while Eff tiptoes carefully around spells and practical magic in order not to hurt anyone. An assortment of individuals weave in and out of the Rothmer home, and new homesteads are created in and around the great barrier spell as more and more settlers try to survive in the new frontier. Eff and her family undergo numerous changes as well --- some good, some bad --- and Eff even experiences times of happiness in a hypothetical cursed existence. She can't stop holding her breath, however, as she waits for her inevitable doom.

When mysterious grubs and beetles threaten the crops of outlying homesteads, professors from the college, Lan and even Eff are called into action to try to figure out how to stop these magical pests. Out in the wild frontier, Eff comes face to face with her magical ability and her destiny as a thirteenth child in a standoff that leaves nothing the same.

THIRTEENTH CHILD, the first installment in the Frontier Magic series, is a new and original look at the settlement of the United States. Patricia C. Wrede offers a fresh perspective concerning the origins of magic and how it could have affected the colonization of America. Fantasy readers looking for a great new series to get wrapped up into will appreciate and enjoy Wrede's cast of characters and all the implications magic holds with them. I'm interested to see how the series will progress and how the foundations of our nation and magic will continue to intertwine.

--- Reviewed by Benjamin Boche ([email protected])

Thirteenth Child is a slow paced western magical novel with no plot. Magic in this book is made boring and uninteresting. The authors skill of writing somewhat makes up for her terrible plot. The siblings are hard to keep track of. There are too many characters. All in all, this book has the potential for so much more than it is, and what it is, is one of the worst books that i have ever read.

Though I have thoroughly enjoyed other books by this author, I found this particular story slow to develop, and the overall book rather boring. I also thought the attempt to include historical figures actually distracted from the story.

Francis (nicknamed Eff) was born the 13th of 14 children. While her twin brother Lan (#14) is lauded for his potential as a natural magician (he is the 7th son of a 7th son), Eff is tormented and told that she'll turn evil. After her Uncle Earn tries to get her arrested for supposedly cursing his house when she was 4 years old, Eff's father decides to accept a University position (Magic instructor) out west to get both children away from the harmful influence on both twins; falsely glorifying one child, while falsely belittling the other.

Eff's mother puts it best: "I can see plain enough that an angel straight from heaven itself would grow up crooked if she was watched and chivvied and told every morning and every night that she was sure to turn evil, and I can see equally plain that fussing and fawning over a child that hasn't even learned his numbers yet, as if he were a prince of power and wisdom, will only grow him into a swell-headed, stuck-up scarecrow of a man, who like as not will never know good advice when he hears it, nor think to ask for it when he needs it."

Eff's family moves to the North Plains Territory east of the Great Barrier. The Great Barrier is a magical barrier that keeps creatures like Mammoths, woolly rhinoceri, swarming weasels and spectral bears on the west side of the barrier.

The oldest of Eff's siblings stay in the east (either to marry or go to University) and for the first few years in the new territory, no one mentions that Lan is the 7th son of a 7th son or that Eff is a 13th child.

Eff's first 4 years of life made an indelible impression and she is convinced that someday she will go bad. It preys on her conscience and finally she confesses to her magical teacher, Miss Ochiba. Miss Ochiba teaches the students to look at ordinary things in multiple ways and points out that Eff is also a 7th daughter, the first born of twins, and many other things besides a 13th child.

When strange creatures start to overwhelm settlers west of the Great Barrier, a 13th child may be the only one to see the solution.

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I've been anticipating this book since I first heard Ms. Wrede give a reading last August and "The Thirteenth Child" doesn't disappoint. Ms. Wrede's world-building is complete with an alternate history (Lewis and Clark never made it back from their expedition), and has that sense of adventure that the frontiersmen had when they explored the west. From different theories of magic to people who don't believe in using magic at all, the world Eff lives in has a depth and complexity worth exploring.

This book is a wonderful twist on `magical worlds'. Instead of following the typical conventions of the magical fantasy genre, Wrede recreates our own history, complete with the same people, like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. The only difference is that the world operates openly in magic. There are magic schools everywhere throughout the world, and several branches of magic that emerged from various cultures.

Set in what would have been the settler time of American history, Wrede tells the story through the eyes of Eff, who narrates in an honest and personal style that makes it a very enjoyable read. Also, Wrede keeps more with the genre of literature during that time period with a tone that harkens to Mark Twain or Willa Cather. My personal favorite part, however, is the fact that unlike most stories about magic, this isn't about one child hero who needs to save the world from the greatest evil that history has ever known or ever will know. It's a story about a girl's personal journey with her own power and her process of growing up, and the evils that she faces are not necessarily related to terrible magical creatures that threaten to end life as everyone knows it. Although there's a little of that as well.

[...]

Hard to get through this book. It took several days to read, as I just couldn't get "in to it." For a "mystical" book, it was fairly boring and overlong, with little to enchant the reader. The concept was good, the execution poor. It could have been so much better.

