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The Hatmakers is even more delightful and beautiful than its cover--and I think that it's cover is spectacular. In many ways this has reminded me of Magicians of Caprona, a much older book by Diana Wynne Jones of Howl’s Moving Castle fame—mainly because of the different families with their magics and each seems to have their own “place” in the city—however this book has its own charms and I would have loved it just as much as a kid. (That’s petty high praise from me; DWJ is top tier fantasy.) I can just imagine Chrestomanci stepping into this world, too. In fact if anyone WANTED to write me crossover fanfiction I wouldn’t be opposed at all.~~~ Enter a spellbinding world brimming with magic and wonder, perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Harry Potter. Beautifully illustrated throughout by Paola Escobar.
What a delightfully magical read! I had such a great time, & I’m so sad I don’t have more in my hands to read right now! Lol Cordelia comes from a long line of magical hatmakers, who weave alchemy & enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia's world, Making - crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots & gloves from magical ingredients - is a rare & ancient skill, & only a few special Maker families remain. Overall, this was a gorgeous book with a gorgeous cover. This middle grade series is a true gem and I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for something cute, fun and magical! Really enjoyed this 🥰🥰When Cordelia's father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war. A big thing about Ronald Dahl and Diana Wynne Jones is that their books are character driven. They always had wonderful, fully realised characters who made difficult choices and drove the story through their actions. The Hatmakers was 100% plot driven. And while there’s nothing theoretically wrong with a plot-driven story, in this case it meant that the characters had no agency of their own, and were very two-dimensional. They were pushed along by what was happening in the story and didn’t actually need to make any choices of their own, as the story pushed them in the direction it needed them to go. For example, the main character’s best friend, Goose, only actually did one thing in the entire book - he put up a sail at the end. The main character, Cordelia, is something of a Mary-Sue character - she is pretty perfect, has no flaws, is the hero of the day, helps everyone she meets to perfect their lives, and everyone loves her. It doesn’t make for a very interesting main character.
Wildly inventive . . . full of laugh-out-loud humour, enchanting magic and rebellious hope. I loved it' Catherine Doyle The one gripe I had is I found the conflict going on with the king to be far to obvious, from almost the very beginning, and therefore the twist like extremely predictable....like the adults in the story ignoring the most clear explanation bugged me. But I know I'm not the target audience for this though, so me finding the ending predictable doesn't really detract from my enjoyment of the book. Puffin is an imprint of Penguin Random House, the world’s number-one publisher representing a vibrant community of publishing houses marked by unparalleled success. Through our world of stories, Puffin aims to open up the world to every child. Our mission is to inspire children to feel they can be and do anything, and to create readers for life.Imaginative . . . entertaining, comical and breezy, and the settings are conjured in transporting detail' The Times She never expects to stumble upon a secret society of Mapmakers - or to learn that magic isn't limited to the few Maker families, but is instead is all around, if you just know where to look . . . Auf den ersten Teil der "Die Gilde der Hutmacher" Reihe war ich sehr gespannt und ich habe eine Geschichte im Stil der Duftapotheke-Reihe erwartet. It's allowed me to communicate some thoughts that I have about life, how good life can be and the beauty of life in what hopefully isn't a super cheesy way. You have your own voice as a writer and when you're acting a part that has been written by someone else, created by someone else, and you're coming in to bring yourself to the part, you can’t say things about life through the part necessarily. With a book, there's this amazing opportunity to almost give a vision of life and thoughts about how good and beautiful life can be. That's been nice. I definitely wreaked a little bit of revenge on some silly actors that I've known in my past through the character of Sir Hugo Gushforth - who was a very silly actor - but it's affectionate as well. It's not all like a character assassination by any means. What do you think you've learned about yourself through becoming an author?
The Mapmakers is the sequel to The Hatmakers, which I read last year and really enjoyed. This series is basically about a family called the Hatmakers, who make magical hats. There are also other Makers that make other magical items, like the Glovemakers, Watchmakers, Cloakmakers, etc. I thought this was a great concept and it was executed so well!! This series is a combination of fantasy and adventure, with a pinch of mystery, which were all woven together to create a really engaging story.The Hatmakers is set in a fictional country where the king has appointed 5 “maker” families to make gloves, hats, boots, cloaks and watches. These families each specialize in one item and have done so for hundreds of years, and no one else in the kingdom is allowed to make those items. Additionally, the families make the items using magical materials. A world of many Makers—there are Hatmakers, Bootmakers, Glovemakers, Cloakmakers, Watchmakers and Cane makers. Hatmakers weave enchantments into the hats they produce allowing the wearer to be more focussed, brave, daring, violent, angry; anything! And the hats need unique ingredients—like feather of an owl for which you have to undertake a journey, storms in jars, moonbeams etc. I also adored this quote: "Everybody has their own unique magic, littlest hatmaker. But it's up to you to discover what it is. You've got to adventure into your own heart and head and belly to find out just what your own special magic is made of." (P.65) An enchanting fantasy adventure about the importance of bravery, resourcefulness, and following your heart from a debut celebrity author.