I present to you… a present. That’s right, this book by Devon Michael is a gift.

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Hollo always wanted to go out and explore the city, not that she dared… but still… staying inside all the time is bad for a body, even a wooden one. And what’s the good of being able to do magic if you can’t even enchant the statues next door to keep you company? Or make the best tea you ever had? Or accidentally turn people into stone…

Hollo has always been different, but now that she’s twelve, she is about to find out that she isn’t just different, she’s one-of-a-kind. Once forced to brave the city streets alone, she finally sees magic for what it really is. The golden glow that brought her wooden body to life may be more dangerous than she could have ever imagined, and worse of all, her safe, secret house is losing its light. The clockwork men are coming for her, and soon she will have nowhere left to hide.

Some of the details in this book were just downright cute. For example when Hollo does her magic with a string and when Ali shows her how to weave them in between their hands making different shapes, because I used to play that game with my friends! Or even the bronze statues that are visually so cold and lifeless, finding the life and that piece of human characteristic inside of them when brought to life with magic. I loved it.

The writing was fabulous! The choice of words and sentence structure was a joy to read and it was all just so imaginative. A bookworm heaven, really.

The characters were cool! From the statues that came to life, clockwork men who do the evil Magicker’s work, The Lightning Man, the Mirror Man, the woman in the wall… The protective house! Of course we have Hollo and Ali. Hollo is wooden so you may think Pinocchio straight away, but don’t. Nothing to do with that story. Ali, a human, becomes Hollo’s friend through some horrible circumstances and the two just fit together so well. Their friendship is lovely and they bounce off each other nicely.

Hollo’s relationship with her father, the magical man who made her, is fantastic. I liked their dialogue.

What really struck me throughout the book and put little smiles on my face were really the small details of regular aspects of life that were written so nicely into the story they were more than just regular aspects. If that makes sense?! Devon simply did a great job at taking the boring and by using his wordsmith skills to write them in a way that suited the storyline and environment.

First half of the book differs from the second half of the book in the sense that there is more action, literally in the form of fighting, towards the end and I’m not sure I entirely enjoyed the whole action bit but it was still good.

My rating: 5***** because the writing was so darned good and the characters were a joy to go on an adventure with!

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The ebook is currently FREE on Amazon so grab your copy, enjoy the book and don’t forget to leave a review 🙂