The Marvellers
“You say that we must honor the Marvellian way. To honor order and tradition. But what happens when most of it is rooted in prejudice?”
Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to be admitted to the Arcanum Training Institute. She hopes, in time, her Marvellian classmates will accept her and her Conjure abilities.
Despite the whispers and rumors, Ella finds friends in Jason, a boy with an affinity for magical creatures, Brigit, a girl who wants nothing to do with Marvellers, and Masterji Thakur, the elixirs teacher.
Tensions grow after a criminal known as the Ace of Anarchy escapes, with the supposed help of a Conjuror. Matters are made worse when Ella’s mentor suddenly disappears. Now, with the aid of Jason and Brigit, Ella must clear her name and save her trusted mentor before it’s too late.
Will rescuing her mentor change anything when it comes to her possible expulsion?
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Dhonielle Clayton
Publisher: Henry Holt
403 Pages
The theme of the Marvellers is about accepting others despite their differences.
This book is set in a well-structured world, where there are two types of magic; Marvels and Conjure magic. The Marvellians consider the conjurors to be unnatural, saying that they have bad light within them. This is one of the main conflicts in the book. A large portion of the story is set in the Arcanum Training Institute, a school for magic, making it a good choice for the younger Harry Potter enjoyers.
The characters featured are diverse, coming from various backgrounds and ethnicities. None of the main characters have romantic interests, making it great for readers who aren’t a fan of romance.
There are brief mentions of mild violence, such as hitting.
I enjoyed the book for its creative approach to magic. It’s easy to use certain magical stereotypes, but Dhonielle Clayton managed to create a unique brand of magic. The characters wielding it were also diverse, coming from many regions of the world, which isn’t always seen in books about magical schools. In my opinion, the characters were well written, many of them showing growth over the course of the book. None of them started out or ended up being overpowered, which is always nice to see. The plot itself was slightly complicated at times, but I only found that to be more interesting. I can’t wait to read the next book in The Marvellers!
People who read this may also enjoy books like Harry Potter, a story set in another magical school, or Amari and the Night Brothers, which contains elements of being secluded or hated because of magic.
