Review: A delightful bit of light reading
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2012
Sam is an inquisitive and bright ten-year-old who is learning a bit of magic from his grandmother, whom he is visiting while his parents take a vacation. One day his eccentric, technologically compromised grandmother receives an email informing her that she has won a contest to meet a popular cooking show host in person. Despite Sam's misgivings the two journey to Scotland. Soon it becomes apparent that something insidious is afoot. This email leads to a revenge scheme trailing back to Gran Merryweather's childhood.Sam and his gran are both "cunning people"; or people that can use spells and magic. I thought the way magic was handled was unique, as many of the spells involve cooking specific dishes and having the intended target each some of them. Sam is still in training to learn the proper recipes and incantations, but he displays his prowess well in this story.The characters, especially the villains, are silly in a charming way. There is a bit of action and mystery in the book, and everything is described well and coherently. The ending tied up the most important questions, and left a couple of things in the air for sequels to pick up on. The book is somewhat short, I would have loved to be able to read it for just a bit longer. All in all, it was a very enjoyable children's tale.