The Witch, the Sword, and the Cursed Knights
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of The School for Good and Evil and A Tale of Magic…, this Barnes & Noble Children’s Book Award finalist and Amazon Best Book of the Month is a charming fantasy debut that puts a new spin on the legend of Camelot
Twelve-year-old Ellie can’t help that she’s a witch, the most hated member of society. Determined to prove her worth and eschew her heritage, Ellie applies to the Fairy Godmother Academy—her golden ticket to societal acceptance. But Ellie’s dreams are squashed when she receives the dreaded draft letter to serve as a knight of King Arthur’s legendary Round Table. She can get out of the draft—but only if she saves a lost cause.
Enter Caedmon, a boy from Wisconsin struggling with the death of his best friend. He first dismisses the draft as ridiculous; magic can’t possibly exist. But when Merlin’s ancient magic foretells his family’s death if he doesn’t follow through, he travels to the knights’ castle, where he learns of a wicked curse leeching the knights of their power.
To break the curse, Ellie and Caedmon must pass a series of deathly trials and reforge the lost, shattered sword of Excalibur. And unless Ellie accepts her witch magic and Caedmon rises to become the knight he’s meant to be, they will both fail—and the world will fall to the same darkness that brought King Arthur and Camelot to ruin.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Camelot has fallen and the world is divided into the Twenty-Five and a Half Realms, magical and nonmagical, in Rogers's quirky fantasy debut. In one realm, olive-skinned Ellie Bettlebump, 12, who maintains an extensive toad collection, yearns to be accepted into the Fairy Godmother Academy and attend society events such as her stepsister's wedding —both unlikely given that she has witch's "contaminated, malevolent magic" in addition to fairy magic. In another realm—Boulder Falls, Wis.—pale-skinned Caedmon Tuggle grieves over the inexplicable death of his best friend, Jimmy. Everything changes for the two youths, and the book gains considerable narrative steam, when they're each drafted as Knights of the Round Table, leaving home far behind. In third-person chapters that alternate between the protagonists' perspectives, it's revealed that a curse is draining the Knights of their power—and will continue if Ellie and Caedmon can't solve the mystery of its origins. The two leads aren't consistently engaging (Caedmon sometimes comes off as maudlin, while Ellie's emotional age ranges from child to adult), but they're surrounded with a solid core of supporting characters: a close-knit friend group (characters read as white), a kindly mentor, and a Maleficent-worthy antagonist. Rogers deftly weaves Arthurian legend around universal concerns of the target audience, and the ending is both satisfying and sequel-ready. Ages 8–12.
