Across the Great Barrier, by Patricia C. Wrede

Patricia C. Wrede has an incredible imagination. I don't know where she comes up with her ideas. Or how she makes up so many different magical worlds. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the Mairelon the Magician books, and the Frontier series (of which this is part) all involve assorted sorts of spellcasting, none the same, yet all making some kind of sense.

In the Frontier books, Wrede manages to combine "manifest destiny" with charms and spells. Not only that, but she created a whole system of how magic works, complete with three schools of magic. And she created a whole biosphere as well, including magical plants and animals in the wild wild west.  

Across the Great Barrier is the second book in the three part series,  Thirteenth Child being the first. The series is about Eff (funny name) who lives in Mill City, which is right near the Great Barrier which is, as far as I can tell, like the Mississippi River. A main focus of the first book is the fact that Eff is the thirteenth child in her family, which is superstitious and said to bring bad luck. Her whole life she thinks she's some freak of nature, while her twin brother, Lan, is everyone's favorite because  he's the seventh son of the seventh son and has amazing magic. Or something like that. But, somehow, she isn't very jealous of him. I was about to go off on a tangent about sibling psychology but I stopped myself. The number 13 thing is barely mentioned in the second book though, but Lan is still some sort of magical prodigy. But, he's also barely mentioned, until the end.

The story was pretty slow, being kind of boring until the end when it went from 0 to 60 in about ten pages. And the romance department was lacking. It'll probably happen in the last two pages of the next book. Eff traveled through the frontier to a bunch of settlements, at the end of which there was a tiny spurt of excitement. Then after she got home, something happened, and I thought that the story would pick up, but even the exciting thing dragged on and on. And then, finally, it happened. But I can't say what it is.

Eff is an amazing sister. I have a big family, and let me tell you, I am no where near as nice to them as she is to her family. Even her annoying siblings only get the best treatment from her. And as I said before, she's barely jealous of her brother. She's content with the fact that he's probably going to be a world famous magician, and she'll probably be known as "Lan's twin" until she dies. Does she have any ambition or motivation in her at all? (Yes, and I know that, but she is missing something when it comes to sibling rivalry!!)

4.7 stars. Not perfect, but definitely more creative than most other books.

 

I love old fashioned clothing. Like that outfit. How I wish I could wear something like that and still be considered normal!