Thirteenth child

I was a big, big fan of Patricia Wrede's "dragons" series in middle school, though my memories of those books are vague. I remembered them fondly--as slim, plot-driven, funny, and somewhat feminist tales--so I was eager to revisit her writing in Thirteenth Child.Too bad, then, that this book is

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nothing like the quick, addictive reads I remember. Thirteenth Child is less a novel and more a fictional memoir. It's the story of Eff, seventh daughter in a large frontier family, whose twin brother Lan (as the seventh son of the seventh son) is magically gifted from birth. Unlike Lan, Eff herself has been told that she's been cursed as the thirteenth-born in her family, that her magic will eventually come to poison her and those around her.But weirdly this pronouncement has little impact on the story generally, if there is one. There really isn't. As Eff grows up, we follow the progress of her family from the east coast to a settlement in the west, where her father is recruited to teach. Eff attends school, makes friends, deals (or doesn't) with her sisters and her sisters' marriages, does chores, catalogs wildlife, and occasionally sulks. She's plenty busy--but a lot of what happens to her just isn't that exciting or engaging. She's largely a passive narrator, reporting back to us the events of her world without really taking an active role in them. I often felt like I was plodding through the chapters--and the years--but I was never really captivated by the plot or the voice.Regarding the voice, I have to say that, incidentally, Eff's narration never really rang true to me as the voice of an eighteen-year-old. She sounds much, much younger--it's a voice that reminds me more of Scout Finch than anything you'd encounter in most YA. In fact, generally, I felt that this wasn't a young adult novel at all. And while I'd be tempted to call it middle grade thanks to a lack of sexual content, it's not that, either. Eff's voice, though young, is wistful, detached, and nostalgic. This very much felt to me like a novel meant to appeal to adult fantasy and science fiction readers, who might better appreciate Wrede's extensive world building and better tolerate Eff's total lack of compelling romantic relationships.The world building here certainly is extensive. Wrede's central premise is that this is an alternate Earth where magic exists and some prehistoric creatures never became extinct, and she goes to great pains to show how that might conceivably impact every aspect of frontier life. The magical systems--and there are multiple ones here--are well-developed and believable, and so intertwined with the daily life of the characters that they don't even think to info-dump on us, something a less talented writer might resort to. There are backlash movements, philosophical disagreements, vivid ecologies, and several different methods of magical schooling. There are even historical twists--Benjamin Franklin as an unschooled magical genius!But Wrede seems so wrapped up in her world that she's really forgotten to give us a worthwhile story. This promises to be a series, but I really can't imagine where we'd go from here, because, in three hundred and forty pages, we really haven't gone anywhere.

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Set on an alternate American frontier, with magic and without Native Americans (although there are major "Aphrikan" characters). Eff is a thirteenth child, rumored to be unlucky and probably evil. Her twin brother Lan is a double-seventh son, powerful and probably lucky. When they are young, their

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parents move the family west to the edge of the frontier, in part to get away the two away from the pressure of their uncles' expectations, for bad and good. The untamed West is full of dangerous creatures, both natural (including mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses) and magical (including steam dragons and swarming weasels). The magical Great Barrier along the Mammoth (Mississippi) River blocks them from coming farther east, but travelers and settlements to the west of the river need magicians for protection.

This is the story of Eff's growing up and coming into her power. Not a lot really happens, but the details and characters are so fascinating that it doesn't much matter.

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In the western world, the number thirteen is often synonymous with bad luck or ill fortune. In Eff's world, there is nothing worse than being the thirteenth child except for perhaps being the twin of a brother who is a double seventh son (meaning being the seventh son of a seventh son). Growing up

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Eff is constantly living in the shadow of her twin brother, Lan who is heralded as a source of the greatest power and talent. She on the other hand, is repeatedly shunned by her extended family and those in the neighbourhood as one who will bring disaster to anyone and everyone around her.
Eff and Lan live in a world filled with magical creatures and wild animals that are separated from the civilized world by a magical barrier, but suddenly that safety is threatened and the twins come face to face with a calamity that puts their magical abilities and courage to the test.

