1 Jan 2018

Review: The Magician's Workshop, Volume One


★★★☆☆

Everyone in the islands of O’Ceea has a magical ability: whatever they imagine can be brought into existence. Whoever becomes a master over these powers is awarded the title of magician and given fame, power, riches, and glory. Journey with a group of kids as they strive to rise to the top and become members of the Magician’s Workshop.
Layauna desperately wants to create beautiful things with her magical powers, but all she can seem to do is make horrible, savage monsters. For years she has tried to hide her creations, but when her power is at last discovered by a great magician, she realizes that what she’s tried to hide might actually be of tremendous value.
Kai just wants to use his powers to have fun and play with his friends. Unfortunately, nearly everyone on his island sees him as a bad influence, so he’s forced to meet them in secret. When one of the creatures they create gets out of control and starts flinging fireballs at their town, Kai is tempted to believe that he is as nefarious as people say. However, his prospects change when two mysterious visitors arrive, praising his ability and making extraordinary promises about his future.

This is the Volume One, so expect it to end suddenly, without an actual ending. Suddenly, you just are on the last page and that's it, if you want to know more, find the Volume Two (which I recommend to have nearby since the Volume One was over really fast).

Let's talk about the point of view. The blurb reveals that the story is not told from one point of view, but what it doesn't tell, that actually it's told from at least five different POVs. (I might have forgotten someone so it might be more than five.) Some readers have reservations when it comes to books told in more than three different POVs, which I totally understand, I am partly one of you guys. But with The Magician's Workshop, you don't have to worry too much about it. Yes, you don't get to know the characters in such a deep emotional level, but hey, they all stay alive and most of them are connected to each other in some way, so you get to see them anyways. 

The book is set in a world where everyday things are surrounded by magical projections. Where your food is enhanced with flavour projections and colours are everything. The mages get colours pulled out of them and only then can they learn the secrets of magic. The time system is based on colours, not numbers. And if you break the law, your senses can be taken away or distorted temporarily. What I could gather, was that everyone lived on Islands because of a great Flood, that rose the water level in the old times. The Islands are separated into Regions that all have a bit different rules and cultures.

I don't know if I missed it, but what was so bad about touching another person? Or were the regions under the same higher rule or did they all have their own governments?

The characters in this book were fitting. You know, change them a bit and they don't fit in anymore. Some of them were really childish to considering their age. Compared to a character next to them who was around ten years old, I would've pegged them all to be the same age, if they wouldn't have stated otherwise. The childishness fit into the book well, the book being about magic and all, but at some points, I wished they would have acted more to the age than they were.

The thing, that popped out to me, was the fact that this indeed is a Volume one, only a part of the whole story. So there still is at least another half unread, maybe more. Until then many things remain a mystery to me.

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