The Voyage to Magical North

Starred review from June 1, 2016
For two young fugitives, being captured by pirates is only the first step in an epic quest for a fabled trove of gold and magic.Hardly have inept apprentice magician Peter Magus, a white boy, and Brine Seaborne, a dark-skinned lass of 12 with an allergy to magic and no memory of her origins, fled a wicked master than they are picked up by legendary freebooter Cassie O'Pia, charismatic white captain of the equally renowned vessel Onion. Under the guidance of a scary but (supposedly) captive wizard, sails are set for the Magical North, where a massive concentration of starshell--corrosive but invaluable as the source of all magical power--is said to lie hidden amid mounds of treasure. Along with conceiving delicious hazards to overcome along the way, ranging from an island of misanthropic librarians to flocks of cute penguins with piranhalike habits, Fayers shows a bright if underused gift for comic description (one character sports "a face like a fish on a bad day"). She also surrounds her two high-friction protagonists with a vivid if not particularly diverse supporting cast featuring a decidedly atypical pirate captain and, for once, a boy disguised as a girl instead of the other way round. A robust debut, well stocked with heroic exploits, monsters, pirates, explosions, magical transformations, and life-changing adventures, and a promising series starter. (Fantasy. 11-13)

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August 1, 2016

Gr 3-7-Brine has no recollection of her family or of why she was abandoned on a rowboat three years earlier, and at 12, she is unhappily cleaning house for the magician Magus. She and magic don't get along, however-she's allergic to it. She might as well be allergic to Magus's annoying apprentice, Peter, too. All that interests her are the books in her mentor's library. When Magus plans to give both children away to the richest man on the island, the kids take a boat and escape, only to end up in the path of notorious pirates who are not quite as terrible as legend tells. Brine and Peter quickly learn that it takes hard work to keep a ship afloat as well as the ins and outs of becoming (and staying) friends. The beautiful cover design reflects the charming adventure within; this multilayered fantasy handles a variety of themes, including the meaning of family, the ability of power to corrupt, and the importance of stories. VERDICT Upper elementary and younger middle grade fans of Lynne Jonell's The Sign of the Cat will be enchanted by Brine's high seas adventure.-Kerry Sutherland, Akron-Summit County Public Library, OH

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2017
Twelve-year-olds Brine and Peter find themselves adrift in a rowboat, lost at sea. Their luck turns when they are rescued by pirate captain Cassie O'Pia and her crew aboard the Onion. Fayers's fantastical world--complete with invisible polar bears and man-eating penguins--makes the ship's voyage fraught with dangers, but the crew is stout-hearted and quite funny. This pirate yarn rollicks with the best of them.

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2016
Twelve-year-olds Brine, a magician's servant, and Peter, the magician's apprentice, fight a lot -- especially when a botched attempt to disrupt their master's plan to marry off Peter and send away Brine leaves the two of them adrift in a rowboat, lost at sea. Their luck turns, however, when they are rescued by pirate captain Cassie O'Pia and her crew aboard the Onion, famed for, among other things, defeating Marfak West, the evilest magician the world has ever known. But Marfak West wasn't actually killed, as the crew discovers when he shows up (in disguise) and tries to scam them into taking an expedition to Magical North -- where, incidentally, there happens to be quite a bit of gold. This pirate yarn rollicks with the best of them, led by the convincingly legendary Cassie but handily assisted by Peter's magic and Brine's quick thinking. Fayers's fantastical world -- complete with invisible polar bears, man-eating penguins, and vengeful whales -- makes the voyage north fraught with dangers, but the crew is stout-hearted and true and quite funny, and Brine's quest to discover where she comes from lends depth to the madcap events. And while there's more than a little flirtation with metafiction (e.g., each chapter opens with snippets from characters' written works that put some spin on whatever calamity is currently in the offing), the result is not to distance readers but rather to entrench them more firmly in Fayers's fantasy. anita l. burkam

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)