{"id":5760,"date":"2016-03-28T18:24:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T22:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=5760"},"modified":"2021-05-30T10:23:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T14:23:33","slug":"thirteenth-child-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5760","title":{"rendered":"Thirteenth Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirteenth Child<\/a><\/em> (2009) Patricia C. Wrede<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Thirteenth-Child\"<\/a>Eff’s twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a natural magician.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow,\u201d Dick said, looking after Papa and Lan. He looked back at me. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re a natural, too? Because you\u2019re his twin?\u201d <\/p>\n

I stared at him. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said after a minute. \u201cNobody\u2019s ever said.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe they don\u2019t know,\u201d Dick said, looking back toward the dwindling crowd. \u201cThey like to pretend they know everything there is to know about magic, but they don\u2019t really, or why would they always be talking about research?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Eff is a thirteenth child, and for the first several years of her life was not just picked on by her cousins, but told by some of her aunts and uncles that she should have been drowned at birth (hence, the attitude of some of her cousins), but things change for her when the family moves out West, just to the east of the Great Barrier, at the edge of civilized lands, beyond which are wild and dangerous creatures, both magical and mundane.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard there are great beasts, the size of a house, that can stamp you flat as paper!\u201d Cousin Bernie said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose are mammoths,\u201d Robbie told him. He\u2019d been doing extra reading on the North Plains ever since he found out we\u2019d be living there, and he enjoyed showing off his new knowledge to the rest of us. \u201cThey used to be all over North Columbia, but when the first settlers came from the Old Continent, they killed all the ones in the East.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an alternate history, set just after the end of the Succession War (Civil War). Civilization has stretched west across North Columbia (north America) to the Mammoth (Mississippi) river, where the Great Barrier spell, created by Franklin and Jefferson, keeps the most dangerous magical creatures from crossing east (and the river itself keeps the non-magical creatures out).<\/p>\n

There was slavery prior to the Succession War, but there are no Native Americans. Apparently some people have complained about this, but considering how danger Columbia is, it seems likely that humans would have had a difficult time surviving without strong magics. Considering how much world building there is, I think this was a reasonable choice to make.<\/p>\n

And the world building is marvelous. Everything is based upon our world, but without a grounding in history, you might not recognize all the parallels at first.<\/p>\n

Of course, for kids, even though there is magic, some things never change.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime and practice, time and practice,\u201d Alexei grumbled. \u201cIsn\u2019t there anything magical we can just do?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d Kristen said. \u201cYou can mess up.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(W)hen things did go wrong it could be pretty spectacular. Once when a spell went wrong, it punched a hole the shape of a duck in every pane of glass in every west-facing window in every building for three blocks around the magic lab, in spite of all the shields and mufflers they had up.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I really love this book, and this series.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Scholastic Paperbacks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede Eff’s twin brother Lan is a seventh son of a seventh son, and a natural magician. \u201cWow,\u201d Dick said, looking after Papa and Lan. He looked back at me. \u201cDoes that mean you\u2019re a natural, too? Because you\u2019re his twin?\u201d I stared at him. \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,27,2,48,41,20],"tags":[230],"class_list":["post-5760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-alternate-history","category-fantasy","category-female","category-reread","category-young-adult","tag-patricia-c-wrede"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-1uU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2564,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2564","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":0},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"October 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede I discovered Patricia C. Wrede's writing when I couldn't resist the title, Sorcery & Cecelia -OR- The Enchanted Chocolate Pot. I also read and enjoyed A Matter of Magic. Both are alternate histories where magic is an integral part of the world, however, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alternate History"","block_context":{"text":"Alternate History","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy\/alternate-history"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3236,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3236","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":1},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"October 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across the Great Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/across-the-great-barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3241,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/3241","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":2},"title":"The Far West","author":"Michelle","date":"November 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede This is the conclusion to the Frontier Magic Series, that started with Thirteenth Child. Eff is a thirteenth child, a fact which plagued her when she was younger, because her aunts and uncles and cousins believed that she was unluckly. The fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Far-West.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9419,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9419","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":3},"title":"Thirteenth Child","author":"Michelle","date":"November 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirteenth Child (2009) Patricia C. Wrede This story is set in an alternate US (North Columbia) in the mid-1800s. (T)he Columbian Presidents past the first five\u2014George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Eduard Baier, and Herman Augustus Morton. Eff is the twin of a seventh son, and also a thirteenth child.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Thirteenth-Child.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5766,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5766","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":4},"title":"Across the Great Barrier","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Across the Great Barrier (2011) Patricia C. Wrede The sequel to Thirteenth Child finds Eff coming to terms with her magic, and slowly discovering her dream--to travel the West, beyond the Great Barrier, studying the wildlife in that untamed area. Luckily for her, the events of the previous book have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Across-the-Great-Barrier","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Across-the-Great-Barrier.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5771,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5771","url_meta":{"origin":5760,"position":5},"title":"The Far West","author":"Michelle","date":"April 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Far West (2012) Patricia C. Wrede The final book finds Eff grown up, but still unsure what to do with herself, even though she has come to terms with being a thirteenth child. Sometimes I couldn\u2019t help thinking that the unluckiest thing about being a thirteenth child was having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Far-West","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/The-Far-West.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}