Though he lives in the Wizard Tower, Septimus is not far from his newly recovered family, who, like the Weasleys, consist of a strong-willed, worrying mother; a brave but slightly scatter-brained father; and a chaotic jumble of siblings who have the same hair but widely varying personalities. Four of the Heap sons are living a wild life, having gone native in the forest across the river. One of them, Nikko, still likes to mess about in boats and lives with Mom and Dad, though they have moved houses to the castle as befits their foster daughter, the Princess Jenna. That leaves one other sibling, oldest brother Simon, who has taken the Percy Weasley path to its uttermost extreme: pure evil.

When we last saw Simon, he was throwing a hissy fit because the apprenticeship he coveted was given to a boy who was suddenly supposed to be his brother—a relationship he refused to accept. Now Simon is back and drenched in Darke Magyk, having apprenticed himself to the most evil necromancer who ever lived: Dom Daniel. Simon has a fiendish plot afoot, having something to do with a menacing shadow that keeps following Marcia Overstrand around, and something to do with kidnapping Jenna and preventing her from making her annual visit to the Dragon Boat—one of the things that keeps the castle’s magical defenses going.

If Simon thought he could simply ride into the Castle and kidnap the princess, he clearly wasn’t thinking very clearly. He wasn’t thinking about Jenna’s resourcefulness and instinct for royal command. He wasn’t thinking about the rapidly-growing powers of his youngest brother. And he also wasn’t thinking clearly about the type of master he had given himself to serve.

If it made you miserable to see Percy going bad, just wait until you see Simon giving his heart to absolute wickedness. It’s heartbreaking. The inspiring side of the story is how Septimus somehow doesn’t give up on him, even when defeating the bad guy means escaping from a coven of cannibalistic witches, facing his worst fear, retracing his steps to a place where he once experienced pure terror, and making hair-raising journeys above and below ground. Though you would like to hope that redemption is possible for the “black Heap of the family,” perhaps it is encouraging enough that Septimus chooses to hold out the same hope.

Robbie Fischer
USA

Recommended Age: 12+

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