The Heir Chronicles, Book Two - The Wizard Heir

By Cinda Williams Chima

[Seph McCauley has spent three years getting
kicked out of one exclusive private school after
another. And it's not his attitude that's the
problem: it's the trail of magical accidents -
lately, disasters - that follow in his wake. Seph
is a wizard, orphaned and untrained, and his
powers are escalating out of control.

Worse, as the magical accidents that plague him grow
in intensity, Seph makes a discovery: the stories he's
been told about his parents' deaths are fabrications.
The people he trusts most have been lying to him.

Seph is sent to the Havens, a secluded boy's school
whose headmaster promises to train him in magic.
Maybe here he will find a community he can trust?
But he soon learns that the training comes at a steep
cost and everyone around him is keeping secrets.
Where can he turn, when he finds himself at the
centre of a war he may well not survive?]

Oooh, I was wondering how they would continue on from The Warrior Heir, whether the characters would crossover or whether this one would be completely separate but be placed in the same world.

I'm glad that it crossed over to be honest. I enjoyed Jack's character so much in the first one that Seph couldn't really compare in this one (although Jack came across a little cold and grouchy in this one which put me off him).

I did like the story though. It had an intriguing concept and a good mysterious element to it. Unfortunately, I did find it a little predictable in that I guessed who both of his parents were and it wasn't that big of a reveal as to who the Dragon was either.

Not to worry though because it was a solid story and I can see how it could possibly unfold in the others to come.

I don't think I enjoyed this one as much as the first one though because it lacked the medieval element that it had and I love medieval plots.

One scene that particularly stood out to me, which I think was fantastic, was the scene where Madison and Seph go off together for a picnic by a scenic river. This scene doesn't have any importance to the story or any impact at all on anything really, I just thought it was so beautiful and could picture every detail described.

Am looking forward to seeing what the others have in store!



📖

The Year of the Rooster

Last weekend were the Chinese New Year celebrations in London and, for once, we decided to go, damn the tourists.

It was a miserable day in general with rain forecast all afternoon, but I didn't let it dampen my spirits.

The parade kicked off just after ten and there were thousands and thousands of people filling Trafalgar Square (and probably all the way to Chinatown).

It was kind of slow because they kept stopping for ages at certain points and there wasn't really any music or anything. So a silent parade, with spits of rain and a million peoples phones in the air (mine and Adeel's included).

We then sidled off for a quick bite to eat and taking shelter from the rain before wandering around Trafalgar Square. There were a handful of stalls selling all sorts of Chinese charms and trinkets for the year ahead.

Deciding to come back later when we thought all the real festivities would kick off, we wandered over to Chinatown (turns out it's really not that far and I have been taking the long route for many years).

I don't envy the people working in Chinese restaurants on Chinese New Year. The queues leading out of every restaurant was phenomenal. But the whole area looked very pretty with hundreds of red lanterns hanging above us.

We then found ourselves in Leicester Square as there really isn't much to do in Chinatown except eat and we weren't joining any of those enormous queues!

We found a timetable of events and so went back to Trafalgar Square as Sadiq Kahn was going to be one among a handful of official representatives giving speeches.

There was a Lion dance and then a Dragon dance afterwards, but all in all I'm a little disappointed. I thought it would be more of a festival-y atmosphere, loud and joyous, yanno? But I found myself feeling frequently bored.

At least the decorations were pretty though.

Not one to repeat I think given the amount of tourists and waiting around in odd silence. Maybe it's better in actual China...

Anyway, below are some of the photos I took. It was difficult to get a clear picture over the many heads of tourists, but I selected the best handful I think.

🐓