The Wizards of Once (The Wizards of Once, 1)

by Cressida Cowell

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Series

The Wizards of Once (1)

Genres

Fantasy

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2017), Edition: Illustrated, 400 pages

Description

Juvenile Fiction. Juvenile Literature. HTML:In the first book of a new series by the bestselling author of How to Train Your Dragon, the warring worlds of Wizards and Warriors collide in a thrilling and enchanting adventure. Once there were Wizards, who were Magic, and Warriors, who were not. But Xar, son of the King of Wizards, can't cast a single spell. And Wish, daughter of the Warrior Queen, has a banned magical object of her own. When they collide in the wildwood, on the trail of a deadly witch, it's the start of a grand adventure that just might change the fabric of their worlds. With Cressida Cowell's trademark wit, and the same stunning combination of action, adventure, heart, humor, and incredible artwork that made How to Train Your Dragon a beloved bestselling franchise, The Wizards of Once will transport and enchant readers.… (more)

Similar in this library

How to Train Your Dragon: How to Cheat a Dragon's Curse (Book 4) by Cressida Cowell

Rating

½ (83 ratings; 3.7)

User reviews

LibraryThing member KarenLeeField

WOW. This is such a good story. From the first page, I was totally in. In fact, I was so taken by the plot and the characters, that I simply couldn't stay away from the book for long periods. That doesn't happen often, and is certainly a positive sign that I loved the book.

The world the two main

character's live in is dark. Wish is a warrior girl with a secret. Xar is a wizard boy with attitude. They come from different sides in a world where they are taught from birth to hate the other side. But these two are thrown together and must conquer all. (I know that's a pretty general comment, but you'll have to read the book to find out what they have to conquer.)

I love the two main character. And I have to say that Squeeze Juice is also a favourite of mine. The characters are so different, but so likeable. The story is so action-packed. Honestly, I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this book.

I listened to the audiobook and I feel compelled to mention the narrator, David Tennant. He gave life to the characters and storyline. His reading was fantastic.

This is the first of three books, I believe. I definitely will be listening to the rest of the series.

Highly recommended.

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14 more

LibraryThing member passion4reading

Xar is a thirteen-year-old Wizard and annoyed that his Magic hasn't come in yet, which is even more embarrassing considering he's the son of Encanzo the Enchanter, King of the Wizards. Determined to best his brother in the upcoming spelling competition he ventures into the territory of the Wizards'

mortal enemies, the Warriors, to catch himself a Witch and use its Magic.

Wish is the daughter of Queen Sychorax, the Warrior Queen, and one night she leaves the safety of the fort to look for her pet spoon (it's enchanted) in the Badwoods, accompanied by Assistant Bodyguard Bodkin. But they are not alone in the forest ...

Children aged 9 to 11 (and their parents) will love this wildly imaginative tale of adventure set in Britain's Iron Age, filled with engaging characters (human, sprite, giant and animal) as well as danger, magic, friendship, loyalty and courage, and a gentle humour. The author's wonderful hand-drawn illustrations (as in her How to Train Your Dragon series) add much value to the story being told and will engage children who may feel intimidated to read a book of nearly 400 pages on their own; they needn't worry as the captivating story and a big font, along with the drawings, make the pages fly by.

I loved the characters of Xar and Wish, so very different from each other but at the same time both outsiders in their respective societies, slowly becoming friends and teaming up to defeat an ancient evil; however, I suspect that among the magic creatures it will be the sprites that capture children's hearts, in particular eager little Squeezjoos.

This is the start of a new series and I will definitely be on board for the sequels. Recommended.

(This review was written for Amazon's Vine programme.)

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LibraryThing member SweetKokoro

I absolutely adore this. I decided to listen to the audiobook after hearing great things about the narrator, and boy was it worth it, but I also had the physical copy and I just adored the art through out the book. It really made me feel like a child had drawn them sporadically about the book.

They

was far more interesting with the audiobook, it included voices, sound effects, background music which really brought the experience to life.

It’s a solid fun start to a new adventure with Warriors and Magicians, and the evil witches. The story stays on track and keeps you interested the whole way through. It’s a fun adventure.

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LibraryThing member Completely_Melanie

I read this with my son who just turned 12 and he absolutely loved it and was sad for it to end. As soon as we finished it, he asked me if I would pre-order the next book in the series, and I did. This was such a cute story, and I am curious to see what happens with Xar and Wish in the next book.

LibraryThing member PattyLouise

The Wizards Of Once
By
Cressida Cowell

What it's all about...

So this book is about magic and wizards and warriors and very odd animals. However almost everyone is sweet and sort of bungling in their own unique way.

Xar is waiting for his magic to begin and until it does he makes lots of bad decisions

and gets into tons of trouble. His trouble causes others to get into trouble, too. When he meets Wish...a warrior...worlds really collide in a humorous way. And a slightly dangerous way, too.

Why I wanted to read it...

I absolutely love middle grade books and this book looked very appealing! It was!

What made me truly enjoy this book...

The writing, the characters and the illustrations made me love this book!

