Nom de Plume

Comparisons between Charlie Bone and Harry Potter are inevitable. They can both do magic. They both go to magical schools. They both fight on the side against good against evil. They both have the same titling convention. And the publishers have even designed book covers that evoke Harry Potter, with a similar font and cover art.

It’s an unfortunate comparison. Side-by-side, Charlie Bone seems a little flat, its characters less complex. But Charlie Bone is obviously for younger readers and the series really is imaginative and fun. The fourth book in the series, Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors is the best yet.

Charlie Bone is Endowed, meaning he is one of the descendents of the Red King, who was a powerful magician a thousand years ago. Today, the Endowed are evenly split between good and evil. His aunts are evil and the people who run his school are evil. Each of the Endowed has a unique gift. For example, Charlie can enter photos and pictures, one of his friends can make it storm, one of his enemies can hypnotize people just by looking at them.

This story centers around the heritage of Billy Raven. Billy Raven (who can talk to animals) is an orphan who lives at the school. More than anything, he wants ot be adopted–and the Bloors, the evil family that runs the school has capitalized on this. If he spies on Charlie Bone, they’ve told him, they’ll find him a family. If he helps them, they’ll get him a mom and dad who will love him. They never have–and Billy’s wising up. Until they actually do get him adopted.

But his adopted parents are evil to the nth degree. Meanwhile, it transpires that Billy is really the heir to the Castle of Mirrors. With the help of the trustworthy Flames, cats who belonged to the Red King, he escapes. And the battle is on.

My one complaint about the Charlie Bone series is that the plots seem to center around liberating one of the good Endowed children rather than against evil itself. I never exactly know what they’re fighting against and why the evil people are evil.