The Magicians of Caprona

Reviews and more on my blog: Entering the Enchanted Castle

Read for the umpteeth time to celebrate March Magics at We Be Reading and Reading the Theatre at Entering the Enchanted Castle. It qualifies for the latter because of a brief but chilling Punch and Judy scene (imagine the horror of being forced to play the role of one of those murderous puppets), and because the magic in the book is wonderfully performative – enacted specifically through singing. I love the wizards' battle and its description of magic made manifest through choral singing, a magic I sorely miss during the pandemic lockdown. The warring families theme is a nod to Romeo and Juliet, but with a much happier ending. The child characters, as often in DWJ's books, need to discover their true powers and stop worrying about external expectations; it has some terrific cat characters as well. It's not as hilarious or twisty as some others, but I'm very fond of it and was so happy to escape to Caprona for a while.