Penni Russon

This book would have been so much better without the magic! I know the magic theme was intended as a metaphor for adolescent femininity and suchlike - but the book would have felt so much more solid and subtle without it! Language that had felt poetic and literary only paragraphs before became unwieldy and naive in the service of a plotline that was about on the level of an ad for the Mind Body Spirit festival. And I think the 'finding her estranged father whilst dealing with boy problems' narrative was meaty enough alone - in fact, severely weakened by the awkwardly handled addition of 'teenage girl discovers her inherent magical mysterious powers' plot.
Pretty well written; some very decently realised characters, all of whom could have been better utilised; all in all, not bad.… (mere)