The idea for this book is great: an unlucky thirteenth child and a powerful, extremely lucky double seven are twins. There are settlements in the west that are home to dangerous magical creatures, which can only be stopped by putting up a protection spell. A society of non-magic users, called rationalists, are on a quest to make their own settlement, that's right, with no magic. While trying to hide their identities, Lan (the double seven) and Eff (the thirteenth child) go to school. After Lan's identity is revealed, he propels forward in school, leaving Eff in the cold. And to top it off, Eff has trouble in magic class, from fear of screwing something up and hurting someone. She starts getting after-school lessons from her great teacher, Miss Ochiba on a different type of magic, called Aphrikan magic, that Eff has a knack for. See? Sounds like a great book.

Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as it could have been. The entire book was just setting itself up for... well, nothing. The book was all, "and then this happened, and I remember..." until about the last, oh, four chapters of the book? And when it did start to get interesting, it ended. The "climax" of the book seemed fine, until I found out it was the climax! It was more of a... a mere peak that SHOULD be at the beginning of the book. Second of all, the stupid way they talk was very irritating, with all the "mama"'s and "papa"'s and "childing"'s they said, ugh... it got old. Thirdly, they said about ten times how Aphrikan magic worked, and about 5 times how Avrupan magic worked, and the differences and blah blah blah, but never ONCE did they say how Hajero Cathean magic worked, and the fact that it even existed was perplexing. Also, the relationships between the characters were painfully cold. I, being my assumptive self, thought that, being twins, Lan and Eff would be quite close, would tell each other everything. Instead, they hardly said a word to each other after Lan skipped forward in school. Finally, the sense of time in this girl is all off! It starts out with her as a toddler, then immediately goes to her being a preteen, and before you know it she goes, "I was almost eighteen by then..." How are we supposed to relate to her if we don't even know how old she is???

All in all, this book had a great foundation, but she seemed to have given up on it and crudely sped through the actual writing. I'm hesitant to read any of Wrede's work ever again simply because of this book.

This book was very diappointing. The book seemed to set up for the climax for most of the book. The climax was reached in the last chapter. The book did a horrible job in developing the characters and it seemed like the author lost interest in several like Lan and Mrs Ochiba. Effs low self esteem was very annoying and i almost quit reading the book because of it. The whole story shes like oh im horrible and i dont care. It got to be irritating. Lan seemed like a really stuck up kid by the end of the book also not like a nice caring kid. The different types of magic was ridiculous. I got annoyed how aphrikan magic kept being explaned but the cathean magic kept getting mentiond but no one had any idea what it was out of the readers. Overall this book is not worth your money.

The idea for this book is great: an unlucky thirteenth child and a powerful, extremely lucky double seven are twins. There are settlements in the west that are home to dangerous magical creatures, which can only be stopped by putting up a protection spell. A society of non-magic users, called rationalists, are on a quest to make their own settlement, that's right, with no magic. While trying to hide their identities, Lan (the double seven) and Eff (the thirteenth child) go to school. After Lan's identity is revealed, he propels forward in school, leaving Eff in the cold. And to top it off, Eff has trouble in magic class, from fear of screwing something up and hurting someone. She starts getting after-school lessons from her great teacher, Miss Ochiba on a different type of magic, called Aphrikan magic, that Eff has a knack for. See? Sounds like a great book.

Unfortunately, this book isn't nearly as good as it could have been. The entire book was just setting itself up for... well, nothing. The book was all, "and then this happened, and I remember..." until about the last, oh, four chapters of the book? And when it did start to get interesting, it ended. The "climax" of the book seemed fine, until I found out it was the climax! It was more of a... a mere peak that SHOULD be at the beginning of the book. Second of all, the stupid way they talk was very irritating, with all the "mama"'s and "papa"'s and "childing"'s they said, ugh... it got old. Thirdly, they said about ten times how Aphrikan magic worked, and about 5 times how Avrupan magic worked, and the differences and blah blah blah, but never ONCE did they say how Hajero Cathean magic worked, and the fact that it even existed was perplexing. Also, the relationships between the characters were painfully cold. I, being my assumptive self, thought that, being twins, Lan and Eff would be quite close, would tell each other everything. Instead, they hardly said a word to each other after Lan skipped forward in school. Finally, the sense of time in this girl is all off! It starts out with her as a toddler, then immediately goes to her being a preteen, and before you know it she goes, "I was almost eighteen by then..." How are we supposed to relate to her if we don't even know how old she is???

All in all, this book had a great foundation, but she seemed to have given up on it and crudely sped through the actual writing. I'm hesitant to read any of Wrede's work ever again simply because of this book.

