Erica Kirov

The Eternal Hourglass by Erica Kirov is the first of the Magickeepers series. Nick Rostov lives with his father in a crappy room in one of the older Las Vegas hotel. He's starting the summer off with a bad report card, and another birthday by himself.

Except this time, his grandfather appears on his thirteenth birthday with the offer of a new life, new powers, an extended family he didn't know exists and, of course, new responsibilities. He's also moving to another hotel — this one a palace show more and magic school in disguise, all run by his extended and apparently massive family.

How Nick reacts (or doesn't) to suddenly being thrust into a magical lifestyle is another bone of contention. Harry Potter fans seem to respond with more enthusiasm to Nick just blindly accepting his new life. Personally I have problems with the set up for both books — but here Nick, despite his crappy hotel apartment, does seem to have a good relationship with his father. I find it much harder to believe that he would just happily up and leave for such an extended period of time to go learn magic with relatives he didn't even know existed. Granted, he's still in Las Vegas, but I think he'd be motivated to find a way home.

Here magic is hidden in plain sight by making it part of the Las Vegas kitsch. It's not a separate world of wizards and witches vs. muggles. Instead, it's a world of creative camouflage. Except — and this is such an overused trope — as soon as the main character has begun to come into his or her powers, the EVIL forces come out of the woodwork. As a reader, I'm tired of this plot. Learning to handle a sudden influx of power should be dangerous enough by itself. There doesn't have to be a BIG BAD lurking around every corner; all it does is get in the way of character development and world building.

The Eternal Hourglass did not work for me. Nick was too passive a character. The inky shadows of BIG BAD, while visually interesting, were more of a distraction from potentially difficult character building opportunities or more complex world building. I wanted a better blending of Nick's personal story, the Russian family history of using magic, and Las Vegas's own checkered history. Unfortunately, none of those pieces came together, leaving me wishing I'd spent my time reading something else. show less

Series Review:

I really enjoyed the Magickeeper series! It's written for ages 8-14, but even I got really into it and enjoyed it a lot.

The stories were both woven well, with plenty of mystery and suspense to keep you reading. Once I started to read, it was hard to put it down. I never knew what to expect and was always surprised. It was like walking through a fun-house: you never knew what was going to be around the corner.

My favorite characters had to be Nick and Isabella, followed closely show more by Isabella's pet tiger, Sascha. Sascha was just a really cool tiger. Vladimir, the hedgehog, was pretty cool, too. It was fun to watch Nick and Isabella together: they balanced each other well and would be fun people to be around. I wish they were real so we could hang out. Haley why would you want to hang out with thirteen-year-olds? Because they're magician thirteen-year-olds who can disappear and fly and look into crystal balls, and have more adventure in a day that I have in a month.

The writing was good and easy to read and easy to follow, but some of the structure was a little confusing at times. It didn't take away form the action and adventure, though.

I really liked the Russian culture incorporated into the stories. It wasn't overdone, but it was really fun to read the descriptions of the foods and the clothes and the decorations, and learn about some of the traditions. In the second book, The Pyramid of Souls, there was a lot of other cultures incorporated into it as well, because there were Magickeepers from Egypt and Nigeria and a Parisian clan, and Australians… so there were a lot of cool things that went on that we wouldn't normally think about—even in the world of magic.

I look forward to the next book in the Magickeeper series! The Eternal Hourglass came out in paperback on March 31, 2010 and The Pyramid of Souls was just published in hardback on May 1st, 2010.

Content/Recommendation: clean, and suitable for ages 8-16(-ish). I'm 18 and I enjoyed it, and parents would enjoy reading the books out loud to their kids as well! show less

A year or so ago, I got the opportunity to review The Eternal Hourglass, the first book in Erica Kirov’s Magickeepers series. I thoroughly enjoyed the book — so much so that when I found out that the second book was coming out, I actually emailed the press contact to see if there would be a blog tour for it as well. I don’t do that, as a general rule — I end up feeling like a freeloader who doesn’t like to actually buy books. I’m not sure if my email actually got to the right show more person, because I never actually heard back. But a month or so later, the announcement came for review copies, and you can bet I got back in touch with them as soon as I could.

I’m glad I did. The Pyramid of Souls is an outstanding book that kids of all ages will love, and is a worthy sequel to The Eternal Hourglass.

There’s a magic convention coming to Las Vegas, and the Winter Palace Hotel and Casino is hosting it. This isn’t a normal convention of illusionists, though; this is a convention of Magickeepers — people who have, throughout the centuries, been entrusted with magical abilities and who use those abilities to safeguard the rest of us. There will of course be a magic competition, with bragging rights on the line for the family with the best show. That means lots of practice for Nick Rostov and his cousin Isabella. But when Nick starts seeing black birds and ominous figures, he knows that the Shadowkeepers have arrived as well, and they are up to something big. Then the Pyramid of Souls disappears, and only Nick can save the day. Because the Pyramid of Souls is so powerful that it can actually steal a person’s soul ….

Anyone who enjoyed the first book will love this one. I appreciated the fact that Nick seems to be adjusting to his new life at the Winter Palace; we see him much more comfortable with his family than he was in the first book (even though he still doesn’t like the food). He’s also much more comfortable with his magic in this book, though he hasn’t quite mastered it yet. Too often in young adult books characterization is given a back seat to plot; that doesn’t happen in The Pyramid of Souls.

This is a book that you’ll read in one sitting. The plot moves, and moves quickly. The only real problem I had was that the resolution seemed far too similar to the first book, with the one-on-one confrontation between Nick and Rasputin. I’m hoping that doesn’t turn into a formula with these books. I enjoy Kirov’s writing, so I don’t think it will happen, but two books in it is something that I’m going to be watching for in future volumes. show less

I did not read the first two books, however this did not distract from this book. It is easily a read alone book but I am sure the previous two add to the story.

Nick and his cousin Isabella are the next generation of magic keepers. The story begins with them in training for this very special job. However, Nick has a very special destiny - one that he sees in a vision. He sets out to visit the one lady that could clarify his mission. Talking his father and grandfather into an outing her goes show more to visit the old seer, but while there he is found by the Shadow Keepers who put a deep and ancient spell on his father.

The only way to break the spell is to find the Chalice of Immortality, but to do this they must undertake a very dangerous journey. Accompanied by Theo, Boris, and his cousin Isabella they set out to find the one thing that will break the spell. They must find it before the Shadow Keepers and keep it from falling into deadly hands.

The story is not stop action from the beginning to the end. In the journey the children face all sorts of obstacles and must make decisions that will alter their lives.

This book is filled with magic and witchcraft and therefor I recommend that parents review the material prior to giving it to the children.

Erica Kirov has crafted a wonderful book for tweens that will capture their attention. It is written about topics that seem to be of the highest popularity and will be interesting for those who read the Harry Potter series and other series like this.

Thank you Sourcebooks for this review copy. show less