Leila Tualla: Mama, Author, & Advocate
  • HOME
  • about me
  • Blog
  • News & bookshelf
    • Media
    • Books >
      • Letters to Lenora
      • Love, Defined
    • Poetry >
      • PMDD & me (poetry chapbook)
      • Storm of Hope
    • Anthologies >
      • The Sacred Feminine II
      • The Poetry Marathon 2021
      • Remnants of Home
      • Poetica II
  • ADVOCACY
    • RESOURCES for PMDD warriors >
      • IAPMD
    • Community resources for moms >
      • Pregnancy and Postpartum Support
      • 2020 Mom
      • Preeclampsia
      • Momma's Voices
      • Shades of Blue Project
  • Contact

            News & Bookshelf

Review: Magician's Workshop by Christopher Hansen and J.R. Fehr

4/25/2017

3 Comments

 
Picture

Synopsis

Everyone in the islands of O'Ceea has a magical ability: whatever they imagine can be brought into existence. Whoever becomes a master over these powers is awarded the title of magician and given fame, power, riches, and glory. Journey with a group of kids as they strive to rise to the top and become members of the Magician's Workshop.
​

Layauna desperately wants to create beautiful things with her magical powers, but all she can seem to do is make horrible, savage monsters. For years she has tried to hide her creations, but when her power is at last discovered by a great magician, she realizes that what she's tried to hide might actually be of tremendous value.
Kai just wants to use his powers to have fun and play with his friends. Unfortunately, nearly everyone on his island sees him as a bad influence, so he's forced to meet them in secret. When one of the creatures they create gets out of control and starts flinging fireballs at their town, Kai is tempted to believe that he is as nefarious as people say. However, his prospects change when two mysterious visitors arrive, praising his ability and making extraordinary promises about his future.

Follow the adventures of Kai, Layauna, and a boatload of other characters as they struggle to grow up well in this fantastical world.

~ My Review ~ 

I like the idea of having a collection of stories centered on magic and children. I like and appreciate the concept of projections; the act of projecting an item, or element, or voices, to other people. What I didn’t like was the feeling of having an intermission in the middle of watching these “wannabe magicians.” Do they get a Color? What’s going to happen to their morale if they don’t? What will happen to my favorite orphans? What are the magicians’ doing trying to make projections real?? Why didn’t I also ask for Volume 2???
I will point out that I felt like I got lost a bit in this world. I didn’t know who we were meeting next, or what was happening. But I like that as separated these kids were from each other – by societal ranks, or region, or by their own stories – I know that they’ll connect at some point and finally answer these questions.
I recommend this to anyone who loves magic, and fantasy, and projected monsters. I don’t know if the authors meant it or not, but I found a few life lessons here, about projecting falsehoods being easily uncovered, and that even if we can’t quite grasp a projection, it’s all very real to the person it’s projected to.

I was amused and entertained reading about the Magician’s Workshop but I’d like to definitely get a hold of Volume 2 to finish out the story!

***I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I am not required to write a positive one. These thoughts and opinions are my own.***

About the Authors

Christopher Hansen
The first glimmering Chris Hansen had that there was far more to reality than he had ever imagined occurred six days after his ninth birthday. "Christopher!" cried a wise, old sage. "Life is full of deep magic. Miraculous things happen all around us." Chris looked around him and asked, "Where? I don't see anything spectacular." The man held out a pair of glasses. "Here, put these on." The boy placed them over his eyes and--"Whoa!" He was gobsmacked by the Wonder he saw. But it lasted only a moment. The man vanished in a flash of starlight and the lenses melted and trickled down his cheeks.  Then a message was sung into his ear, "Go and seek what you have seen." Full of expectation and childlike optimism, Chris set out. To his great joy, this quest has led him to discover many more glimmerings of this miraculous Wonder, often in the most unexpected of places.

J.R. Fehr
When J.R. Fehr popped out of the womb, he knew there was more to the world than the four boring hospital walls that he was seeing. "Zango!" his newborn mind exclaimed as he saw people appear and disappear through a mysterious portal in the wall. As a child, he continued to find life whoa-tazzling. But as he grew older, the cold water of reality hit him, and the magic he once knew vanished. After spending some wet and shivering years lost in a joyless marshland, he once again began to see magic in the world. He writes because the Wonder of true life is far grander than anything he ever thought possible.
3 Comments
Jennifer link
4/25/2017 09:42:25 pm

Hi Leila!
Thank you for a wonderful review - would love to help get volume two into your hands. You can email me at woowoowhoosh AT gmail.com for more information!
Cheers,
Jennifer Hansen

Reply
Leila
4/26/2017 07:44:21 am

You are so welcome!! I enjoyed it. You don't have to send them! I was thinking of buying both volumes this summer for my daughter's future library. (she's 5 but it's never too early and you can tell her parents are fantasy geeks...most of the books I end up buying for her center around magic - haha). But thank you!!

Reply
Jennifer Hansen
4/26/2017 11:14:10 am

So glad that you'll share it with your daughter -- print copies will be available at the end of May!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Book Pick:


    Picture

     I use Goodread's rating scale

    1 star – didn’t like it
     2 stars – it was OK
     3 stars – liked it
     4 stars – really liked it
     5 stars – it was so amazing, it's on my reread pile!

    Categories

    All
    #abouttheauthor
    #actionadventure
    #adult
    #authorspotlight
    #blogtour
    #booknews #poetry
    #bookreviews
    #children
    #christian
    #christianparenting
    #christianromance
    #cleanromance
    #contemporary
    #contemporaryromance
    #coverreveal
    #crimenoir
    #fantasy
    #historicalfiction
    #horror
    #inspirational
    #lgbt
    #memoir
    #mg/ya
    #nativeamerican
    #newadult
    #news
    #paranormal
    #parenting
    #poetry
    #romance
    #romcom
    #scifi
    Scifi/dystopian
    #selfhelp
    #shortstories
    #shortstory
    #suspense
    #thriller
    #urbanfantasy
    #western
    #womensfiction
    #ya
    #YA/NA


    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

Hi there! Here's a quick bio

Picture

Leila Tualla is a Filipino-American poet and author based in Houston, Tx. Leila’s books include a YA contemporary romance called Letters to Lenora and a memoir/poetry collection called Storm of Hope: God, Preeclampsia, Depression and me. Her poetry is featured in several mental health anthologies and she is currently working on a poetry collection based on Asian American stereotypes and identifies. Her chapbook “pmdd & me,” will be out this Spring 2022. ​

Contact Me

    Subscribe Today!

Submit
  • HOME
  • about me
  • Blog
  • News & bookshelf
    • Media
    • Books >
      • Letters to Lenora
      • Love, Defined
    • Poetry >
      • PMDD & me (poetry chapbook)
      • Storm of Hope
    • Anthologies >
      • The Sacred Feminine II
      • The Poetry Marathon 2021
      • Remnants of Home
      • Poetica II
  • ADVOCACY
    • RESOURCES for PMDD warriors >
      • IAPMD
    • Community resources for moms >
      • Pregnancy and Postpartum Support
      • 2020 Mom
      • Preeclampsia
      • Momma's Voices
      • Shades of Blue Project
  • Contact