This book was very diappointing. The book seemed to set up for the climax for most of the book. The climax was reached in the last chapter. The book did a horrible job in developing the characters and it seemed like the author lost interest in several like Lan and Mrs Ochiba. Effs low self esteem was very annoying and i almost quit reading the book because of it. The whole story shes like oh im horrible and i dont care. It got to be irritating. Lan seemed like a really stuck up kid by the end of the book also not like a nice caring kid. The different types of magic was ridiculous. I got annoyed how aphrikan magic kept being explaned but the cathean magic kept getting mentiond but no one had any idea what it was out of the readers. Overall this book is not worth your money.

I've always liked fantasy novels in "American" settings, but I haven't read a satisfying one since Orson Scott Card's Alvin Maker books. This middle-grade novel evokes much of what makes the Card novels interesting, including a similar obsession with big families and birth order, and "uniquely American" magic. Unfortunately it fails to do what Card does successfully, which is acknowledge/incorporate the real complexity of American history and culture.

The story focuses on Eff, the thirteenth child of the title, who happens to be the twin sister of Lan, a seventh son of a seventh son. By the standards of the (Europeanish) magical system their family uses, Lan is destined to do great things and Eff is destined to "go bad". Because their extended family insists upon treating Lan like a king and Eff like a walking time bomb, the children's parents decide to move them to another town closer to the frontier, where Lan might not grow up with a swelled head, and Eff can grow up with a fresh start.

I liked the way this book focused on family dynamics; a lot of the "drama" in the story comes from just the ordinary interactions of a large family full of headstrong people. That's what kept me reading. I also liked Eff herself, who wasn't too perfect or anachronistically "modern", and yet also wasn't stupid or passive. She struck me very much as a "real" and normal character, coping with some decidedly abnormal stuff. She tackles those problems with pluck and cleverness.

Unfortunately the characters outside of the family weren't as well-realized (which is why I deducted a star). I guess this is inevitable when the family in question consists of twenty-some people... not much room to focus on the other folks in town, even though many of those people were fascinating. Eff seemed to have no friends but William, the son of the town magic snob -- I wanted to know a little more about him. I wanted to know lots more about Miss Ochiba, who seemed to have no purpose in the story other than to act as Eff's mentor (and as the only black woman in the story, she edges dangerously close to Magical Negro territory). I was also put off by the way the people who feared Eff's status as a thirteenth child were depicted as simply mean and bigoted. I wanted to know if they'd known a bad thirteenth child before, or if there was some history they were reacting to which might clarify their behavior. Were Caligula or Jack the Ripper thirteenth children, for example? Instead their objections were never explained, and these characters ended up being just one-dimensional villains. Even in a story aimed at kids, I expect more depth than this -- and after years of Harry Potter, Scott Westerfeld's books, etc., I think most kids will too.

I also deducted a star because of the worldbuilding, though I waffled on this. That's because I enjoyed a lot of it, such as the explanation of the world's three main magic systems (one corresponding to Europe, one corresponding to Asia, and one corresponding to Africa, though they all have different names here). And I loved the idea of a fantasy-alternate America populated with dragons and mammoths (!) and other "magical" wildlife. But I was actively offended by the apparent erasure of indigenous people from this America -- there's nothing on the continent but forests and animals, making for a spooky sort of Manifest Destiny message as the mostly-European settlers make their way across it. The author appears to have considered what this absence would do to her alternate America -- for example, all place-names based on Native naming have been changed (e.g. the Mississippi is now the "Mammoth river"). But this actually adds to the problem, because it suggests Native Americans contributed nothing to early American culture but names. Also, though there are a few black people present among the settlers and Asians are said to exist somewhere, there doesn't seem to have been a system of slavery (or I missed it) or labor exploitation in this world. So I can't help wondering how this alternate America has been settled so effectively. Slavery was evil, yes, but it's also an inescapable part of American history because of the desperate shortage of labor in the country's early years. There simply weren't enough Europeans to do it all, grow at such a breakneck pace, and still feed themselves -- so who did the work here? It's not just that. This world has a railroad system, but we see no Chinese people, so who laid the tracks? For that matter, where are the poor white people, struggling to eat when (at one point in the book) there's a string of crop failures? If they're mentioned, I didn't see them.

I think this is what bugs me most. The book's theme is that America is unique because of its diverse mix of cultures, yet the book fails to actually *depict* much of that.

The children and teens who this book is aimed at might not pick up on this, or they might be sufficiently dazzled by dragons!!! over the Mississippi!!! which I will admit almost distracted me. But I think a lot of kids are pretty savvy these days, and a lot of them *will* notice. I think it might leave the same bad taste in their mouths that it did me, ruining my enjoyment of an otherwise decent story. Because of that I cannot recommend this book.

The fact that she admitted to leaving out the Native Americans from this frontier tale because she was not talented enough to side step the Native stereotypes says quite a bit about her skill.

She said something along the lines of "I didn't want them to be the savages or eco-protectors that they are commonly portrayed as". As if those were the only two options available to her.

She was one of my favorite writers, but I've begun to lose respect in her and in her work because of her lack of thought.