Jinx: The Wizard's Apprentice

Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice by Sage Blackwood, Jinx #1

It's not every day that your evil stepdad abandons you in the deep, dark forest of Urwald. And it's not every day that a wizard rescues you from the clutches of gnarly trolls. But for Jinx, this isn't turning out to be a very normal sort of day...

The bubbling cauldrons and coloured potions of the wizard's house are a world away from the life Jinx has left behind. Even the walls are soaked in magic, and it's not long before Jinx begins to unlock his own rare powers.

But Simon Magus is no ordinary wizard. He seems to need something from Jinx - something dark. And Jinx begins to wonder: can he trust Simon... at all?

Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice is the first book in the Jinx series that tells the story of Jinx a young boy, thrown into a world of magic by happenstance, or is it? Jinx is also the debut series by Sage Blackwood. I always try to alternating book genres, reading fantasy the first day, and science fiction, horror etc on another, but I also love to read children’s and young adult books. Most books allow you to escape into their world but along the way I have found that children's and young adult books allow just that tad bit more. Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice isn’t an exception in this case either.

Jinx: The Wizard Apprentice follows the adventures of Jinx. As the name might imply for some, his stepfather and mother think he is cursed (it’s said that everyone who takes care of Jinx, dies.) and they try to abandon them in the woods. But what are the wise words of the woods: never stray of the Path! but reluctant as his stepfather is he and Jinx venture off of it. And soon Jinx and his stepfather find themselves surrounded by trolls. Luckily there is a saviour near, the evil wizard Simon, who bargains for Jinx’ life. This is the start of Jinx’ apprenticeship for Simon. From this point onwards, Jinx’ life will be quite different.

It is presumed in the world that all wizards are evil and so does Jinx himself believe. His apprenticeship with Simon there for starts of and in the first half of the book isn’t really master-apprentice. In the house of Simon, Jinx is mostly cleaning up after Simon, chopping firewood and the like. Jinx isn’t allowed to visit several locked room, but as a young boy you can fault his for being curious can you? He only gets that much more eager to explore. Which he does, which sets in motion quite a few other things.

Jinx is a solid main protagonist for the story and the start of the book and having finished this series will be a star for the rest of the series. Jinx is special. He has power to read other people state of minds, not really mind-reading but he can distinguish how people feel with color codes. But this isn’t everything. His training with Simon does seem to be paying off and once he ventures in the woods of Urwald he finds out that he has powers that he didn’t thought he had. He becomes the Listener. A cool concept that I am eager to see explored more. It is not only these powers that make Jinx a great character read about, it is also his whole personality that make him just lovable. In the introduction of his character he is a bit of push-over not really able to say what he means, but along the lines of the book, you see that he is getting more confident and finally also takes the reigns in his own hand and starts on his own quest. Sage Blackwood has created a confident be it utterly curious character with Jinx.

Once Jinx is on his quest, he soon makes two friends to keep him company, Rever and Elfwyn. Rever comes from the lands that lay west of Urwald and is trekking through them to go to the east. He is a prince, talks like one and acts like one. Rever is also haunted by a curse and when he finds out Jinx is seeking to find answers he gladly joins in. Elfwyn, joins in later than Rever, she is a native to one of the clearing in Urwald, she is cursed as well only able to say the truth. She also wants to lift her curse and seeks out her grandmother Dame Glabber.

Next to Jinx there are quite a few secondary characters that you get introduced to (Rever and Elfwyn mentioned above already). First there is Simon, the evil wizard who takes Jinx in as his apprentice. Like I mentioned wizards are presumed evil, there are a few characteristics of Simon that might proof him to be a bit evil but overall I couldn’t really find that back in his character. I found Simon more of an eccentric and peculiar wizard. Secondly there is Sophie, the wife of Simon. She weaves a nice link towards the place of Samara. Sophie is a teacher at the university in Samara, it is the place to learn magic. However it is only meant to be learned, as using magic is punished by law. Sophie herself doesn’t use any magic. There is also the witch Dame Glabber. Now Witch magic and Wizard magic are quite different from each other. I just have to mention one thing, witches moving on butter churners! And lastly there is The Bonemaster, the most feared wizard of all. All taken together, these characters were individually great to read about but once the storyline neared it’s ending and more things of the plot were being told, it really proved its worth.

The big lines of the story in Jinx: The Wizard Apprentice have already been mentioned above. In both the first part when Jinx is studying with Simon and later on when he departs on his own quest, the storyline isn't without twists and turns. Especially nearing the ending of the book when Jinx has his encounter with The Bonemaster and a lot of assumed things fall into place. Proving that not all who are said to be evil are evil. Futhermore along the way you do get to glimpse more and more of the magical surrounding of the world that Jinx inhabits. Some of the creatures you see: think were-wolves, were-bears, were-chipmunks (yup, you read that correctly), trolls and a lot more. 

Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice is a book that can be read as a stand-alone, but also shines as a starter in the series. There are two storylines that can be readily used to venture into the second book of the series (out January 2014) or Sage Blackwood can write a whole new beginning. Jinx: The Wizard’s Apprentice is cleverly written with a great pacing for the intended audience, not dragging the storyline and not pacing to fast, but lets you read it in your own leisure. Its richly imaginative with interesting creature, full of magic and with Jinx in the lead, this series is on to be a winner.