Threadneedle: The magical SUNDAY TIMES bestselling debut novel

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This uneven pacing is unfortunate, mostly because it delays the best parts of Threadneedle. In the latter half of her novel, Thomas offers us surprising twists and an elegant magic system. It is a breath of fresh air when Anna learns that the knot magic of the Binders is only one magical “language” and that there are infinitely more, all descended from an original seven: planetary, elemental, botanical, verbal, magic, symbolic, emotional. The reader is liberated alongside Anna when the book veers away from the stultifying environments of Aunt’s house and high school into the secret supernatural side of London. The plot begins to hum when a spell cast by the coven spirals into a dark and inescapable force. And, when Anna truly begins investigating the mystery of her parents’ death and the possibility that her own magic is cursed, she becomes someone I could actually root for. And a new notification that I'm adding: The Trilogy or Series notification. This is book one in The Language of Magic. In this case the ending resolves a major issue, but many plot threads will go tendrilling into the next book (s).

As a character I found Effie to be quite annoying actually. I don’t think she was likable but I did enjoy how she managed to bring Anna out of herself and form a group of close friends out of girls who were otherwise bullied, lonely outsiders basically. The characters were good, if a little over dramatised with use of stereotypes like the high school bully, the fat girl, the "slut" and the geeky christian. I did connect with the lead Anna to an extent but not enough to really care.One of the things I didn’t like is that the contemporary setting could’ve been better managed. It’s set nowadays and except for phones it doesn’t show at all! It could very well be set in the 1960s – I think it would’ve been a good idea actually. There’s no mention of witches in films or popular culture for example. The dialogues didn’t really sound like today’s teen talk. Let’s be clear: it’s slow – not everyone like that, I personally do. Oh and when I say it’s slow, I mean it really takes its time and sometimes I wasn’t even sure what the plot was! I really enjoyed the atmosphere and and spending time with the characters! Naturally, magnetic Effie and heartthrob Attis do draw Anna into their popular circle, along with two other school outcasts who are revealed to be witches as well. Effie establishes a secret coven, and Anna learns there is so much more to magic than she ever knew. In a well-worn and canny move, Thomas has naive Anna learn the rules of this world, allowing the reader to follow along.

I really loved the atmosphere and setting of this book. It felt very reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events, in the way that the kids in this book seem to be facing their problems alone, with no help from the adults. It felt like classic British children's literature (think Harry Potter and Matilda) but for a YA audience. The mysteries were very intriguing and kept me reading. I really loved the friendship aspect. As someone who was very lonely and isolated through my own childhood, I really related to the way Anna was always putting herself down and fearful that she was hurting or inconveniencing her new friends. This book at times felt a little too dark for a typical YA audience; there's obviously abuse here, many sexual situations, language throughout, and some very convincing witchcraft rituals. If you're buying this for your kid, don't expect it to be just like Harry Potter, because it isn't. While I wish I’d learned more about the seven faceless women in this book, there are indications that they will play a vital role as the series unfolds. I am particularly interested in the seventh woman and am not so secretly hoping that we’ve already met her in this book but don’t know it yet. I already know who I want her to be. ‘People think stories are harmless but they are the most dangerous weapon mankind has.’ Content warnings include body shaming, bullying, emotional abuse, physical abuse and slut shaming. Death by suicide is mentioned a few times as a suspected cause of death. La trama está llena de secretos y giros, con los cuales la autora nos mantiene intrigad@s, y hace que llegue un punto en que no podamos parar de leer debido a las revelaciones que se hacen y lo que va aconteciendo. Por otra parte, lo novedoso del sistema de magia también es algo muy atrayente, puesto que vamos a ir descubriendo cómo funciona esta sociedad mágica, los distintos clanes que existen y cómo hacen magia cada uno de ellos. De igual manera, el argumento de la novela se centra tanto en el pasado de Anna, como en su historia familiar, que quizás no es como se la han contado, y en los conflictos de las brujas y las diversas formas de magia. The supporting characters were all so interesting and impossible to figure out. I never really knew who to trust at any point. I also really loved the tension surrounding Effie, Attis and Anna - I could never figure out the relationships between them. And I still can’t! This debut novel opens with a brief dark scene in which seven witches are magically murdered by an unseen force. The stakes instantly elevated, the novel moves to a quieter vignette of violence, in which a girl undergoes a brutal spell to deprive her of her ability to feel joy. This girl, we learn, is our heroine Anna. Her magical tormentor is her aunt and caretaker, a dour woman insistent on teaching her charge a central tenet: magic is the first sin.

