Thomas Hoobler (1942–2025)

*This Review and more can be found on my blog Love at First Write

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

So the very first qualm I have with this book is that I thought it would be a cool story about a teenage witch, but this girl is a completely un-relatable, pretentious rich girl. And by rich I mean “both of her parents are famous movie stars, her family is rolling in it” rich. She’s used to servants and chefs doing everything for her and her mother dictating show more where and when she ate and of course has a bit of culture shock when she moves in with her Aunt in NYC while her parents are both filming in Egypt.

Olivia starts her first day of ninth grade of right (yeah ninth grade, and she’s a REALLY immature ninth grader) by befriending the two school outcasts and charming the hottest boy in her grade, Alex, to pretty much follow her around and be her loyal servant. And by charmed I mean literally. This boy is written to be was weak-minded and dumb as possible. His only apparent talent is his large collection of X-Men comics which he knows like the back of his hand. Aka he reads a lot and has an incredible memory. Two skills that Olivia and the author seem to dismiss. Yeah comics have pictures, but they also include lots off words and complex thoughts and he obviously absorbed all of it so how is it that a character like this is also portrayed as dumb? How is it that a character that reads so much and so easily is consistently made fun of for not being able to spell of know the right word for things? The way Alex is depicted is absolutely ridiculous! Olivia even stoops so low as to think that Alex is an animal who can be her Witch Familiar. It’s disturbing really.

Additionally, Olivia is written as extremely racist. For example, her first taxi driver wore a turban, which seemingly always reminds her of terrorism. Additionally, her next taxi driver, René, has an apparent French accent, but according to her he can't possibly have a french accent because he's black. Cause obviously there's not a single black person who can speak french. Because the French colonialism of Africa and the Caribbean clearly never happened, and there are evidently no people of color living in France. Seriously, this is a disturbing mentality to read.

The two friends that she made, Dulcimer and Paul, were quite interesting. Dulcimer is the daughter of two amazing, professional musicians, yet she can’t play anything herself. Paul seems to be the only person of color in the story and also happens to be gay. My first impression was that at least they tried to be diverse, but then about 2/3 of the way through the book Olivia decides that both of her friends would be happier not being themselves. So she decides to cast a magic spell on Dulcimer to enable her to be an awesome musician like her parents. Surprise, Surprise this ends up changing Dulcimer’s personality because people aren’t like machines where you can replace one singular part. What really pissed me off about this book is that Olivia, even after seeing the fallout from Dulcimer, decides to bring Paul in on her Witch secret and offers to use a spell on him to make him straight. I though this was going to be a semi-nice book about accepting diversity but nope, she wants to “fix” her gay friend and turn him white while she’s at it. It was a pretty disgusting scene. When he angrily turns down her proposition (thank god) she gets angry that nobody appreciates her and curses the school. When literally the entire book so far was her Aunt Tilda and her neighbor Eva telling her to pretty much not do magic and, if she does, to only use magic that won’t hurt anyone else. So now on top of EVERYTHING ELSE this ninth grade girl has decided to unleash 7 demons upon the school until everyone in the building is deceased. Wow. Great Going. Totally didn’t see that coming. At the same time I totally though she wasn’t idiotic enough to do that.

I honestly thought from the blurb that this book had some intriguing potential. Tone the girl’s background down a bit, create some 3 dimensional characters and add a bit more intelligence/general reasonability and this could have been a fabulous book. I will say the pure silly ridiculousness of the story line kind of made this book enjoyable. If you’re looking for a mediocre YA read to break up the dullness of your day, or are interested in a book including Wicca (though I personally don’t know how well represented the subject is) then this book may interest you. show less

You've got to love Sonlight curriculum. My elder child is currently studying world history circa the 17th and 18th Centuries. We've been immersed in European attempts to colonize the New World, reading stories about Spaniards, English and French folks all seeking their fortunes. Then this week--BAM!--we get a mystery story set in 18th Century Japan. There was nary a foreigner in sight. Anyway, that in itself doesn't make this a good book. This is a good book, of course. I'd advise everybody show more who has a free afternoon to check it out. It's the tale of Seikei, the fourteen year old son of a tea merchant. He is traveling with his father on his way to Edo, the capital of Japan. His father is looking to open a shop there and make the big bucks. Seikei really doesn't want to be a tea merchant, like dear old Dad, but society is such that the station of life into which you are born is the station where you stay. One night during the trip, he and his father are staying at the same inn as a powerful daimyo when the latter has a priceless ruby stolen from him. The local judge--Judge Ooka--arrives on the scene and it soon comes out that Seikei had seen the thief. Of course, it was in the middle of the night, and Seikei claims that it was a horned demon, but that's no reason to doubt his testimony, right? Well, surprisingly enough, Judge Ooka accepts Seikei's story and enlists him to help track down the thief. What follows is an enjoyable tale. As far as the mystery goes, it was only fair, but the Hoobler's handling of setting and character more than makes up for it. I'm strongly tempted to seek out the sequel.
--J. show less

There is little I can say about this book beyond “wow.” I can easily see how The Ghost in Tokaido Inn became an Edgar Allan Poe Award finalist. Judge Ooka, one of the major characters, did once exist and is called the Sherlock Holmes of Japan. Though this story is a work of fiction, it is thanks to the quality of the telling that we can imagine living in the age of the Samurai, running through the old streets and following in the footsteps of his assistant as he tracks down the thief of show more a special jewel.

The plot unfolds naturally and gradually at first, allowing us to explore the mystery within the mystery: How did Judge Ooka solve the crime after hearing only one eyewitness account of the night’s events? As the characters develop, the reader finds that they are caught up in a dramatic finale that springs to the eye as easily as it draws in the mind.

An excellent beginning to the Judge Ooka series that will make you want to read more, even once the crime is solved. show less

I'm a long way from a teen/young adult but I did enjoy this book. The main character-Olivia asks to spend time at her aunts when her famous acting parents are doing a movie in Egypt. She has always lived in her mothers famous shadow and feels inferior. She learns about Wiccans at her Aunts. A book of spells finds Olivia and the plot of the book is about her using it to cast spells and the fallout from the spells. The book rolled along well and kept me interested. One main question isn't show more answered so if a sequel is in the works I would be happy to read it. show less