Spell Sisters 1: Sophia the Flame Sister by Amber Castle (Children's, 7 years +)

1st March 2012, Simon and Schuster  

160 pages, Paperback

Review copy

Themes: legend of Arthur, life as a girl at court, adventure, having skills disbelieved,  strength of friends working together, magic apple, magic horse, fire, rescuers, mild peril, lots of laughter

Summary from Simon and Schuster

When eleven-year-old Gwen ventures into the forest beyond her castle home she comes across the magical island of Avalon and her life changes forever. The lady of the lake, Nineve, asks Gwen to embark on a quest to protect the enchanted island of Avalon from the evil sorceress Morgana Le Fay.

 

Morgana has imprisoned the eight Spell Sisters of Avalon throughout the kingdom and stolen their magical powers. It's up to Gwen, her best friend Flora and a very special horse named Moonlight to find the sisters and return them to Avalon before its magic is lost forever.
 

In this first adventure Gwen and Flora search for Sophia the Flame Sister who Morgana has imprisoned in an enchanted forest. Can the girls save her and help to restore the magic of fire to Avalon?

Nayuleska's thoughts

Seeing how Merlin is on TV here in England, it seems appropriate to have some Arthurian tales for children to read. This one focuses on Gwen, which makes a change from focusing on one of the male point of views. Gwen needs help from Flora to complete her quest which encourages the working with others philosophy. The illustrations are exactly how imagine the girls to be, with flowing dresses and long flowing sleeves. The suggested activities and stickers at the back are an added bonus. This gets 9/10 from me - it took a little time before I was totally emmersed in the story, but that's a subjective reason.

Suggested read
For another female based Arthurian tale, check out the fiesty Rhianne in Sword of Truth by Katherine Roberts (soon to be reviewed)