The Wizards of Once – Twice Magic

Cressida Cowell's The Wizards of Once Twice Magic is a wild, funny fantasy for 9 year olds about a boy Wizard breaking out of the one prison nobody escapes.

What happens

Xar is thirteen, the son of the King of the Wizards and the naughtiest boy the Wizard kingdom has seen in about four generations. His Magic never came in. So he did something very stupid. He pricked his hand with Witchblood to borrow a Witch's Magic, and now a green stain is creeping up his arm.

That's why he's locked up in Gormincrag, a jail built on seven islands in the Sea of Skulls. It's also why he's dangling from a rope outside its darkest tower at a quarter past midnight, with a werewolf, a very anxious raven and a gang of sprites.

Miles away, the Warrior princess Wish is shut in a Punishment Cupboard while her scary mother has visitors. Wish has a Magic eye, a living spoon that dances when she sings, and a spell for getting rid of Witches that wrote itself into her book. She wants to get it to Xar. Her bodyguard Bodkin (who tends to fall asleep in dangerous situations) thinks this is a terrible idea.

The fun is in the telling. The narrator talks straight to you, apologises for where the story's going, warns you about Witches and throws in brilliant made-up words. Xar's escape plans are chaotic and very funny. At one point he accidentally turns his smug big brother into something small and furry with a dribbly nose!

There's real feeling in it too. Xar is desperate to make his dad proud and keeps getting it wrong. Wish is sure her mother is disappointed in her. The letters jumble when she tries to read and write, and her teacher makes her wear a sign calling her a fool. Who hasn't felt, at some point, like they weren't quite what the grown-ups hoped for?

The Witches are properly creepy, with talons like swords and a smell of rotten rat. If your reader's fine with a shiver, they'll love it.

What to read next

This isn't where the story starts. It carries on from the first Wizards of Once book, where Xar sneaks into the Badwoods on the back of his snowcat, hoping to trap a Witch.