This is the first book I have ever blogged about that will not get a paw rating. The reason is that The Magician of Tiger Castle, contrary to it's name (which sounds like a potentially wonderful fantasy story for teens), is not a middle school book. It was written for adults. The reason I read it is twofold: One, I read one or two adult books a year, on average, just to take a break from teen/tween/young adult stories. I love reading what you read, or what I hope you'll want to read based on my amazing paw review system! But once or twice a year I come across something I want to read that falls into the adult category...so I read it! Two, the author of this book is Louis Sachar, who wrote one of the first Newbery Award books I ever read, Holes. Maybe one of my top five favorite books of all time. Perhaps you've heard of it, or seen the movie (which is nowhere near the quality of the book, so please read the book if you've seen the movie). Sachar has written a lot of books for elementary, middle and high school readers. The Magician of Tiger Castle is his first book written for adults.
It is a story of Anatole, a magician living in the 1500s, who ends up being favored by a king of a fictional kingdom. The princess - the king's daughter - has been promised in marriage to the prince of another kingdom. But she is supposedly in love with a regular man, who is not a prince, and who in fact never met the princess, but thus the confusion - and humorous storyline - begin. The story involves tigers in moats, potions, deception, romance, dungeons, magic...it really is a fun story throughout! And it's written for adults. Which means it has suggestions of situations that wouldn't occur in books for kids. That said, there are plenty of adult books that get recommended for teens and young adult readers, and although I don't read many of those, I didn't find anything in this book that I would say a teenager could not or should not read; no strong, inappropriate language, no explicit sex scenes, no excessive or gratuitous violence.
So, if you are an adult reading my canine words of wisdom, you may enjoy this fantasy story, written for you, by a master storyteller. If you are a teen reading this blog, you might like this latest release by Sachar, but you could easily find other fantasy stories written more for you that are just as good (scroll through my blog to find some recent reviews). As books go, Sachar is a wonderful writer, and Magician was fun to read, but it isn't Holes. If I was rating it, I would probably give it an average rating...maybe 3 paws. Make what you want of that, and I promise I'll be back to middle grade books as soon as I post this entry!
Whatever you do, keep on reading!
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