Product Description

In the fifth book of this Magykal series, Septimus and his friends find themselves on an island whose secrets are as dark and dangerous as its inhabitants. Septimus Heap returns to the House of Foryx with Spit Fyre to pick up Jenna, Nicko, Snorri, and Beetle. But the journey home does not go well and when Septimus and his friends are caught in a storm, Spit Fyre crashes into the Rokk Lighthouse. They are rescued by the lighthouse keeper who is disturbingly sinister, and who has an equally sinister cat And all the while, Septimus is trying to fight the strange pull he's feeling to the island and its mysterious secrets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #602 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 640 pages

Review
Praise for MAGYK: 'Wonderfully imaginative Children of all ages will relish this' Waterstone's Guide to Kid's Books Praise for SEPTIMUS HEAP: 'Warm, funny and humane, Sage takes care with the destiny of even her smallest characters, and is a real discovery' The Times

About the Author
Angie Sage began her career illustrating books, and then started writing: first toddler books, later chapter books and now, Septimus Heap. She lives in a fifteenth-century house in Somerset. She has two grown up daughters.

Customer Reviews

Pure Genius!
This is the fifth offering in Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series and is by far the best in my opinion. The others have all been brilliant but this one stands out for its fast paced and incredibly interesting storyline.

Septimus has now been made Senior Apprentice by Marcia Overstrand the Extraordinary Wizard after rescuing Nicko from the House of Foryx (last book). He also rescued two other people and then flew them back on his dragon Spit Fyre, to the castle to be cared for. He now has to fly back to the old fishermans hut to bring back his other friends but they have had different ideas and gone off with Princess Jenna's Father, Milo Banda on his ship. Only Jenna and their friend Beetle join Septimus on Spit Fyre to avoid him going into quarantine. They leave at the beginning of a storm which as they fly on becomes truly awful and when Spit Fyres tail is hit by a bolt of lightening, they plummet out of the sky and land on an island.

This island unbeknown to the three of them is the home of a Syren who has possessed a girl called Syrah Syara and it is the Syren's plan with the help of the odious ghost Tertius Fume to get into the castle of the Extraordinary wizard by means of an open ice tunnel under the Syrens lair. Milo Banda's secret cargo is also something that the Syren, Tertius Fume and a particulary nasty pirate also need to get to fulfil their final plan.

Anything else I write would spoil things for the reader but I reiterate, this is a truly brilliant book for both children and adults alike. The writing is fluid, the story well crafted and the characters well rounded. After reading for a while, the older dramatis personae from the first 4 books get to feel like they are old friends.

New Twists in a First Rate Series
When I first started reading book 1 of this series (Magyk), I was not at all sure about it. It seemed that here was another series about wizards in a faux medieval setting, with nothing much to distinguish it. But just as I was thinking this to myself, Boy 412 leapt from the pages and slapped me around the face with a damp herring! I was totally hooked, because this series is second to none in terms of imagination, lovable characters (princess Jenna, Marcia the extraordinary wizard, Beatle and Aunt Zelda to name but a few) and hilarious plot elements and twists that are strongly reminiscent of a mixture of J K Rowling and Roald Dahl. Angie Sage is in the top flight of British children's authors - and one thing these books are not, is derivative. They are original and enjoyable stories that will be loved by children, young adults and adults alike.

This book takes up where the last left off. Princess Jenna, Beatle, Nicko and Snorri have not yet made it home after the adventures in Queste, and a newly promoted Septimus takes it upon himself to collect them on his dragon, Spitfyre. But all is not as it should be, and Aunt Zelda's attempts to get a safecharm to Septimus do not run exactly according to plan! The result then is an adventure that is every bit as good as those in previous volumes.

In this story we learn more about Princess Jenna's father, and wrap up some other storylines. We learn about another type of magical (or should I say "magykal") creature that has not yet made an appearance, but makes up for it here in Angie Sage's usual off the wall but captivating style. As usual there are issues of love, friendship, trust and betrayal, forgiveness and reconciliation. There are poignant moments and exhilarating ones, and all wrapped up in a zany world that is characteristic of this series.

One new twist in this book is that the world of Septimus Heap gains a whole new and unexpected dimension to its history. Some people will love this for the way it fills in some questions about why the world is as it is. Others will perhaps be less sure, having been quite comfortable with a world that had some mysteries as to how it got the way it is. I'll avoid spoilers by not saying more about that here.

All in all, though, this is a first class book in a first rate series. I would have no problem in recommending this to pretty much anyone at all.

Syren, hurrah
I read this in one day, really enjoyable moves the story forward in a interesting and different way.