It took some time in the beginning of this book to wrap my head around the concept of this book. The setting of the book takes place in a world similar to the frontier days of North America except you throw in magicians posted as outback sentries, a couple of steam dragons, and mutating grubs that devour the plants, and you will get a sense of the oddity that is the Thirteenth Child. Despite it all, I found the book light, fun and perfectly suited for summer reading. The story was well paced and the premise creative and refreshing so I will most likely look for the sequels at a future date.

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Something was missing. I kept reading, thinking surely Indians would appear. Maybe the narrator was too young to pay attention to un-European cultures, too wrapped up in her own family dynamics. Maybe they hadn't gotten far enough West? Maybe Indians would appear in the next volume?

Well. No

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Indians at all simply didn't occur to me, until I took a look at the blogs on the Tor site. Wrede decided to skip them, being uncomfortable with the only two options she perceived for portraying white/indian relations: either the Indians could be savages, or they could be ecologically advanced sages. And after all, they massacred the megafauna, right? So without them, she could also have mammoths. And then the Indians wouldn't have crossed the landbridge and therefore they're all still Siberian.

Uh huh. So, leaving aside any debates my fellow nerds might want to throw around about the theories of mass extinction, or about migration patterns to the New World - none of which are so simple - and maybe even leaving aside questions about moral responsibility (after all, an author should have the right to simply tell a good story, right?), it seems to me that this omission has raised some really troubling issues.

It's weird, right? Weird that such a capable writer would only see two unappealing stereotypes as her options for depicting Indian cultures. Weird that she'd think that readers wouldn't see that absence and feel uncomfortable, to say the least. Her vision of 'empty America' is too close to that old propaganda about Manifest Destiny - the Indians counted as wildlife, not people. Is it OK just to erase a gigantic episode of genocide from history because it's inconvenient to your story? After so many attempts to erase native americans from the official narrative, is it OK to do it again, for different reasons, in a popular kid's book? I suppose that's where the question of moral responsibility comes in.

I've seen other readers compare this to "Years of Rice and Salt", arguing that Robinson's story killed off Europeans wholesale and no one objected, and that this is just more of the same - a clever plot device. I don't know. At least Robinson accounted for the fact that there had been Europeans in his story, and that something terrible had befallen them. It just seems sinister, somehow, that in Wrede's world the Indians never even existed, like they'd not just been exterminated, but erased. Like those creepy Soviet photos, with executed former officials edited out. History re-written by the victors, so that no one will even remember what is lost.

I don't think that's what fiction should be used for. I have really, really mixed feelings about the book. It's got so many interesting facets - the characters are great, the magical system is fresh and intriguing - but the overall emotion I'm left with is sort of a queasy disgust.

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Once again Patricia Wrede has created a marvelous fantasy world which helps to draw her readers into twisted history. Set on the frontier, this story embraces the hardships of a world where magic only makes things slightly easier.

I would highly suggest this book to anyone who likes YA Fantasy

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novels. It is well written and fun.

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This book is kind of Harry Potter meets Little House on the Prairie,What a great concept!.I did enjoy this book its the first in a series and I am hoping the next 2 books will have a little more meat to it now that we know the characters.This one was definatly introducing the characters and with

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some excitement at the end.Ms.Wrede is a good writer and I have enjoyed her other books so I know this series will be good overall.I also have some theorioes about certain characters that I will be curious to find out if I am right about.

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Fantastic. This is a wonderful world, a north america where magical barriers keep out wild beasts and allow pioneers to settle. Eff is a splendid characters, and her growing up with people who fear her as a 13th child but also surrounded by poeple who love and encourage her makes for interesting

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reading. I eagerly await the rest of this trilogy. I'd give this to fantasy fans, alternate history fans, maybe even some steam punk fans, for the nifty western flavour.

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A fantasy that reimagines the American Frontier with living mammoths and dragons. Well-written, with interesting characters, especially 13th child Eff and her twin brother. I just wish the climactic scene were more exciting that metamorphing bugs!

