Cynthia and Gus return in Book 4 of the Cynthia’s Attic series, The Magician’s Castle. The time-traveling duo return to the year 1914, this time to a Swiss Castle, in order to prevent Cynthia’s family from financial and personal ruin.
Sebastien the Great, a magician whose fiancee, Kathyrn, disappeared through the magic trunk vows revenge if Cynthia and Gus don’t find the missing page from the “Book of Spells”. Traveling back in time to 1914 to meet with Sebastien’s grandmother, Eva, Cynthia and Gus find clues that lead them to an enchanted garden ruled by a rock monster and into the Alps.
But when the girls travel fifty years into the future, not only do they get the surprise of their young lives, they also encounter another set of best friends, and discover new clues that could lead to Kathyrn’s return.
There is much to enjoy in this imaginative and delightful time-traveling tale. Gus (real name Augusta Lee) and Cynthia are two best friends who couldn’t be more different if they tried; yet their friendship works, even when they get on one another’s nerves from time to time. This book opens in 1964, and many of the historical references were familiar to me, so that made it especially fun.
With The Magician’s Castle, Cunningham has created a uniquely woven tale of lost love, jealousy, mystery, and strange discoveries. Though this is the first book of this series that I’ve read, I was certainly able to climb into Gus and Cynthia’s world right away. Cunningham sprinkled in enough backstory so that I had a some idea of how Gus and Cynthia had discovered the magic trunk in Cynthia’s attic and learned a bit of their previous adventures, while not slowing down the pace of the current day events.
Once the reader opens the cover of The Magician’s Castle, she won’t want to put it down until she reads the final page. With numerous twists and turns, this is one time-traveling adventure that is sure to please readers and find them impatiently waiting for the next Gus and Cynthia adventure.
Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Find our interview with Mary Cunningham, author of the Cynthia’s Attic series, here.
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