Why you should read it, too...

Middle grade readers as well as even younger readers will love these characters and the illustrations and wait anxiously for the next book! This book would be a great Christmas gift for young readers!

I bought this book for my Kindle Oasis from Amazon.

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LibraryThing member electrascaife

In a long-ago England when the forests were still dark and dangerous and full of magic, the wizards were the Hatfields and the iron-wielding warriors were the McCoys. Zar is a wizard prince without magic; Wish is a warrior princess with a magical pet spoon. They stumble into each other in the

forest, get tangled up with really evil and supposedly extinct witches, and all sorts of heck breaks loose.

A fun story with interesting characters, but the very best part is the narration by David Tennant. Fabulously funny and deliciously creepy in turn and where it counts; he could read the tax form instruction booklet and I'd be seduced into applying for a job with the IRS.

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LibraryThing member ChelleBearss

It was excellent and the best of the month, so far. I read this on audio narrated by David Tennant and his performance was awesome.
This is a very imaginative YA about witches, warriors and wizards and the battles between them. I love the two main characters (although Xar got on my nerves a touch)

and really enjoyed Tennant's narration and his different voices for each character (especially Squeezjoos!)
Recommended on audio 4.5🌟

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LibraryThing member foggidawn

A wizard boy with no magical power and a warrior princess with a forbidden magical object meet one night in a dark forest. There, they discover that an ancient, evil magic may not be as dead as both of their tribes believe.

This was a fun book. I listened to the audiobook, which I highly recommend.

Not only is it narrated by David Tennant, but it has music and sound effects that really add to the story.

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LibraryThing member krau0098

My son got this book in an Owlcrate Jr. I had never read anything by Cowell before (although I liked the “How to Train Your Dragon” movies). I read the first 100 pages of this book and then decided to set it aside. The book is written in a very simplistic and childish style; so younger children

might enjoy this book more than I did.

My 11 year old son tried to read this as well and gave it to me after one night saying "Mom, this just isn't very good. Maybe you will like it."

It's an interesting book. It’s full of sketches and maps and painted out sentences. The text for the sentences themselves are altered to be big or little or differently spaced depending on what the text is supposed to represent. At first I kind of enjoyed it, but it ended up being just too much going on. All the craziness on the page just completely distracts from the already somewhat boring story.

Overall I just couldn't stomach this one; the writing comes across as childish sounding and there is too much...stuff...going on on the pages. It might be okay for younger readers but I wouldn't recommend for middle grade and older readers. It’s a pity because the book (binding and pages) are very high quality and beautifully done.

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LibraryThing member atreic

This is fun! Written in that slightly trendy way for children, with lots of pictures and big fonts and a clear and knowing authorial voice, it is about the battle between Wizards and Warriors, particularly the story of a young cocky Wizard who unfortunately has no magic, and a young Warrior who

unexpectedly does. It has a very cute supporting cast of magic spoons and hairy fairies, is gently amusing, and even though it is clearly a set up for the rest of the series stands well on its own as well.

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LibraryThing member sweetiegherkin

Xar is a prince of the Wizards clan who shames his family by not being able to produce magic and for general disobedience and shenanigans. Wish is a princess of the Warriors clan who shames her family by being weakly and more interested in forbidden enchantments than learning how to fight. On one

fateful evening, these two outcast children meet each other and despite coming from warring clans, they find they have similar goals in mind.

This was a fun and entertaining read. The length of the volume might scare some kids off, but it actually reads quickly as it has good pacing and a number of illustrations that fill out the pages. The characterizations are well done, with each character popping off the page with their interesting personalities and quirks. There are quite a number of characters thrown at the reader in the opening chapters, but it is actually quite easy to distinguish them all, so it's not too bad that a lot of names show up right at the beginning.

Although the tone is different, I could see this book appealing to fans of the Harry Potter series. Obviously there is magic as well as the idea of different magical (and non-magical) species being opposed to one another, only to find out that the "other" isn't as bad as advertised (for the most part). Without being heavy-handed, this book manages to teach some moral lessons. However, it does suffer from a lack of diversity -- all of the humanoid characters appear to be Caucasian.

On the whole, this book was compelling enough that I'm interested in reading the follow-up title.

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LibraryThing member wrightja2000

I liked the story but the drawings are not to my taste (I'd describe them as jarring) and rather distracted me from the flow of the story. I ended up skipping to the last few chapters.

LibraryThing member jamestomasino

The tone is so lovely. It reminds me a bit of the Girl Who Drank the Moon, but slightly sillier. The action is predictable, but it's self-referential enough to be forgiven. It is, afterall, a fairy tale. Unfortunately it didn't really connect with me on a deeper level. I don't have any specific

faults to call out. I just liked it, didn't love it.

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LibraryThing member KittyCunningham

I think I'm aging out of Young Adult books.

LibraryThing member Stefuto

Even though I'm way past the age of the target group for this book, I enjoyed it!
Xar learned a lesson but he stayed his annoying yet endearing self throughout his adventure.
Wish and Bodkin were interesting and funny at times but nothing more than that.

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