The Castle of Tangled Magic
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Magic and whimsy meet in this Howl’s Moving Castle for a new generation from the critically adored Sophie Anderson, author of The House with Chicken Legs.
Twelve-year-old Olia knows a thing or two about secrets. Her parents are the caretakers of Castle Mila, a soaring palace with golden domes, lush gardens, and countless room. Literally countless rooms. There are rooms that appear and disappear, and rooms that have been hiding themselves for centuries. The only person who can access them is Olia. She has a special bond with the castle, and it seems to trust her with its secrets.
But then a violent storm rolls in . . . a storm that skips over the village and surrounds the castle, threatening to tear it apart. While taking cover in a rarely-used room, Olia stumbles down a secret passage that leads to a part of Castle Mila she’s never seen before. A strange network of rooms that hide the secret to the castle’s past . . . and the truth about who’s trying to destroy it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Even though a revolution a century earlier ended with a "fallen throne," 13-year-old Olia's formerly royal family, which reads as white, has continued to dwell in Castle Mila leading up to its 500th birthday. While her carpenter parents maintain the ancient structure, which is built entirely of wood and boasts 13 domes, narrator Olia, an artist, delights in discovering its secrets and seeking her way into the domes, which her Babusya insists "are filled with magic that has been locked away from the world." When a terrible storm threatens the building, Olia and her new companion, a foxlike domovoi named Feliks, must travel to the Land of Forbidden Magic—a realm locked away following a rivalry between a wizard and one of Olia's ancestors. But as the magic seeks to break through castle and realm, both are in danger of being destroyed forever. To save her home and prevent a catastrophe, Olia must join with several nature spirits to fight the wizard. Again drawing on Slavic myth, Anderson (The Girl Who Speaks Bear) writes an intimately cadenced adventure, rendering the magically charged setting a character of its own while emphasizing themes of perspective, family legacy, and following one's gut. Ages 8–12.
