A Far Away Magic: a magical and touching tale of friendship and family

“When Angel moves to a new school after the death of her parents, she isn’t interested in making friends. Until she meets Bavar – a strange boy, tall, awkward and desperate to remain unseen, but who seems to have a kind of magic about him. Everyone and everything within Bavar’s enchanted house is urging him to step up and protect the world from a magical rift through which monsters are travelling, the same monsters that killed Angel’s parents. But Bavar doesn’t want to follow the path that’s been chosen for him – he wants to be normal; to disappear. Fighting one another as well as their fears, Angel and Bavar must find a way to repair the rift between the worlds, and themselves, before it’s too late.”

A Far Away Magic tells one side of the story of Angel, the new girl in school, who just wants to get on with her new life, without being too noticed. She’s gone through some pretty rough times. Her parents have died, mysteriously, and she doesn’t want to revisit that memory as it is confusing and painful. She’s living with her new foster parents who aren’t too sure how to handle Angel, but who want to do what’s best for her. The other side of the story is Bavar. He’s a mysterious boy who goes unnoticed at school, who lives in the big house on the top of the hill. He’s happily going about not having friends until Angel, the new girl, notices him. 

Their friendship is not a conventional one. Angel is drawn to Bavar and she sees him when no one else does (much his magical doing!) and this stumps him. Angel can’t get this mysterious young man out of her head, she’s like a moth to light… drawn to him. When they finally become friends, you see the spark of a brilliant friendship. Angel introduces Bavar to the normality of life – riding on trains, going to libraries – and Bavar introduces Angel to the exraordinary house he lives in, and his not so normal family. 

Obviously things never go to plan, these two people can’t just be friends and everything be peachy. There’s a connection between Bavar’s family and Angel’s dead parents. An undeniable connection that eventually explodes, with it their friendship. Bavar and Angel must work together to try to fix the problem. 

I really loved the friendship in this book. Angel and Bavar are reluctant friends at first. They don’t WANT to be friends, but they are drawn to each other. I love a good friendship in a book. They’re big hits for me. I also PROPER loved Bavar’s magical house. As you know by now I’m a sucker for anything magic, so the magical funny house Bavar lived in was a real winner with me! It was constantly changing. I’d like to live there!

Another of the themes that I loved in this book is Angel’s relationship with her foster parents. It is a hard relationship initially. They’re not sure how to be around each other at first. Angel doesn’t admit to anyone (except Bavar) that she’s got a foster family. By the end of the book you see the hard edges have melted away, they’re becoming a family unit. It was a really touching arc to watch develop and I definitely shed a tear. 

I loved Amy’s first book A Girl Called Owl (would definitely recommend it!), so when I was asked if I’d like to review this I was so happy to say yes! Thank you so much Amy for sending a copy to me! 

Have you read A Far Away Magic?
Are friendships a big part of a story to you?

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S x