kgbooklog

Frances Hardinge, Well Witched
Harper (2007) ISBN: 978-0-06-088038-5
Score: 1.5

A juvenile urban fantasy about three kids who steal some coins from a wishing well, which causes them to gain magic powers the task of making the wishes come true. But the powers are hard to control, the wishes are petty and mean-spirited, and the kid making planning everything isn't very nice. I liked the way the premise twisted the usual wish theme by giving the POV of the wish granters, but I had trouble liking any of the characters. This was originally published outside the US as Verdigris Deep and is unrelated to her previous book Fly By Night (which I liked a whole lot more).

Next Book: Jim Butcher and Ardian Syaf, Welcome to the Jungle

Frances Hardinge, Fly By Night
Harper (2005) ISBN: 0-06-087627-1
Score: 3

This is a juvenile pseudo-historical[1] novel about a girl, a goose, and a con man who get mixed up in some nasty politics. Contains lots of lying, stealing, fighting, betraying, censoring, and wonderfully anthropomorphic descriptive passages.

[1] It ends with this disclaimer:
"This is not a historical novel. It is a yarn. Although the Realm is based roughly on England at the start of the eighteenth century, I have taken appalling liberties with historical authenticity and, when I felt like it, the laws of physics."

Next Book: Kelley Armstrong, Broken