The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr, 2018

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Grisha is a dragon in a world that's forgotten how to see him. Maggie is a unusual child who thinks she's perfectly ordinary. They're an unlikely duo—but magic, like friendship, is funny. Sometimes it chooses those who might not look so likely. And magic has chosen Grisha and Maggie to solve the darkest mystery in Vienna. Decades ago, when World War II broke out, someone decided that there were too many dragons for all of them to be free. As they investigate, Grisha and Maggie ask the question everyone's forgotten: Where have the missing dragons gone? And is there a way to save them? At once richly magical and tragically historical, The Language of Spells is a novel full of adventure about remembering old stories, forging new ones, and the transformative power of friendship.

(256 pages)

Sometimes, when I've gotten too bogged down with churning through books and reviews, I get a little disenchanted with reading. I forget the magical feeling that comes with losing myself in a good book.

But then I read something like The Language of Spells and I remember all over again.

It reminds me of so many of the fantasy books I read when I was younger, but it's not so redundant that it becomes forgettable. The approach to magic is a relatively fresh angle, and the faux history of magic's disappearance in the past few hundred years actually makes quite a bit of sense. The mistreatment of the missing dragons is awful, but made a hundred times worse by the fact that it eerily echoes the Holocaust which took place around the same time.

Don't worry, though, the story is not so dark that it would be bad for younger or more sensitive readers. In fact, I think it's just about the perfect combination of sadness and fun. Grisha's story is a fascinating one, which I don't want to talk about too much because of spoilers, and I loved to watch his and Maggie's relationship.

My only real issue with the book, I think, is that Weyr kept basically smacking us in the face with the idea that everyone has become so caught up in efficiency and facts that they've forgotten how to see magic; only people like Maggie, whose father lets her read whatever books she chooses and lets her direct her own homeschool education, has kept hold of her imagination enough to see the dragons. As a former homeschooler myself, I don't believe you have to have an unorthodox education to stay imaginative–and I don't think small children should be encouraged to read books with adult topics they're not ready for.

But that's a rather small quibble I have. Overall, I just really enjoyed the reading journey. On one hand, I'd love to read another book set a few years down the road–but on the other, I think the ending is just about the perfect bittersweet end to a perfectly bittersweet story.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.