Across the Great Barrier

Good. An interesting continuation of Thirteenth Child. Eff really has grown up - she's aware of her habit of blaming herself for everything, and is dealing with it. She has to learn a good deal about the kinds of magic she "already knows", though. Wash is helpful, if only by being usefully opaque. And Lan runs into a serious problem, for the first time in his life perhaps. First one that made a real impression on him, anyway. The various expeditions are fascinating, the worldbuilding continues with new creatures, more history, people learning that they have to change the way they think (and reacting about as well as people usually do to that realization). The end is - satisfying, if highly inconclusive. They've gotten set to go do show more something, even if they're (Eff and Lan both) not quite sure what that something will be. Is there a third book? Yes - excellent, I want it. show less

This story continues Thirteenth Child and follows it closely in time. Lan is away at a magical college back East and Eff is finishing Upper School and thinking about her future. She decides that she wants to continue working with Professor Jeffries and the menagerie at the Northern Plains College. Her real goal is to explore the land beyond the Great Barrier Spell. She also gets a chance to meet Professor Torgeson from Vinland and work with her.

When an expedition is arranged to go out and collect samples from the lands beyond the Great Barrier, Eff is able to go along as Professor Torgeson's assistant. She becomes even more fascinated with the plants and animals in the unexplored West. Guiding the expedition is Wash Morris who is a show more circuit riding magician and a student of Aphrikan magic. Eff has known him since she was a student. She has been studying Aphrikan magic since she was in fourth grade. Her knowledge of Aphrikan magic was what helped her develop a way to stop the mirror bugs before they did even more damage to the settlements in Thirteenth Child. Eff isn't very good at Avrupan magic unless she is combining it with Aphrikan. In fact her spells have a tendency to fizzle out or explode!

While they are on their expedition, they are asked to find out why a creek has stopped flowing near one of the settlements. They discover that an landslide has blocked the creek. Wash does a complicated bit of Aphrikan magic to get the creek flowing again and Professor Torgeson and Eff discover some strange rocks. They look like fossilized animals. When they bring some of them back to the college to study the find creates a frenzy. Everyone has a theory about what they are and everyone wants a sample.

A new expedition to collect more of the strange rocks is being organized and Eff is ready to go when the family receives word that Lan has been in a terrible magical accident. Eff, along with her father and mother, travel for 2 and 1/2 days on the train to get to Lan. The rest of the family gathers too. The doctors and doctor magicians aren't able to help him. Eff quietly looks at him with her Aphrikan magic and unkinks his magic. Eff doesn't mention her role in Lan's recovery. Lan does recover but is feeling guilty that his teacher died and other students were injured. He is determined to give up the study of magic and come back home to Mill City.

They arrive back in time to join the rock gathering expedition and discover that it is some sort of unknown magical creature that is turning animals into stone. Lan and Eff have to work together and use all their strengths when the newly named Medusa Lizard threatens the expedition and the settlements.

This was another great episode in the Frontier Magic series. Eff is growing to know who she is and what she wants out of life and so is Lan. The world Wrede builds is a fascinating one with lots of wonderful new creatures. I only wish that William would have made an appearance in this story beyond being someone with whom Eff exchanges letters. Maybe we'll get a chance to catch up with what he is learning a Triskelion University in the final book of this trilogy - The Far West. show less

Such a treat to go straight from THIRTEENTH CHILD to this book, though now the wait for THE FAR WEST seems cruel and unusual. Wrede does a brilliant job further developing Eff and her loveable supporting characters, and I particularly liked the tone of self-discover that continues to run deep and wide through this series. Even Lan gets a little self-reflection, though it's unfortunate that it comes at a such a price. Wrede does a great job balancing Eff's possibilities without giving anything away, either personally or professionally. I can't wait to read THE FAR WEST to see what mysteries will be resolved.

I loved this one almost as much as the previous book in the series. I didn't find the lack of Native Americans insulting as I've some--since Wrede added diversity in the book. As a black woman who reads Fantasy, I find that the general lack of diversity in the genre is sad.

The absence of Native Americans (so far) fits with the story and worldbuilding.

I see I'm rating this a half-star higher than the first. ?�I think that's accurate, imo of course, because this struggles less, is more comfortable being the kind of story it is, sans gimmicks or appeals to readers' fickle tastes. ?áThis is a book about a young woman who is exploring the magic in herself, and the wilderness west of her family's home town. ?áOf course there are adventures as the expeditions make discoveries, and even thrilling moments when they meet particularly dangerous creatures. ?áBut much of it is more world-building. ?áIn a good way.

