READ: Septimus Heap by Angie Sage: Overview. PDF, EPUB online free reviews.

It’s no secret that I adore green-eyed boy wizards. The two that I know of are not only kind, beloved and charming but also really powerful. One of them is Harry Potter (duh) and the other is Septimus Heap. Oh, and they also have great names.

One introduced me to the other. If you’re suffering from a HP hangover and search for similar books to read, Septimus Heap will likely turn up in the lists the internet will show you. This is exactly what happened to me.

I took my sweet time and didn’t immediately start these books. Even when I did I wasn’t entirely convinced that this was going to be an amazing series. But, you’d be surprised how much commitment and perseverance pays off.

It’s one of the many underrated books which are overshadowed by other over-hyped books. It’s ultimately a fun and light-hearted story and I gladly recommend it to anyone who’ll listen. Here’s what you need to know if you want to give this a go (this overview is spoiler free and I would urge you not to read the official synopsis from anywhere, there are some things that it shouldn’t say but it does):

Basyk Information:

Name of the series: Septimus Heap
Author: Angie Sage (she’s an English author)
Number of Books: 7 (Plus two novellas)
Book Titles: Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke, Fyre. The companion books: the Darke Toad and the Magykal Papers.
Genre: Juvenile, Middle-grade and Fantasy. (The recommended age group would be about 10-14 but I’m 22 and still I loved it)
Year Published: 2005-2013
Average length of each book: 500+ pages
General premise: It’s set in the Castle, a walled-in city where magyk and wizards are as common as bread and butter. The Castle always has a Queen, the throne being passed from mother to daughter and an Extraordinary Wizard responsible for the magykal tasks and problems the Castle faces and he/she resides in the Wizard Tower. Among the many residents of the Castle are the Heaps, perhaps the most famous of them all and the most abundant of them all as well. Silas and Sarah Heap have seven children, six boys and a girl. Their seventh son dies shortly after he’s born. Throughout the books we read about the adventures and misadventures of the Heaps as they go missing, go Darke, put the Castle in grave peril and save the Castle from grave peril.

The artwork:

The books are beautifully illustrated by Mark Zug. Every chapter has a cool illustration. There is a map of the Castle and of the entire world in the later books. Even in you didn’t know what these books were about the covers are attractive enough to tempt you to read them.

There are also alternate cover editions which aren’t that awesome compared to the other ones but still nice.

What you can expect:

This is, to its very core, a children’s series. So if you want something that gets eventually darker, you won’t get it here. That’s the problem I faced when I took this up. I wanted it to get dark and mature like Harry Potter but it didn’t. The tone remains light even though there are a few moments here and there that I felt were a bit serious. You’ll get a lot of laughs, silliness and a ton of fun but don’t go into it like I did, comparing it with HP. The books span over 4 years with only a couple of months passing between a few of them so the kids remain kids despite growing.

The world-building:

It’s delightful to say the least. It’s probably inspired from some real life places I’m sure but the world stands on its own and is unique. I am an absolute sucker for elaborate made-up names. For example, the Castle is in the Small, Wet Country Across the Sea. If that isn’t elaborate, I don’t know what is. There are also the Marram Marshes, the Badlands, the Lands of the Long Nights and places like that.
In Syren, when the characters venture out of their territory we get another map and another detailed glimpse into the world of Septimus Heap. The world gets more depth gradually and it’s satisfying for the reader.

The magyk system:

The workings of magic or should I say ‘magyk’ explored in the books are incredibly amusing and creative. There is a great importance of the number 7 in these books as the writer mentions it at the end of the first book. Similarly, the seventh son of the seventh son is said to have great magykal powers. Furthermore, magyk is strongly associated with the colors purple and green which I particularly liked.
The spells, charms, enchantments and incantations aren’t as simple as just uttering a couple of words and pointing your wands. There are NO wands, rather, there is a whole procedure that has to be followed for a spell or a charm to work. First you have to have the charm, which is an object on which the spell is inscribed or placed, then you have to do something specific related to the spell you are performing and then comes the reciting.

