Physik (Septimus Heap Book Three) by Angie Sage

Allow me to read between the lines. Or too much into the story. 

Somehow I liked this book better than the first two. Although the characters are slowly growing up and we see more "evil" in the new antagonists rather than the comical characters of DomDaniel and Simon (I mean, who's gonna take a character named DomDaniel seriously? Okay maybe Simon but that's beside the point. Heh.), it's still too much of a children's book in a way that it's a bit predictable. Except what happened to Nicko and Snorri in the end, that kind of surprised me.

Physik is the first one that made me accept the fact that the series is named after Septimus Heap. Septimus is starting to be the 7th son of a 7th son. I now see the potential. Lol. I think that was why I didn't rave for Magyk and Flyte. It made him just "one of those" characters and I needed to feel something great from a main character to be able to love them.

The one thing I REALLY liked about this book, however, is the satire-ish instances. Kinda reminds me of what characters represent in the Discworld series. Thinking back, there's a satirical side to the series ever since, but it wasn't as pronounced for me. Here's a few I can think off of the top of my head.

The Rat Stranglers could be a group of people taking action about things they don't understand. They choose to blame something else (that they don't understand as well). It makes people feel better that they're trying to do something, even though it's obvious it's not solving anything. It was funny, too, how they had some sort of a mob song that didn't make sense. Just a lot of kill, kill, kill and splat, splat, splat in it. Silas Heap and Gringe is another example. Here are two men who hated each other's guts from the time they saw each other but somehow manage to set their differences aside for the love of sports. Well, a board game but you get the drift. Silas is also one of those men who we're all so familiar with from movies or TV shows. A man who has a wife who has a lot of money so he stops working and writes a book that no one knows about or if it will be published (in this case, this is a man who has an adoptive daughter who turned out to be the princess and ends up pursuing his hobbies rather than providing for the family. Don't get me wrong, I love Silas.). Oh and Stanley and Dawnie? Don't even get me started on them. Lol.

New (and Old) Book Loot

Does anyone else think "Everyday Is Fully Booked Day" is dangerous? Lol. I mean, I'd love a new book a day but I'm not sure my budget will agree. And I'm not sure I'd stop at only one book. Lol. Anyhoo, so much for not buying new books unless I've read half of what I already have. Bought a few new titles last week. 

Wednesday, I got: 

1) The Coffee Shop Book Club which is a collection of short stories from various authors. This was published by the Orion Publishing Group in association with Woman&Home. Apparently buying a copy means donating £1 to Breast Cancer Care. 

2) The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt! This 700+ pager is Ms Tartt's contribution to literary fiction this decade. Heh. I didn't think I'd see this right away in Manila but glad I did. Or Anj did. Lol. I'm saving this for when I can read in an slow pace since I'm 14 books away from my goal this year.

I went back Friday and got a few more even if I haven't started on any of the stuff I got Wednesday. See what I mean about "everyday" being a dangerous thing? Lol.

 Friday I got:

1) Room by Emma Donoghue: I saw this Wednesday too but couldn't find a plastic wrapped copy. I know it's the bookstore people that wraps them but I like to fool myself into thinking I get a better deal that way LOL. 

 2) Fyre (Septimus Heap Book Seven): Finally got me a copy and I'm reading this now. This is the final installment of the Septimus Heap series. I haven't posted the reviews on the other books but I have them on Goodreads. 

 3) Dodger by Terry Pratchett: Nuff said.

 4) The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera: That blurb ... LOL!

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I've also been doing an inventory of books I have and found fairy books from those days I was obsessed with fairies! Haha! One is a mythologies book for kids (Fairies by John Malam), the other one a children's story book (Alice the Fairy by David Shannon) and the other is a Disney Fairies' Fashionable Fairies paper doll book I bought on impulse. Lol!

Magyk (Septimus Heap, Book One) by Angie Sage

I do love a story with a happy ending. And I like that the author spent time to tell the readers what happened to the other characters, no matter how brief their role was. Actually it's like saying no character is big or small. But that was the downside too. It was hard to know where to focus. The book is called the Septimus Heap series but it was the Queenling that was sort of the focus. If there was any focus at all. I realize he was thought to be dead and people don't often think of dead people but the fact that the series was named after him tells us he'd end up being alive one way or another. But of course, as Marcia said, things have a way of working out on its own. Eventually.

Now this is a kid's book, it may be too much of a kid's book for me and it was a bit predictable but that was fine. What bothers me is how they spell some words. Adding "e" at the end of some words and misspelling terms on purpose. It's cute but for that reason I wouldn't advise kids to read this, maybe the parents could read it to them or they could get the audiobook. Children are the most impressionable people. Their minds are susceptible so there's a risk they may carry that growing up. Especially during this age when Tweeting and micro blogs force us to change and shorten words.

The characters? I loved all the characters. Especially Marcia. The bad guy was pretty funny too.

Overall, I really liked it. Apart from what I've written above this is pretty good for light reading. And, although this is the first of a series, it's also a good stand alone book.