In the Avrupan magic tradition, a 13th child is unlucky for all around her. A double seventh son, however, is full of luck and strong magic. Twins Eff (the thirteenth) and Lan (the double seventh) and their family move to the edge of the settled Columbia - an alternate version of the United States

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where magic is part of everyday life and mammoths, dragons and other creatures roam the unsettled plains.

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Interesting read which drags a little at first but gathers pace at the end.

Thirteenth Child is by one of my favorite children's writers, Patricia C. Wrede. She wrote the Dealing with Dragons series, which I really love. This one is an interesting mix between a Western and a fantasy. The story takes place in an alternate world where it's the late 1800s and magic is common.

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Lewis and Clark were lost in a dangerous wilderness full of magical beasts. Eff is the 13th child of the title, and she is also the sister of a 7th son of a 7th son. 13 is bad luck, so when anything goes wrong, her extended family - and even the town - blame it all on her. Her parents get tired of it all move Out West, where her father gets a job at a university of magic. For the first time, Eff gets a chance at a normal life.

I really enjoyed this one. It's the first in a series, and I can't wait to see what Eff gets up to now that she's developing her own magical talents. Lots of fun.

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I was very disappointed with this book. The summary was intriguing, but I was quickly bored; I fear that the teens for whom this book is intended would not last even a few chapters.

For a girl who could supposedly been an all-powerful and possibly evil magician, the main character is downright

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pathetic. Her twin deserves all the extra dotting he gets, because she does nothing but worry. All the characters, of which there many, are rather flat and easily forgotten.

The frontier setting was slow and dry; real life pioneers probably had more fun. The ending would have been anti-climatic, had there been any build up to it, but the whole book was anti-climatic. Also, the alternate history thing was just weird and did not fit.

This book needed more adventure, more interesting characters, and A LOT more magic.

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Ever since Eff was born, she’s been treated with fear, mistrust, and sometimes outright loathing -and all this from members of her own family. Because Eff is a thirteenth child, she is considered unlucky at best, and many believe that she is destined for a life of badness with no way to escape.

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According to the same gossiping aunts and uncles, Eff’s twin brother has a very different destiny. Lan is the seventh son of a seventh son, bringing luck to those around him and making his magic tremendously powerful.When the treatment of their two youngest children becomes extreme, Eff’s mom and dad decide to move the family out to Mill City for a new start. Mill City is the biggest city on the frontier, and it is just miles away from the Great Barrier. Once you pass the Great Barrier that separates the east and the west, the territory changes. Pretty drastically. We’re talking Mammoths and Steam Dragons and Sphinxes drastic. The Barrier keeps this wild menagerie of menacing magical creatures out on the frontier. But many people cross the frontier to create new settlements and try to tame the land, protected by their settlement magicians. And while the settlers expect trouble from these large and threatening magical creatures, the thing that causes the most trouble is something they have all overlooked.Much of the book is concerned with the process of learning magic, and how that process is different for Eff and Lan. Which is a treat for the reader, because the magical system is seriously cool. There are three traditional systems of magic - Avrupean, Hijero-Cathayan, and Aphrikan - and each has its own methods and quirks. Since Eff starts out young and is learning more about how to use magic, the reader gets to come along on that journey.It is not only the magic system that is exceptionally crafted in Wrede’s book - all of her worldbuilding is top-notch. I feel like I’ve been seeing more of these books that combine an alternate history of our world with some kind of fantasy element, and this is the best of the bunch so far. Wrede’s combination of the wild west frontier and the wild animals of fantasy is inspired, and both the creatures and the magic fit perfectly into the world she creates. And while the world and the magic are a delight to read, it is Eff who drew me into this book. Her relatives treated her with suspicion and malice for so long that she has internalized their distrust of her magic. She is convinced that it is only a matter of time before she turns bad, and so she pulls away from friendships and from her own magical power. The reader can see that Eff’s struggle with herself is creating more problems than it is solving, and Wrede is slowly bringing Eff along to that same realization. The Thirteenth Child builds a great foundation for a series. The reader gets a sense of the trouble that could be ahead for Lan and Eff - much of it caused by their different upbringings and how superstition has developed their characters. The seeds for some intense family conflict have been sown, and the backdrop for that potential conflict will certainly stand up to many more books. I’ll be looking forward to the next in this series.

