Avalon web of magic

Mix a little friendship, magic & mystique, and a dash of adventure to create a fun series for tweens.

Avalon web of magic
By Rachel Roberts
Seven Seas Entertainment

V. 1 Circles in the stream
211 p. ISBN 978-1933164-66-3 $5.95

V. 2 All that glitters
184 p. ISBN 978-1-933164-67-0 $5.95

V. 3 Cry of the wolf
216 p. ISBN 978-1-933164-70-0 $5.95

In volume 1 we meet Emily who’s moved to a new town and is feeling lonely and far away from her father.  When an unusual cat comes to her mother’s veterinary clinic with even more unusual injuries, Emily feels pulled to care for him. The cat leads Emily to the Ravenswood Wildlife preserve where she meets Adrianne.  Together, the girls notice that the forest animals bear similar injuries to the cat Emily has been caring for.  In their search for answers they discover a portal to another world.  They meet Phel, a magical purple bear, and Ozzy, a talking ferret who in his world is an elf.  (Ozzy is my favorite character, and now I want an elf – turned talking ferret- as my next pet.)  Ozzy was sent to their world to find three mages (magic users), a warrior, a healer, and a blazing star. The girls wonder if they are the ones, but who is the blazing star?  Can it be Kara, the mayor’s obnoxious daughter?  Can they save the animals and the Ravenswood wildlife preserve?

By volume 2, the girls have saved Ravenswood from becoming a golf course and Kara is concerned that she is the only one of the girls that doesn’t have a magic stone.  She is also trying to balance her new friends and old friends. It doesn’t help that a giant cat has shown up in school, stalking her.  Or those weird little flying things keep popping up in odd places. While the cat and dragonflies are merely nuisances, the scary old hags that keep trying to get to her are downright scary.

In volume 3, Adrianne’s mistwolf, discovers she is not the last of her kind and leaves to go be with them. Adrianne is heartbroken, and can’t bear the lost connection and so she follows Stormbringer through a portal where she faces the dark magic, and evil sorceress that is trying to capture all magic, head on.

This is the first 3 of a 12 book series about the three girls who are destined to find Avalon and save all magic. The books are fun adventurous reads, sprinkled generously with manga-style drawings.  (The series is being adapted into manga. Volume 1, according to books in print, will be released in May 2009.)  The author has very positive messages about the environment and taking care of animals – and while it was apparent, it was not heavy-handed. For those readers who like fantasy, but don’t want anything to heavy, this is the perfect series.  Recommended for ages 9-13.

This review is based on a complimentary reading copies supplied by the publisher. All images copyright © Seven Seas Entertainment.

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