The Doomspell

Rating:
Summary: Cute tale of magic
Review: Cliff McNish, a new British author being published in the US as well as the UK, produces a mixed bag in "Doomspell." On one hand he shows genuine imagination, sense of atmosphere and an intriguingly well-made magical system. On the other hand, his villain is a little too cartoonish, and his story a little too cutesy and cliched.

The hideous, evil witch Dragwena has been pulling children with magical ability to the icy world of Ithrea for a long, long time. The kids always turn out not to be talented enough for Dragwena's purposes, and she allows them to live as aged, abused servants. But when she magically pulls the two children Eric and Rachel to Ithrea, she finds that Rachel possesses powers comparable to her own.

Rachel and Eric are treated well initially by the strange woman with a serpent for a necklace. They befriend her servant Morpeth, who helps Rachel develop her powers in the desperate hope that she can help his enslaved friends. But Dragwena is still stronger than Rachel is -- and determined to transform the girl into a bloodthirsty witch as well.

McNish definitely has a flair for fantasy. While not the best fantasy that I've read, it contained a number of surprises and intriguing elements to keep me guessing up until the climax. Unfortunately the plot is also saddled with a lot of rather cutesy cliches. The magically empowered preteen, the rhyming prophecy, Ithrea and its bizarre wildlife, and the idea of children being turned into broken slaves of the witch were all irritatingly cliched. And every now and then, McNish trots out something so ridiculous that it simply does not belong, such as the bickering bird-baby "prapsies." And often Dragwena becomes too gleefully evil to be convincing.

However, he does have a talent for descriptive writing. His descriptions of Rachel's transformations are outstanding, as is the world of Ithrea. His characterizations, aside from Dragwena, are fairly good. While Rachel is hampered by the clear influence from the author's daughter, she is a fairly convincing heroine. More outstanding are Eric, the quiet background guy who serves an unexpected (though too convenient) purpose in the plot, and Morpeth, who manages to be both old and young, mature and insecurely boyish.

Overall this is a cute little fantasy book. Not for those who like their stories hard-core, but good for the kids who are searching for something new and yet familiar.

Rating:
Summary: Doomspell Spells Enjoyment!
Review: I read Doomspell last year and now I must brace myself to remember all that happened in Doomspell.If it was possible I'd give this book 90% but unfortunately Amazon does not give those ratings.
Two children get pulled from their world to become property of an evil witch, like many children before them. But unlike those children, these ones have special powers which they use to free themselves and others from the grip of this witch.
This books scores A+ in captivating writing. However, the 10% I take off it is mainly for cliches and not much creativity. With luck, Cliff Mcnish's other novels will have a bit more imagination, but other from that, keep it up!

Rating:
Summary: Promising writer, interesting book
Review: The young girl Rachel and her brother Eric are taken from our world, by the evil witch Dragwena, to the cold world of Ithrea.

Dragwena, the ruler of Ithrea, wants to prey upon the childrens magic abilities - abilites that all Earths' children have, although they are dormant.
But Rachel and Eric are not quite like other children, and soon whispers spread on Ithrea, about the child hope.
But will Dragwena suceed in turning Rachel into a witch? Or will Rachel and Eric be able to find allies on Ithrea and defeat the witch? And how can they return to Earth?

It is true that you notice some inspiration from the Narnia books (though without all the christian symbolism), but I find that McNish uses it in his own context, and I find many of his characters - like Morpeth and the prapsies - both interesting and original.
There are cliches as well, but all in all it's an energetic tale, with some original elements, and a good pace. The descriptions of the main character Rachel, her development and her friendship with Morpeth are good, and there are surprises here and there even for fantasy fans.
So as long as you don't expect and oríginal masterpeice, this book is worth reading!

Rating:
Summary: The Doomspell
Review: This book was one of the best books I have ever read. It all starts when they are taken into the land of Ithrea, which the witch Dragwena rules. Rachel discovers she can fly and change into any shape, which only the witch can do. The witch tries to turn Rachel into a witch to help her defeat the wizards that banished her to Ithrea. This was a very exciting book.

Rating:
Summary: Sounds familiar...
Review: Two siblings are taken to a magical land where they find that they are perhaps destined to overthrow the evil witch and rescue the talking animals from the eternal winter that the witch has imposed on them.

Thus is the plot of this book, set in the land of Narnia--oops, I mean Ithrea. If you've read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, you undoubtedly recognize the story. The main problem with The Doomspell is that it fails to become anything more than a meager copy of The Chronicles of Narnia geared for somewhat older readers.

Rating:
Summary: Poor imagination
Review: When I started to read this fairy tale, I thought that it will be like the books of Eoin Colfer, I was disappointed because all what happened in this book is nonsense and poor in imagination, the story will keep you reading but don't expect much from the book, and as many books you just can skip the last chapter and you will lose absolutely nothing.
When I read the review Stephen Smith that says that this book is copied from other (I really don't know that) I really dislike this book very much, the only way that I read the other two books is if someone give them to me in my birthday or in any occasion, I won't spend a penny more with these books, I recommend for example the Wish List by Eoin Colfer.