Book Review: The Age of Enchantment

Book #12 for 2025: The Chronicles of Whetherwhy: The Age of Enchantment by Anna James, 4/5 ★
304 pages / releasing April 2025 / available for pre-order here

Goodreads Blurb: In Whetherwhy, everyone has magic inside them – grown from the changing seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter. But a rare few are people born with magic in their bones, who can wield all four seasons of magic. When Juniper discovers she is an Enchanter, she must leave behind everything she knows to begin studying at the Thistledown Academy of Enchantment. Unwilling to be left behind, her twin brother, Rafferty, decides to follow her to the capital city of Stormgrove and takes up an apprenticeship at a nearby bookbinder. As Juniper makes new friends and learns how to wield enchantment, Rafferty becomes involved with a mysterious secret society. Monsters are creeping out of the shadows and dangers lurk in unexpected places. Amid night markets and magic lessons, they both realize there is more to enchantment – and life in Whetherwhy – than they could ever have imagined.

 My Review: After falling in love with James’ Pages & Co. series last year, I was thrilled to see more of her work coming out – and Whetherwhy doesn’t disappoint! I love James’ writing style – just enough silliness for a MG book while also having some truly beautiful bits of prose. I particularly enjoyed the magic system in Whetherwhy. Yes, it’s based on the seasons which is a motif seen before, but the way its done using threads and weaving the natural world together was so beautifully written. As an aside, I also love that of the twins, the brother is the one more adept at embroidery. The Age of Enchantment features lovely food descriptions and the setting in Honeyvale has an especially Shire-like vibe I could have certainly read more of. While I didn’t find the Princess Bride-esque grandfather reading the story insertions to add much, I would have loved more descriptions of Thistledown itself – the classes, student relationships, etc. Zinnia was a bit one-dimensional and not given the opportunity to really redeem herself, but I hope we see her arc more as the series continues. I was slightly frustrated with the majority of the adults in the story (the twins’ parents aside) as they seemed unusually inept and obtuse…or plain evil. Overall, this book is delightfully whimsical without being saccharine, a great adventure, and also a lovely reflection on “the beauty of small wonders.” I’ll eagerly look forward to book two!

 

Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Collins for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

CW: parent loss, mild peril, creepy “animal” monster, death