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Clara has never fitted in, not properly. Apart from the love of her mother and father, she feels alone – Lost, almost. When she moves to Las Vegas, and joins a new school, she settles in to the routine of dodging the bullies, safe in the knowledge she’ll probably be leaving before the start of the next school year. On the day before the last day of term, she notices the aloof set of triplets slip into an alley way and curious as to what they’re doing in the not so upmarket part of town, she follows them. The alley way is straight, not bending or turning anywhere and has no entrances leading off into buildings – but the triplets have disappeared; completely vanished. The only thing moving in the alley is something on a wall; something that should be solid, but is shimmering slightly. Clara approaches the apparition… and finds herself in another world.
Clara Thorn: The Witch that was Found is an incredibly well written Young Adult Fantasy – using magical realism to bring the enchanting world of Undersell to life. The lore of the world he has created is easy to understand, as he reveals it in dribs and drabs, allowing the reader to learn about this new realm at the same speed as Clara, the protagonist. He has hit on all of the typical tropes including found family and magic schools, while managing to create something completely and utterly unique.
There’s even a touch of education in there – with Clara seeing the magic as mathematical equations – and Jones manages to explain the effect of balancing equations and formula without losing the reader. He manages to, somehow, keep the descriptions entertaining, even for someone who is a little bit daunted by the prospect of complex maths. Jones also brings up political tension and bigotry without sounding as though he’s lecturing the reader on who is right, and who is wrong. He’s created morally grey characters through this, showing that political alliances aren’t always simply black and white.
Although, by far, the most fun part of this extraordinary novel is the introduction of Wizard Football (as a Brit, I appreciate the use of the word football rather than soccer). The rules of the sport is easy to follow, and the banter between the American born students and the European students is amusing as they try to wrangle on the origins of the ‘beautiful game’ and whether American Football or ‘Soccer’ came first. It added a nice spark of humour.
S. A.
First published on Reedsy Discovery as part of their ARC program. You can read the original review here.
You can buy Clara Thorn: The Witch that was Found from Amazon by clicking on the link.