Across the Great Barrier

Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede

The sequel to Thirteenth Child, Across the Great Barrier continues the story of Eff Rothmer. Her twin brother is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a strong magician, but Eff–the old of the two–is the thirteenth child, and she grew up believing she was fated to be unlucky (a belief that was helped along by some of her extended family).

But Eff is now finally starting to come into her own–she is slowly accepting that she is not cursed, and that she can do magic without ill happening. She misses Lan, who is back east studying magic, but is discovering who she is, and is bound to make her own way, rather than allow anyone to tell her what to do.

If the first book was Eff learning that she wasn’t jinxed and unlucky, this book was about Eff learning to use her magic and become her own woman.

As it’s the title of the book, it’s unsurprising that Eff goes across the Great Barrier into the West, where magical creatures remain a threat. Her expedition is with one of the professors, who wants to study the effect that the Mirror Bugs had upon the land.

I find myself fascinated by this alternate history, and how the existence of magic in the New World would have affected settlement. I also like how there are some parallels to our past, but others are significantly different (FREX, we have Franklin and Jefferson, but no Lincoln).

And of course there is Eff herself. Her understanding of her own magic is slow, but it is something she does herself, without help, which makes that understanding all the better when she achieves it.

This is an absolutely lovely trilogy, and I already purchased the third (and I believe final) book to read.
Rating: 8.5/10

Published by Scholastic Press

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