Jinx: The Wizard's Apprentice
Book 1
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- €3.99
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- €3.99
Publisher Description
It's not every day that your evil stepdad abandons you in the deep, dark forest of the Urwald. And it's not every day that a wizard rescues you from the clutches of gnarly trolls. But for Jinx, this isn't turning out to be a very normal sort of day...
The bubbling cauldrons and coloured potions of the wizard's house are a world away from the life Jinx has left behind. Even the walls are soaked in magic, and it's not long before Jinx begins to unlock his own rare powers.
But Simon Magus is no ordinary wizard. He seems to need something from Jinx - something dark. And Jinx begins to wonder: can he trust Simon... at all?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a story with strong middle-grade appeal, Jinx has grown up in the Urwald, an enormous, sentient forest where humans exist on sufferance, safe only in their own clearings and the paths between them. Trolls and werewolves prowl the Urwald, as do dangerous witches and wizards. After Jinx's brutal stepfather decides to abandon him in the forest, the boy is saved by a crusty, morally ambiguous wizard named Simon, who takes him in as a servant, eventually teaching him some magic. Years later, a 12-year-old Jinx and two new friends set off to find another wizard, the monstrous Bonemaster, in hopes he can help them overcome their respective magical troubles. Blackwood, a pseudonym for writer Karen Schwabach (The Storm Before Atlanta), fills her tale with drama and delightfully funny dialogue ("You could have told us you had a curse on you that made you have to tell the truth," Jinx complains at one point). Jinx is an engaging and memorable hero, and adult characters like Simon, the Bonemaster, and the witch Dame Glammer (who rides a butter churn) are entertainingly eccentric. Ages 8 12.
