A Game of Thrones for Kids: The Threads of Magic

The Threads of Magic by Alison Croggon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bit like A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, but for kids. There are some differences, however. Though both are of the sword and sorcery genre, A Song of Ice and Fire has too much sword and not enough sorcery, while The Threads of Magic has too much sorcery and not enough sword. But there is plenty of political wheeling and dealing, power struggles, and back-stabbing, on all sides.

In the city and kingdom of Clarel, the royal family had been taken over by evil being called spectres, though a non-spectral usurper had temporarily ousted the spectres from the royal family itself, but were clearly no better than spectres. The church's leadership, represented by a sole Cardinal, is possibly also infested with spectres, who eliminated their enemies, the witches, a century earlier, and have a team of assassins to ensure they never reappear.

And then there is Pip, a 12-year-old orphan who lives with his older sister Eleanor, and supports them by picking pockets in the Dickensian city. Unfortunately he picks the pocket of an assassin, getting a magical artifact in a jewelled box. He pawns the box and is about to throw away the artifact, the shrivelled heart of Clovis, the heir to the throne and next-in-line for spectreship, had the throne not been taken by the usurper and his heart by a witch when he was seven. And Clovis, whose spirit is trapped in the heart by the witch, wants Pip to keep him.

Oh, and there's a Princess Georgette, whose father wants to marry her off to a neighbouring King for the sake of a political alliance. And there are numerous other characters too, all taking part in this complicated wheeling and dealing political dance, with each party dancing to the music of its own band, playing its own tune, and out of tune and with sudden changes of tempo.

I found it hard to like any of the characters very much. They all seemed emotionally unstable, being kind one moment and nasty the next. The settings seemed inconsistent too -- witches had been eradicated a century earlier, and then one or two appear, and then suddenly they are there in large numbers and have been all along, and even dominate one quarter of the city, and are behind the running of a midsummer festival in which everyone takes part. And at the end of the story, no one seems to know, or care, what happened to the heart that started all the trouble.

While I didn't think it was a great story, I'm glad I read it, because I also write fantasy stories, mainly for kids, and this book shows a lot of the things that one should avoid -- things one should bear in mind when editing one's own writing. 

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