And look at that cover. ?áSure, it's a pretty young lady, long hair, long skirt... but look at how she's looking *at* the reader, strong and determined. ?áNot demure show more or confused or anxious like so many other YA heroines these days. ?áYay Wrede for writing a series that will delight a niche, rather than follow the formula to attempt another best-seller.

I do have to warn off PETA and other animal rights folks from this series. ?áThis is about the frontier, and survival requires them shooting, sometimes eating, a lot of critters.

I appreciate how there are lots of adults who teach Eff and the other young folks lots of things. ?áUsually they just guide them to figure things out themselves, but at one point a character who has messed up, with fatal consequences, needs to hear it straight: I won't say it's not partly your fault, and I won't say you shouldn't feel bad about what you did. ?áBut talking about dying [yourself] makes it worse, not better.... ?áMore people dying doesn't make up for what happened; it only makes thing harder for everyone who's left." ?áThat's a lesson a lot of ppl in real life haven't learned...." show less

It's hard to pick a genre for this one - it's fantasy, it's a Western, and it's alternate history. In this book, Lewis and Clark died mysteriously, probably killed by woolly mammoths or a steam dragon. The Civil War took place 30 years earlier, without Abraham Lincoln. And magic is common and studied in universities.

Which brings us to the setting in this book, the second in the Frontier Magic series. Eff Rothmer lives near the Great Barrier, where her father is a teacher at a university designed to help the settlers who are farming the Great Plains. The Great Barrier is a giant spell, put in place years ago and tied to the Mammoth (Mississippi) River. It keeps magical wildlife out of the settled country.

Eff has powerful magic of her show more own, but it's unreliable. She can't seem to learn things the way her twin does. Her magic works differently. And in this book, she gets a chance to try it out, because she's done with school and ready to start her career as a naturalist. She signs up with an expedition to chart wildlife across the Great Barrier. It's fascinating and dangerous, and it makes for fun reading. Highly recommended, but start with the first one, The Thirteenth Child. show less

This story continues Thirteenth Child and follows it closely in time. Lan is away at a magical college back East and Eff is finishing Upper School and thinking about her future. She decides that she wants to continue working with Professor Jeffries and the menagerie at the Northern Plains College. Her real goal is to explore the land beyond the Great Barrier Spell. She also gets a chance to meet Professor Torgeson from Vinland and work with her.

When an expedition is arranged to go out and collect samples from the lands beyond the Great Barrier, Eff is able to go along as Professor Torgeson's assistant. She becomes even more fascinated with the plants and animals in the unexplored West. Guiding the expedition is Wash Morris who is a show more circuit riding magician and a student of Aphrikan magic. Eff has known him since she was a student. She has been studying Aphrikan magic since she was in fourth grade. Her knowledge of Aphrikan magic was what helped her develop a way to stop the mirror bugs before they did even more damage to the settlements in Thirteenth Child. Eff isn't very good at Avrupan magic unless she is combining it with Aphrikan. In fact her spells have a tendency to fizzle out or explode!

While they are on their expedition, they are asked to find out why a creek has stopped flowing near one of the settlements. They discover that an landslide has blocked the creek. Wash does a complicated bit of Aphrikan magic to get the creek flowing again and Professor Torgeson and Eff discover some strange rocks. They look like fossilized animals. When they bring some of them back to the college to study the find creates a frenzy. Everyone has a theory about what they are and everyone wants a sample.

A new expedition to collect more of the strange rocks is being organized and Eff is ready to go when the family receives word that Lan has been in a terrible magical accident. Eff, along with her father and mother, travel for 2 and 1/2 days on the train to get to Lan. The rest of the family gathers too. The doctors and doctor magicians aren't able to help him. Eff quietly looks at him with her Aphrikan magic and unkinks his magic. Eff doesn't mention her role in Lan's recovery. Lan does recover but is feeling guilty that his teacher died and other students were injured. He is determined to give up the study of magic and come back home to Mill City.

They arrive back in time to join the rock gathering expedition and discover that it is some sort of unknown magical creature that is turning animals into stone. Lan and Eff have to work together and use all their strengths when the newly named Medusa Lizard threatens the expedition and the settlements.

This was another great episode in the Frontier Magic series. Eff is growing to know who she is and what she wants out of life and so is Lan. The world Wrede builds is a fascinating one with lots of wonderful new creatures. I only wish that William would have made an appearance in this story beyond being someone with whom Eff exchanges letters. Maybe we'll get a chance to catch up with what he is learning a Triskelion University in the final book of this trilogy - The Far West. show less