Fledgewitch by Lian Tanner

Australian children's author Lian Tanner's books are set in fantastical magical realms which are inhabited by charmingly sweet and quirky magical characters who have to combat wickedness. Loyalty, trust and bravery are qualities that are tested in the main characters as they battle to overcome evil. Tanner has a wild imagination which is in evidence in the characters and situations that she develops. Tanner is the author of the fantasy The Keepers trilogy, The Hidden series and The Rogues trilogy. 

Fledgewitch is the second in Tanner's new series- Dragons of Hallow, following  Book 1 Spellhound. Spellhound was shortlisted for the Australian Young Readers Book Award and won the 2024 Aurealis Award for Best Australian Children's fiction (fantasy and sf).

A delightful, warm narrative voice (much like a feisty, bossy and informative grandmother reading to a child from a comfortable armchair), invites active attention from the reader.  Like a teacher, similarly, might prod the child for a reaction, the text is interlaced with direct narrator communication with the reader eg. 'Yes, you would,' and 'Don't argue.' This style, when used in a classroom read-aloud, motivates children to become more active participants in the reading process. However it is difficult for the reader of Fledgewitch to immediately understand to whom the narrative voice belongs. If Spellhound has not been read previously, the reader has no knowledge of who Uncle Edwin (also the regent) (also a green jellybean loving dragon) is and therefore the narrative voice is confusing.The action of the story is two years after Spellhound. Unless the reader is satisfied to live with gaps, Spellhound should be read first. Despite that, the narrative style and the lively active plots are surely the reason for Tanner's award winning status.

The good characters are very likeable. Brim seems a normal ten-year-old girl except for the fact that a few soft feathers are growing from her elbows and that she has been forcibly taken to the Quillian School for Prevention of Witches. Her family seem normal and nice. Likewise twelve -year-old Rose, Queen of Hallow, seems like a relatively normal girl. Snort, the Horned Globe, is not normal but a sweet fantasy creature. The children in the School for the Prevention of Witches are not normal but zombie-like and Countess Xantha and Count Zaccar are definitely evil. In fact, nothing is as it seems and here, along with keeping pace with the fast-paced action, the reader must keep pace with a cast of characters, almost all being shapeshifters and having at least two different forms. This concept of shapeshifting is an old concept found in mythology and folklore and in speculative fiction where characters transform themselves through unnatural means. In Fledgewitch there is transformation from animate to inanimate objects and human to magical, fantasy creatures and vice versa.

There is SO much shapeshifting in Fledgewitch that the reader could easily lose track of who and what is happening. There are perhaps too many characters in the cast. In any case, the book has to be read closely and steadily as, if it is left too long between reading sessions or if the reader is even a little bit inattentive, threads will be lost. Therefore Fledgewitch is recommended for more advanced readers or for a class reading with notes being kept so that the reader can keep track of the characters and their alter egos. There are gaps that the reader can't fill in in Fledgewitch as it is a sequel novel that can not fully stand alone. 

Fledgewitch is an intriguing fantasy adventure story. Recommended for advanced readers and to be read as part of the Dragons of Hallow series.

Themes: Magic, Fantasy, Good and evil, Bravery, Loyalty.

Wendy Jeffrey