Book One: The Songs of Magic
Genres: Fantasy, Middle grade, Adventure
Main Tropes: hidden world, chosen one, found family, strong female lead
Synopsis: .
Cassy, 15, thought she was just a regular Canadian girl. But when her high school professor turns into a literal rhinoceros-man in front of her eyes, she starts to realise something isn’t right. Through a series of strange events, she finds out that a magical world has been right under everyone’s nose the whole time! But something's gone wrong in that world, and her new-found friends need her help to figure it out.
Review:
If you’re looking for a magic-filled middle grade story that’s like The Hobbit meets Harry Potter, then this is the book for you!
The Songs of Magic by Kaelyn Hamm is Book One of The Singer series. It's being re-released November 8th, 2024, with an updated cover and interior design. To celebrate the changes, the author also made a call for ARC readers, promising dragons and lots of magic...so of course I signed up!
And I was glad that I did, even though middle grade is not my usual genre.
Just like in Harry Potter, Cassy uncovered her own magical legacy and learned a lot of cool things by the end of the first book. But there’s still a long way for her to go, and lots to discover and accomplish. And just like in The Hobbit, there’s also plenty of adventure, lore, found family, and a diverse magical world.
Cassy’s voice and perspective were meticulously written, creating a believable middle grade vibe. So even though there's a small (super clean) young love subplot with an age gap, I suspect that the author already has a twist or explanation planned for this in future books. We all know what life looked like from that age!
And...this book became a binge read for me because I needed to know what happened next. The dragon and magic lore were delicious. And the setup for book two at the end left me eager for that to be released.
All in all, if you liked The Hobbit and Harry Potter, you’ll probably also enjoy this. Bonus points if you’re Canadian...because there’s lots of fun familiar things in this book!
You can find this book on Amazon after Nov. 8th, 2024!
Or check out the author's website here!
If you've also read this, let me know what you think over on X (Twitter)!
