bn.com
The Barnes & Noble Review
Ten-year-old Charlie Bone doesn’t realize he’s inherited the family’s magical powers until one day he finds that he’s able to hear the conversations of people in photographs. When his nasty Grandma Bone and underhanded paternal aunts discover Charlie’s gift, they eagerly pack him off to Bloor's Academy -- a school of magic where he makes friends (and enemies) and learns the strange history of the Red King, whose descendents still roam the earth. Charlie’s courage is put to the test as be begins to discover that the Red King, his own emerging powers, and a mysterious metal box are all linked in ways he could never have imagined.
This adventure is the first installment in Jenny Nimmo's Children of the Red King, a spirited new series of fantasy adventures in the vein of J. K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter books.
Matt Warner
Kirkus Reviews
Readers may come away from this hefty series opener, about a seemingly ordinary British lad who is sent to a special boarding school after discovering that he has magical powers, with a distinct sense of déjà vu. It seems that England had a magical Red King seven centuries ago, who disappeared after his wife died and five of his ten children went bad. All ten children are still around in various guises, and, along with occasional descendants, can wield parts of the Red King's magic-so once ten-year-old Charlie reveals that he can hear the people in photographs talking, the nasty camp swoops down to bustle him off to Bloor's Academy. Within Bloor's gloomy stone walls he meets friends and enemies, some of whom are also "Endowed," as he struggles to learn the school's routines, helps rescue a kidnapped schoolmate whose mind has been clouded by the baddies, discovers that his father may not be dead as he's been led to believe, and is stalked by a werewolf. The climactic battle, however, occurs offstage, and though several characters turn out not to be who or what they seem, the revelations are thoroughly telegraphed. The author leaves a few threads dangling, but underestimates her audience if she thinks she's left any major surprises for future episodes. Charlie's adventure adds up to a formulaic, thinly disguised placeholder for the next Harry Potter; a far cry from Nimmo's eerie, atmospheric Griffin's Castle (1997). (Fiction. 10-12)
