Mazik and the Miss Fitz is the second book of Ian Joseph in the Adventures of Magic Mazik series. Mazik has more adventures and he has a new friend Kizam to accompany him.
Ian was creative with the plot of this book as well. It was quite out of the ordinary. A map was even provided before chapter 1. Moreover, I’ve never been so engrossed in the protagonists’ success because the stakes were so high.
Mazik struck me as irresponsible. He ignores his grandfather’s warnings and gets himself into trouble on more than one occasion. Though the warnings may have been foreshadowing on the author’s part, Mazik’s mishaps appeared far too risky. Furthermore, he lacks the magic and/or understanding of how to apply it to help himself out of these situations.
I liked Kizam. She’s sweet and eager to know more about the world. She feels embarrassed about her lack of knowledge but does not hesitate to ask questions, which is a positive quality in a child.
Async was utilised well to express an individual’s feelings.
Ian’s writing is incredibly detailed, which was a boon and a bane. This book was consistent with the previous one in the series with the use of dialect for Gramps. Some text was put in a larger font size for emphasis. Additionally, I felt more editing could have been done on the book.
The three witches had the potential to be good villains or enemies, but their gross nature was pushed too far.
The book starts off by introducing the witches and describing how they eat their human victims. The detailed writing became vile from the first page itself. Initially, I was reminded of the story of Hansel and Gretel. The first illustration suited everything the author portrayed the witches to be and more. The more I looked at it, the more uncomfortable details I found of the witches’ diet. The details of consuming humans were revolting, and I, an adult, felt nauseous reading it. The children in the target age bracket better have the stomach for it.
I experienced quite a rollercoaster of emotions while reading this book. I didn’t like most scenes with the witches eating or talking about eating. The everyday scenes were fine. It’s a fresh and unique story and likeable characters, so it’s a good read. However, I think kids should read it only if they feel they can handle it.
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