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

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.
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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.

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~ 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.***

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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.