A review by goriar
The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes

3.0

I really, really wanted to love this book, and in the beginning, I did. The whimsical setting, the Alice in Wonderland atmosphere, and the colorfulness of the writing really sucked me in, but unfortunately, it could not make up for the cruel lack of character development, which could have been prioritized over an umpteenth description of a door or a staircase or any magical, funny detail. I felt extremely frustrated with the main character. I understood that she was traumatized and on her guard, considering all she went through, but by the end, she was just plain cruel. The book itself exposes the many instances she has of growing when she repeatedly acknowledges that she knows she should say "sorry" or "thank you" but decides against it because of her past and temperament. The first time the narration called attention to this detail, I thought: that seems about right, thank you for introducing this development, let's go! I fully expected that the next instance that would confront her to her lack of kindness and politeness would unfold slightly differently and follow this pattern each time, you know, character development. Instead, Nine consistently offers the same reactions to Eric, who is nothing but a sweetheart to her and saves her life MULTIPLE times, all to be yelled, hissed, and screamed at to never touch her again. This was so incredibly frustrating and truly sealed this book's fate in my eyes.