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I'm a bit troubled on this book. Let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and look forward to reading more in the series. The world-building was engrossing, the protagonist was (for me, at least) quite relatable, and the book's plot fun. I was disturbed, however, that a book set in an alternative

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1830s American frontier had no mention whatsoever of Native Americans. I won't go into that too deeply, because there's already been plenty of discussion on the web about it, and I know that some explanations have been advanced (different wildlife made it dangerous to live there, for example).

However, setting aside political correctness, this is a good book, and I will read the future books in the series - I hope that the author finds a way to bring in some native characters, however.

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I kept comparing this to the Little House on the Prairie books. Individual episodes were interesting, but they didn't really hook together into an overall plot arc. Normally, I'd be okay with that, but I felt like the book was promising a "big story arc" when what I got were episodes.

So: if you

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liked Little House on the Prairie, and you're forewarned of the episodic nature of the book, and that's what you're looking for - I think you'd be pleased with the book. It's not high drama and would suit several of the people I know perfectly as such. The world is fascinating, the characters wonderfully human. It just wasn't the book for me.

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Eighteen-year-old Eff must finally get over believing she is bad luck and accept that her special training in Aphrikan magic, and being the twin of the seventh son of a seventh son, give her extraordinary power to combat magical creatures that threaten settlements on the western frontier.

I wanted to be able to give this one a 3, but the parts I liked did not outweigh some of my issues with the storyline.
One of my biggest issues was that it came off kind of like a historical fiction novel and a bit like an alternative history as well, but it was unclear to me which way the author

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was trying to go with it. I almost think that if she had gone with a magical community hidden in the frontier times (similar to Harry Potter) that it might have been more successful. In this world the rationalists were the minority and everyone learned magic. I found it too far of a stretch to make the magical world so prevalent and so much a part of their lives.
Overall, there were parts that I did find interesting and the overall theme was one that I liked... I liked that Eff found a life in the frontier and I also liked her relationship with Lan and William. Her family was full of eccentrics, but again I just could not buy into the superstitions of their time.
I love fantasy so I really wanted to like this one, but in the end I just could not take the leap and buy into the world created in this story.

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This is what you get when you combine alternate world fantasy with Little House on the Prairie. A fun treat for fans of both genres!

The Thirteenth Child tells the story of Eff Rothmer, a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is a double-seventh child, a position of great magical power and potential. Unfortunately for Eff, the thirteenth child is said to be cursed, hazardous to those around them, and even evil. Eff is

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terrified that she will one day "go bad" and hurt those around her, so she tries desperately to control her magic, and possibly even rid herself of it. Eff must learn how to become her own person with her own magic, no matter what others may think.

Set in an Old West that mixes the familiar -- buggies and frock coats -- with the fantastic -- steam dragons and spectral bears -- Thirteenth Child manages to be completely true and now. The choices Wrede makes keep the book from being the over the top, cheesy affair it could have been in someone else's hands. She never overdoes anything or tosses in too many fantastic problems or elements. Her fantasy elements are realistic, and she always makes sure that her characters and Eff's development takes precedence. Eff's voice and narration, too, are very enjoyable, with fun little turns of phrase that pop.

I rarely say this when I read a good stand-alone, because I respect an author that doesn't milk it by turning it into a series (and often thinning it out as a result), but I really hope there's more to come.

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3.5It was kind of slow, yet still interesting in an unobtrusive sort of way. It took a while to build a story and the character, and it seems like the true story is just starting after this book ends. It certainly wasn't as spectacular as I was hoping, but I'll read the next books hoping to see the

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story come into its own.The jacket synopsis is a bit misleading. :)

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This is a first person coming of age story told by Eff who happens to be a twin and a thirteenth child in an alternate Earth setting in the pioneer days. Settlers have more to worry about than our early settlers had though. This world has magic and dangerous magical creatures like steam dragons,

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spectral bears, mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses among other dangers.

