Book Review - The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes

Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman’s purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast – a young wizard who’s particularly competitive at hopscotch – and a hideous troll housekeeper who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break. If she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return…

My rating:

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun but simple read, and nice and short for less keen readers!

We follow Nine, a thief with her own self-interest at heart, into a world of magic where she has to help the house break a curse. Flabberghast is perfect as a young but easily distracted wizard – he had just the right amount of silliness.

The overall reasoning behind it all was where it lacked a little for me – it fell into one of my least favourite tropes. But the curse itself was fun in its complete randomness. And the wonderfully British element of the tea cupboard being locked! That made me laugh.

I think the book being on the shorter side meant we didn’t get any of the depth I would have liked into the characters or the plot, but it didn’t detract from my general enjoyment. The house deserved more page time though, I wanted to explore it more.

It’s a fun quest, and I may well lookout for the sequel. 3.5 stars.