Just So Stories

Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing

August 2023

ISBN:

9781760508449

Series: Big Magic

RRP: $19.99

You know how sometimes, you’ve read an absolutely stonkingly good first book in a series, and when the sequel arrives you feel somewhat let down? Well, trust me, in this case, it is the very opposite.

Big Magic was SO good, I loved it a lot, and I’ll confess I did wonder if Sarah could match the sheer energy and joy in the next book. She hasn’t just matched it, she’s surpassed it, and with such breathtaking verve and style, that readers will be just as dazzled by her skill in writing, as Tulsi’s audiences are with her big magic.

Of course, we knew at the end of the first book, that Other Sylvie was not going to just hide away in some cottage, stripped of her magic and be content. Hers is not the sort of personality that accepts defeat gracefully. Tulsi and Merry have been working together with their new magic act, and Potts Circus is thriving, bigger and better than ever, until there is some kind of ‘drop’ in the magic and there is a near-disaster as a result. Both notice there is also some kind of disturbance in nature, from which of course, they draw their strength and abilities.

When Welsh Efa, arrives in their universe, both Merry and Tulsi are surprised but even more, when Efa insists that Tulsi must come to her universe to redress the same disturbances happening there. Tulsi, Efa insists, is the Bringer, the one magician of each generation who can bring all together and defeat any wrongdoers or disruption to the order of things.

The parallel universe is in bad shape, and Tulsi is not surprised to find that Other Sylvie is behind the wreckage. She has taken Kit with her, because he longs so much to see his Dad again – even if it is his ‘other dad’ and while, at first, her impetuous offer seems to be a terrible mistake, it really is a boon that Kit is with her.

The magic is sparkling once again, the danger is real and the tension is high. Any young reader will eat this up, swiftly turning the page for the what comes next. And there is such a lovely, warm resolution with the concept of all coming together as one, the strength and resolve in numbers, something that many of us keep working towards in our society, where the bad magicians seem determined to beat down the good ones and, in the process, destroy everything around us.

I cannot tell you how much I love this!! and I’m so confident there will be another for us to relish – because, seriously, Other Syvlie is one determined malefactor (they so often are). Tulsi is such a wonderful character. She may doubt herself at times, but her resolution and courage, uplift her and raise her skills to something astonishing, but with that, she is pure of intention and all around her benefit.

Thank you again, Sarah – it’s just a magnificent series and one I highly recommend to readers from around 10 years upwards.