The world also has three kinds of magic - the Avrupan, the Hijero-Cathayan, and the Aphrikan. Many, even most. of the people in Columbia are students of the Avrupan school which teaches that seventh sons are lucky and seventh sons of seventh sons are even luckier. And there is nothing worse to be than a thirteenth child. Her brother Lan is a double seven who is petted and praised for his potential; Eff is the unlucky thirteenth. While her parents are supportive of her, many of her aunts, uncles and cousins torment and belittle her. She develops a major inferiority complex and a fear that she really will turn out to be as horrible as her relatives say.

When she is five, her parents decide to travel west to the edge of settlement. Her father is a professor of magic who gets a job at one of the new land grant colleges on the frontier. This trip gives Eff a chance to start over but she still doesn't tell anyone that she is a thirteenth child. There in Mill City Eff also has the chance to learn from a new teacher who is an expert in the Aphrikan school of magic. The new teacher helps Eff gain confidence but Eff is still worried that her magic could be dangerous.

Now, in this world there is a magical barrier that was erected by Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to keep the people to the east safe from all the dangerous magical and non-magical creatures in the west. But settlers are pushing the limit and gradually expanding beyond this great Barrier Spell. Each settlement has their own magician to provide the magical protections necessary to live beyond the Great Barrier. But the land beyond the Barrier is little explored and largely unknown. Eff wants to learn more about the land and become a naturalist. When the settlements are attacked by a new insect that no one knew anything about, Eff travels with her father, twin, and friend to try to find a way to protect the settlements. And she becomes a heroine!

I thought the story was a fascinating and different take on fantasy. Combining magic with pioneering made it even more interesting. Having Eff tell her own story made it easy to understand and sympathize with her. The only problem I had with the story was the very lackluster cover that the book has. If I can convince students to pick it up, I know that they will enjoy getting to know Eff and finding out about her magical world. But the cover doesn't make it easy.

Don't judge this book by its cover! Pick it up and explore a fascinating new world with a wonderful main character.

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Different and interesting- I will be looking for the next book in the series- its only fault was that it was a little slow moving.

From her first memories, Eff remembers being treated with fear, mistrust and hatred by her aunts and uncles. This is all because she was the thirteenth child born in her family and everybody knows that means that she not only is bad luck, but she will turn out to be evil. Eff's twin brother, Lan,

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however, is the fortunate, blessed fourteenth child, a double seventh born to a seventh. Fortunately, the family decides to move out West to Mill City when Eff is only five, and people don't seem to know that she an unlucky thirteenth child there. Mill City is the largest town out West and it is only a few miles away from the Great Barrier, a magical wall erected by Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to keep dangerous magical creatures away from the settled areas. But many people are now crossing the Great Barrier and forming new settlements out in the dangerous frontier.

Eff and Lan both start their schooling, and the book covers the years from when they are about five years old until they are eighteen. Lan starts to get different training when he is about ten years old because his magic is so powerful, but Eff seems to be lacking in magical talent...in fact, other people's spells seem to fizzle when she is around them. Eff, however, begins to learn Aphrikan magic in an afterschool class, which is different from the more popular Avrupan magic that everyone else uses, and it seems to work better for her.

The worldbuilding and magical system in this novel are fascinating and very well constructed. I loved the alternate American 19th century frontier with magic. I also enjoyed the characters and the twist of having a lucky, magically powerful twin paired with the unlucky, magically different child. The plot, however, was somewhat disappointing. Basically this was mostly a story about Eff's childhood, and while some of it was captivating, some of it was mundane. While the story did rise to a modest conflict at the end, I would have liked a little more action and suspense. Hopefully the sequel will fill this gap, and see Eff coming more into her powers.

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I finished The Thirteenth Child which I'd kind of been grumping about being too YA, but Patricia C. Wrede manages to get some interesting ideas in such as the three different types of using your power in the world, a big hit on the melting pot ideal of the US (or Columbia as her alternate reality

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has it) and, in a world full of large terrible monsters the fact that the little ones can do the most damage. On reflection, it was a better book than I had at first thought.

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