Threadneedle is book one in a new young adult fantasy series and I can say without a doubt that I am already eagerly anticipating the next instalment. All in all, I am pleased with this book and I can't wait to read book 2! I'd totally recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a teenage coming-of-age story with a dash of witches and magic. There’s magic in every nook and cranny – as well as shops selling memories – in this fantastical novel that stalks the streets of London’s underbelly’ The magic both gleams and threatens. There are riddles and puzzles to be solved and there's a library - trust me, it's a good one. You'll want to give this a try.' - Sunday Times bestselling author Robin Hobb

What I enjoyed was the magic. It was really interesting to learn about all the different types of using magic and to see them put to use. I also enjoyed the magical world that Anna dipped into and wish there had been more of this and Anna practicing her magic. Anna es una chica que pasó toda su vida aprendiendo a controlar sus sentimientos para así volverse encorsertadora y suprimir su poder, pues la magia es el pecado original y solo acarrea problemas. Sin embargo, un día llegan Effie y Attis a su vida y le muestran todo el mundo mágico que le había sido negado. Así Anna descubre lo que podría ser si se lo permitiera y si saliera del terrible control que su tía ejerce en ella, pero las cosas no serán tan sencillas pues mientras más experimenta más verá que su poder tiene algo oscuro que la persigue y que, quizá, está relacionado con la trágica muerte de sus padres. This is a well written character driven YA tale. MC Anna has been taught to fear and loathe her magical talent by her repressive and cruelly disapproving aunt. She's approaching the day when a ceremony will bind her magic forever, when she meets exuberant and irrepressible young students Effie and Attis. They're soon off having adventures and exploring their magic and testing boundaries.Mix together Mean Girls + The Craft + a dash of Wednesday (the Netflix series) and you have Threadneedle. I really enjoyed this book by Cari Thomas and wasn't looking for it to be anything more than a story about teen girls and magic which is exactly what this was. I loved the high school drama, friendships, romance, and rebellion as much as the magic - and I really liked the magic and the unique way it was described. The relationships are also complex and heartbreaking at times, the characters fully formed. My favorite character was Rowan and I hope she gets more of an arc in the rest of the series! Thank you, NetGalley, publishers and, Cari Thomas for gifting me a copy of Threadneedle in return for my honest opinion. I firstly fell in love with this book just from the cover, and the synopsis promised so much. I wasn't disappointed. Threadneedle by Cari Thomas is an exceptional novel, with an intricate and complex magical system. The magical world created by the author is detailed and extremely well thought out, and the many different types of magic are explained thoroughly. I really enjoyed this book! This feels like a blend of Harry Potter, Practical Magic, and Sabrina (the Netflix one). It's got dark academia vibes features a young coven full of outcasts at a school of normies/cowen. This book is pretty dark; there's heavy presence of extreme physical and mental abuse from a parental figure who is practically an anti-witchcraft binder witch, plus there's the whole murder-suicide of parents and the mystery surrounding that.

Por una historia. Una historieta de nada. Tan minúscula como una llave. La gente cree que las historias son inofensivas, pero son el arma más peligrosa de la humanidad"

Customer reviews

I found the magic system in this story to be completely fascinating and I loved the idea that there are so many different ways to practice and that a witch has to try various types of casting to find the language that calls to them. Anna’s Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences. To be completely honest, I am struggling to sum up what was this story all about. Yes, get ready for another of my unpopular opinion. Anna has magic, but her aunt forbids her to use it. Instead, she keeps teaching her the dangers and the darkness of using magic. In the meantime, six faceless women are mysteriously hanged outside Westminster in London. Then, Anna meets Effie and Attis, who have joined her school, and she starts experimenting with the limits of her magic on a road to discovering more about herself and her past. Las encorsetadoras es un inicio de una saga que promete un mundo interesante, pero que en esta primera entrega se centra en su protagonista, su adolescencia con los problemas típicos y los secretos que la rodean. Y ahora contadme: ¿Os gustan este tipo de historias de magia y brujería? ¿También sois como yo y las novelas con una determinada ambientación os ponen ojitos *.*? ¿Os llama la atención esta novedad?