Title: Adela Arthur and The Creator’s Clock
Author: Judyann McCole
Genre: YA Fantasy
Age Group: Young Adult
Rating: 3,5 stars
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
To Whom Ever This May Concern;
I wish I could tell you the contents of this book were purely fictional. That I, Adela Arthur, was just a normal sixteen year old from Portland and that dragons, giants, elves and mermaids were just myths. I wish these were legends shared from crazy old grandparents to crazy old grandparents around campfires. After all, that is what I used to believe.
I never would have thought they lived on the other side of our mirrors in a world called Cielieu. But they do…
I never would have thought there were humans, better known as Volsin that lived among them with the ability to create light from a single thought. But there are…
I never would have thought I was one of them… But I am…
I am the last Arthur and I was brought to the human world after a Volsin, filled with greed, began to strip the light from our kind.
The human world was supposed to be a safe haven… but he’s found us and the only way to stop him is to go back to Cielieu and begin training as a student in the Elpida Castle of Light.
Like I said I wish the contents of this book were purely fictional and not my life…
ADELA ARTHUR
Adela Arthur and the Creator’s Clock is a fantasy novel for young adult that’s reminiscent of other books like Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz, etc. Our main character, Adela Arthur, gets targeted by a chimera on her sixteenth birthday. She narrowly manages to escape, but a girl who used to bully her, dies during the attack, protecting Adela and her friend Hector. Adela’s grandpa turns out to be a dragon, and apparently Adela comes from a distant land in another dimension, a land targeted by an evil wizard. Her parents sent her away to keep her safe, in her grandfather’s custody. But now a monster from the world of Cielieu has manages to break through the borders, and Adela wants to find out more about the world she was born in.
Along with Hector she travels to Cielieu, and there she begins training in a magical academy, the Elpida Castle of Light. She has to learn to use her light, a magical force inherent to her. But while Hector quickly finds his light, it’s not all that easy for Adela. She longs to go back home, to the life she used to know, where she was a nobody as opposed to ‘the Adela Arthur’ she is here. Unfortunately, with the evil wizard’s threat on her life, going home is out of the option. Adela has to adapt to this new world and its inhabitants, including Jeremy. Jeremy is a member of one of the opposing houses, yet he’s rather intrigued by Adela, and she’s intrigued by him. He’s your typical ‘bad boy’ character, a stark contrast to ever-reliable Hector, and the two don’t get along at all. But if they want any chance to survive, they’ll have to put aside their difference.
All right, so when I checked other Goodreads reviews for this book, a lot of people seem to classify it as a blatant rip-off of Harry Potter. I’ll admit there are similarities. Adela goes to a magic school, but in this school she uses “light” as opposed to magic wands and attributes, like in Harry Potter. In both books, the name of the villain should not be spoken. However, whereas the villain’s threat seems very real and dangerous in Harry Potter, in Adela Arthur the ‘do not speak his name’ thing is more something thought about by the students. Both schools are ruled by a mysterious and powerful old wizard. In both books they play a magical game – Quidditch in Harry Potter, and a somewhat similar underwater game in Adela Arthur and the Creator’s Clock. Then there’s the school seperated into four houses, which is in both books as well.
If that makes the book a blatant rip-off, I don’t know. There are certainly many differences. If Hector is meant as the brainy best-friend (aka Hermione), then well, there’s no Ron. There’s no Pureblood vs. Mudblood war going on. Harry Potter never really had a love triangle, and here the love triangle is a significant part of the book. The magic school is in another dimension.
And we must not forget that Harry Potter wasn’t the first book about a kid in a magical school. The plot has been used several times before.
That aside, I’ll review Adela Arthur and the Creator’s Clock for the books’ own merits, not for how similar or different it is from Harry Potter. On its own, the story is definitely intriguing. I liked Adela, but only up to a certain degree. Her humor was over the top sometimes, and in general, she behaved a little childish for her age. I liked Hector much more. He was intelligent and crafty, and stronger than one would think at first. Jeremy was my absolute favorite character though. I’ve always been a fan of bad boys, but I also really digged the memory magic he could do.
The writing was all right. There were errors here and there, and sometimes things were a bit repetitive, but overall it didn’t bother me very much.
If you’re a fan of magic school stories or Harry Potter, you’ll probably enjoy this book.
Thank you so much for your review! I enjoyed reading your thoughts and thank you for having me on your blog!