An inventive fantasy that the entire family will enjoy.
There’s a lot to live up to when your father has served as a Royal Marine and your mother is a prominent government official. With late-blooming and poorly controlled magical abilities, Linden can’t seem to fit comfortably into her small border town. A young mage apprentice without a hold on her magic would be an embarrassment to her extended–and sometimes intrusive–family, so Linden is trying to keep her failures under wraps. But something strange has been happening that threatens to reveal her secret. Anomalies with her magic, if discovered, could send Linden to her own private room in the special wing of the local sanatorium–not the kind of future this young mage sees for herself. She tries so hard to follow convention, but everything is going wrong. “Your head and your heart need to be moving in the same direction–with one you focus, with the other you feel. If they’re not in sync, you’re not going to be able to win.” Sage advice that Linden can’t seem to apply. Instead of acing her favorite class, Linden has one of her erratic episodes and nearly burns down her classroom. In quick succession, she is expelled from school, fired from her part-time job, and then stalked by a terrifying wolf-like creature and a band of raiders laying siege to her land. But that’s only the beginning. Linden discovers that there’s more to the Serving magic running in her veins, and a lot more to her destiny than she could have ever imagined.
Beautifully imagined and vividly articulated, Lady Apprentice is the perfect coming-of-age tale with a magical twist. Cabell has the rare talent of accurately portraying the sometimes irrational emotions that can dominate the tender hearts of young people. This acute connection to the characters happens in a vibrant, fantastical world where clever Serving magic is brought to life. There are complex family secrets and local politics at play, but the character arc for Linden is what really drives this story. Whether it’s learning to control her abilities or accepting her place in the world, Linden is a dynamic girl on an exciting journey. With a lot of help and support from her family, friends, and a charming griffin named Kal, Linden learns the value of feeling comfortable with who she is. Constant wonder and endless discovery are the tone and timbre of Lady Apprentice, an inventive fantasy that the entire family will enjoy.
