Wizard's Hall

I was completely charmed by this book. I know part of this was because I was a bit tired and jaded from some of the rather heavy tomes [physically and philosophically] I've gone through in the past couple of months.

This was just a breath of fresh, simple air after the heavy perfumes and extremely complicated smells" of other books. A simple draught of clean spring water after a surfeit of wine, beer, ale and sparkling juices.

Henry is a poor schlup who just tries, and succeeds. No epic quests, no hidden evil cousin/father/son/mother/aunt, etc, etc hidden in the wings to pop out and extend the story.

A simplistic story about a boy that made me grin. I don't know if I'll ever read this again, but I am glad I came across this little gem."

A rather fluffy little story, with a little bit of playing with story stereotypes but overall rather simple, even simplistic. I like the names thing; Dr Mo is...very convenient. Henry's "special magic" is weird, though admittedly it might be something that is known but not to first-year students. Things flow along a bit too conveniently (including convenient overhearings); Henry never actually makes a choice or takes an action until practically the end, just follows various instructions. Cute, I'm glad I read it, I don't see any reason to ever reread.

I read somewhere that Jane Yolen thinks JK Rowling ought to cut her a big fat royalty check for ripping off the plot of this book when she wrote the first Harry Potter. And it is true that there are similarities - boy named Henry (the 'real name', of which Harry is a shortened version), sent to wizard school, only to find that he is an expected prodigy who will save the world. But it seems to me that if Rowling did use the book, it was as source material. You couldn't accuse TH White of ripping off Le Morte d'Arthur, could you? Despite the more highflown literary beginning in that example, I think this instance of novelistic borrowing was very much the same. Wizard's Hall, while not unengaging, is allegorical and slight. While it does show more finish off the main plot, it raises more questions than it answers on the whole. If neither Henry nor Thornmallow is the main character's 'true name', what is? What did happen to Henry's uncle - was he a wizard or a card player? The book, at 133 pages, could use more fleshing out. It leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth - that Yolen was trying for the allegorical, the whimsical. It's one of those books that makes you think it was deliberate, this slightness. As if Yolen were trying to say, "It may not look like much from the outside, but it Means Something." I hate it when an author tries to be clever by forcing the reader to do their thinking for them. I wouldn't say you shouldn't read it. You could do worse. But you could do better. Ok, maybe I would say, if you are thinking about reading this book - "Don't do it. Put that down right now, and go and find something by Diana Wynne Jones. Similar feeling. Done with more care." show less

Here lies another dupe of the Harry Potter series, but published 6 years prior to the Harry Potter books ever hitting the shelves. The story begins with another young boy, who goes off to reluctantly become a student of wizardry at a magical boarding school. There are moving paintings, spells based on singing, and magical ways of getting around. There are also two best friends who strongly resembles Ron and Hermione, with similar red hair and freckles combo and a strange hair-do that masks intelligence and friendliness. Henry aka Thronmallow (dumbest wizard naming system ever in my opinion) teams up with them to research the bad guy (Nettle) at the library, but true to Harry Potter form , the protagonist must save the day because he is show more the only wizard who can defeat the bad guy... show less

This is a charming middle-grade fantasy, with a non-heroic hero who is quite bad at magic but goes to a wizard school one day. An evil wizard is coming, and our protagonist needs to find the solution with the help of his friends.

Funny and touching. Henry, renamed Thornmallow ("prickly on the outside, squishy within") upon his arrival at his new school, Wizard's Hall, seems to have no talent at all for wizardry. But strange things do happen when he is around. And he is determined to do his very best to save the School for Wizards from the evil Master and his Quilted Beast.

Only superficially like HP (they have tropes in common with many other stories) and is also superficial in all respects. I like the sketches of the magic system, the characters, the world... but I really wanted the book to be at least twice as long.

Btw, it's illustrated by [a:Trina Schart Hyman|6603|Trina Schart Hyman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1372538777p2/6603.jpg] but is not worth seeking out from desire to seek more of her work.