The House at the Edge of Magic: madness, magic and humour!

“Nine is an orphan pickpocket determined to escape her life in the Nest of a Thousand Treasures. When she steals a house-shaped ornament from a mysterious woman’s purse, she knocks on its tiny door and watches it grow into a huge, higgledy-piggeldy house. Inside she finds a host of magical and brilliantly funny characters, including Flabberghast – a young wizard who’s particularly competitive at hopscotch – and a hideous troll housekeeper who’s emotionally attached to his feather duster. They have been placed under an extraordinary spell, which they are desperate for Nine to break. If she can, maybe they can offer her a new life in return…”

House tells the story of brilliant spunky and fun, Nine. Nine is an orphan, who was taken in by the Pockets when she was younger in return for her most treasured possession in the world: a music box. When Nine comes across something other-worldly and mysterious, she realises she’s in for the ride of a lifetime… but she might have to just give up her music box in order to get to go on this mysterious ride!

What she doesn’t realise is that once she dives into this mysterious little curiosity (a tiny little house) is that she would be met by an incredibly real house, full of brilliant characters and even more brilliant adventures! When she lifts the knocker of the door, she is welcomed by Flabberghast, a frustrated and slightly odd wizard, and his magic house dwellers: Eric (a domesticated troll who loves a bit of housework) and Dr Spoon… who is exactly as you expect!

Opening the door to the house means that Nine is now in charge of lifting an age-old curse on the house and its inhabitants. She tries to walk away, back to her old life, but we all know the lure of magic and adventure can sometimes be too much to withstand! Will Nine be able to help them break the curse?

I loved this book from the get go. It is full of colour and humour. You will fall for the characters and the house from the moment you meet them. There’s something gorgeously quirky about this book – it feels new, while also feeling familiar. It’s like reading a story you know but with some brand new faces. We all know I love a bit of magic and this was one of those that didn’t let me down at all.

The characters are all instantly loveable (well… almost all of them, but spoilers!). I particularly loved Nine: she’s strong and independent, and she’s desperately seeking a friend (while still being too stubborn to admit it – I think the stubbornness in me recognised this, ha!) The house and all of its inhabitants were glorious characters to read; they brought a lot of joy, colour and flamboyance into the story (and into Nine’s life… and god knows she needed it!)

My Goodreads review:

I loved this! Madness, magic and humour! Nine finds herself in a strange old position when she’s tasked with breaking a curse on a magic house. Can she help them? With a troll, a wizard and a spoon to help, will she succeed? I really liked these characters (Nine is lush!) and I think there could be potential for another?! Regardless, this is full of fun!

A massive thank you to Walker Books for inviting me to be part of the blog tour for this book. It is ALREADY in my class library, just waiting for someone to pick it up and read!

Why not check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour while you’re here!

S x