Here’s an example of the Cause Yourself to be Unseen charm in the books:

Required Charm:
Any of the charms found in the thick paper pocket alongside the “Cause Yourself to Be Unseen” spell found in the book Safety Spells and Unharm Charms for the Use of the Beginner and Those of Simple Mind.
Instructions:
Imprint the spell by holding your charm close to you and reciting the words written on the charm:

“Let me fade into the aire,
Let all against me know not where,
Let them that seeke me pass me by,
Let harme not reach me from their eye.”

As you recite, it is important to imagine the spell actually happening. Otherwise, it will not work effectively.*

*The first time you do this spell, it won’t last very long and you’ll reappear in a minute or so. After that, with concentration, the spell should last as long as you need it to. If you are a beginner, keep the charm with you for when you next need to do the spell.

I’ve read a lot of books with magic. Some didn’t bother to go into details, some did and succeeded while some failed spectacularly. I feel like comparing this to Carry On even though that book and everything in it was an unmitigated disaster. That book too employed chanting of poems but instead of creative made-up poems that suited a specific spell, Rainbow Rowell had her characters recite actual nursery rhymes. *shudders*

Magykal creatures:

There are all sorts of beasts and creatures in the books: dragons, boggarts (very, VERY different breed of Boggarts. I repeat: do NOT compare this with HP), cat-men, rat-men, ghosts, land wurms, carnivorous trees, witches (vastly different from wizards which are both male and female), night transformers, foryx, water gnomes, you get the idea.

The characters:

I’ve said this before, very few years pass through the course of these books so even though the characters grow and learn, they remain kids. It starts when our protagonists are 10 and ends when they are more or less 14. That being said, I ADORED all of them. Even the grown ups are delightful. I’ll give the briefest of introductions as to not spoil anything:

Septimus Heap: He’s the youngest Heap boy and the hero of the story. He has green-eyes, a kind nature and is a darling.

This doesn’t look like much and I admit I’m not particularly fond of this illustration. The Septimus of my imagination looks much better.

Jenna Heap: The only daughter in the Heap family. She’s headstrong and brave and loves her family dearly. She and Septimus are the same age.
Nicko Heap: He, Jenna and Septimus are the closest among the siblings. He is two years older than the two of them.
Silas and Sarah Heap: The bumbling but cute parents of the lot.
The other Heap boys: Oldest one is Simon Heap and the one older than Nicko is Jo-Jo Heap.
Beetle: He’s Septimus’s best friend. He works as a scribe at the Manuscriptorium and is really smart.
Wolf Boy: Another one of Septimus’s best friends. He has keen forest senses and an unknown past.
Aunt Zelda: She lives at Keeper Cottage in the Marram Marshes and is an accomplished White Witch. She’s actually Silas Heap’s aunt and that makes her the great-aunt of Septimus and his siblings.
Marcia Overstrand: Now that’s who I would call an accomplished and powerful woman. You can always expect Marcia to get her own way and get things done. She’s immensely respected in the Castle being the current Extraordinary Wizard at the Wizard Tower. You would come to love Marcia as I did. She’s awesome.

Alther Mella: Marcia’s mentor and the previous Extraordinary Wizard.

There are SO many more characters but these are the ones you should know about. Trust me, you’ll love them too.

The plot:

The plots of all the seven books are more or less formulaic; things are going fine until little signs start appearing that suggest otherwise, someone gets in trouble, the rest go to save him, narrowly escape danger and come back unscathed, for the most part. That does not mean, however, that it isn’t clever, because IT IS! It’s clever and charming and amazing! There were some parts in it which were downright harrowing. Physik, Queste and Syren get spooky. They gave me the shivers.

My rating: 8/10 Verdict: Tremendous fun!

It pains me to see that there is very little fan art of this series on the internet. It’s practically non-existent! This series deserves more love and appreciation and here’s a humble attempt at giving it that. Please do check it out and recommend it to other people as well. I’ll leave you with this piece of adorableness I found: