From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7–A year after her magical adventures with wyverns and time-traveling wizards in
Hatching Magic (S & S, 2003), life is more or less back to normal for 12-year-old Theodora. She's taking drawing lessons, missing her friend Mikko, and trying to put the Events of Last Summer behind her. When her scientist father is invited to study an unusual scale found on a small island near Scotland, he takes her along, and uncanny things begin to happen. Theodora and her new friends, siblings Colin and Catriona, encounter an evil wizard who craves dominion over the Wizard Underworld known as Never-Was. A strange man who might be something more than human; a ghost dog; Theodora's old friends Professor Iain Merlin O'Shea and Vyrna, the wyvern hatchling born addicted to chocolate; and the mysterious Book of the New Adept, which contains a prophecy about a young wizard who just might be Theodora, also appear. Readers find out more about the girl's magical heritage and about the inner workings, educational system, and politics of the magical world. Once again, Downer displays her remarkable talent for creating realistic characters and a totally believable universe where magic exists just beyond plain sight. Familiarity with the first book isn't imperative, but will definitely add to the experience.
–Mara Alpert, Los Angeles Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Gr. 4-7. Following a fast-paced prologue set in a British wizard academy, the scene shifts to modern-day Boston, where 12-year-old Theodora discovers that she is to accompany her father to Scotland, where he will examine a large, mysterious scale from an unknown creature. Based on her previous experience in
Hatching Magic (2003), Theodora suspects a dragon. In the Hebrides, Theodora befriends a local boy, stumbles on mysterious clues, and begins to recognize, explore, and harness her latent but considerable magical powers. For all the story's magical elements, the narrative remains emotionally grounded in Theodora's sadness over the departure of her longtime nanny, who looked after the girl since her mother's death. Smart, observant, and self-aware, Theodora makes a sympathetic character, convincing even in the most supernatural circumstances. Readers new to the series may not pick up every reference to the previous book, but they will soon find themselves swept up in Theodora's story.
Carolyn PhelanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
