Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

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And I am interested to see how it goes, as Nic will change schools and her whole life will take a different turn after the events in this one. Will we get a school of magic setting, or will she go out on adventures? We'll see. But today is also the day she get to go with JP (her best friend and neighbour) to meet TJ Retro their favourite author,. He writes stories about three children who live in a magical world, and fight evil. Only something happens when she holds Ms Lena's hands and her Dad gets freaked out and says she can't go. After a fight Dad goes to get pizza, and Nic sneaks out. She and JP see the author as he arrives, he has an aura - he's a Manifestor too! Dad arrives at the bookshop, he's not happy! It's then that TJ Retro greets her father, turns out they were best friends as children and TJ Retro (or Tyran J Porter) is her Godfather. However, Dad doesn't seem all that happy to see him. We have a straightforward first-person-narrator middlegrade adventure with a ton of fantasy elements, which is something I always look out for. Well, I don't care about the narrator choice that much, but fantasy?! Hell yes. The characters in Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy are well-developed and interesting. Nic is a likable and relatable protagonist who readers will root for. His journey of self-discovery and growth is inspiring and heartwarming. Twelve-year-old Nic Blake, is a Remarkable living with her Remarkable dad in an Unremarkable world. A Remarkable is someone with powers and an Unremarkable is someone without. (Think HPs wizards and muggles). Though there are lots of different types of Remarkables.

It is finally time: Nic Blake is twelve years old, and her father promised he'd be teaching her to use her gift then. The day starts promising with a hellhound puppy who'll join the family. The story is adventurous and the plot is easy to follow as most things occur in the Unremarkable’s world. The world-building was a bit of a let down though as I wanted to know so much more, however, with this being the first in a planned series hopefully those answers will come in further books. Hierdoor lukte het mij helaas niet om mezelf helemaal onder te dompelen in de wereld van de Buitengewonen en Onopmerkelijken. Ik bleef op afstand en was duidelijk niet gevoelig voor de magie in dit verhaal. The first book in a trilogy, “The Manifestor Prophecy” begins on Nic’s 12th birthday, the year her father has promised to teach her how to use “the Gift.” She receives a hellhound pup instead. I read this book as an audiobook from the library, but I also have an ARC from the publisher (full disclosure), which didn't affect my review in any way.Nic Blake wil niets liever dan een machtige Manifestor worden, net als haar vader. Maar voordat ze de kans krijgt om alles van hem te leren, zorgen een reeks ongelooflijke onthullingen en angstaanjagende gebeurtenissen ervoor dat Nic en haar vrienden op zoek moeten naar een magisch voorwerp. Ze heeft geen idee hoe het eruitziet, en toch moet ze het vinden, want anders zal Nics vader gestraft worden voor een misdaad die hij volgens haar nooit kan hebben gepleegd. Nic Blake is 12 years old which means it's finally time for her dad to show her how to use The Gift, the type of magic that people like her (Remarkables) wield to make life a little better than if you were an Unremarkable (normal humans like her best friend JP). But things take a turn when Nic meets her godfather, and finds out some things her father has been hiding from her - mainly her mother, and her twin brother Alex - and suddenly she has to find something really special to save her dad.

Nic Blake and the Remarkables is the first children’s fantasy book from renowned YA author Angie Thomas. The book is aimed at middle-grade readers and follows Nic, her best friend JP, and Alex (no spoilers here for who he is) as they set out to help Nic’s dad and two others who have been captured by Lore – the Remarkable’s police force, by finding a precious and powerful item and return it to the Lore to prove Nic’s dad is innocent of stealing it. However, before Nic can convince her dad to start teaching her magic, a series of events launch Nic and her friends on a dangerous quest. A quest to find a dangerous magical tool to save her dad from imprisonment. And hopefully to prove he didn’t commit the crime that everyone says that he did. But what really happened to land him there in the first place? Review: Nic Blake and the RemarkablesMezelf onderdompelen in een magische wereld is iets wat ik erg graag doe. Even alles om me heen vergeten; mijn fantasie prikkelen. Heerlijk! Dus toen ik de flaptekst van het nieuwste, vertaalde, boek van Angie Thomas las, dacht ik: dit boek móét ik lezen! This chance meeting leads to a birthday present from Tyran which leads to a whole other life of which Nic knew nothing. It leads her and JP and another Manifestor boy into an adventure straight out of TJ Retro's books. For a short read, the plot has been thought out well. I love that the adventures were written in a manner that made the story has its own colour and personality. With her dad being accused of a crime she can't believe he committed, Nic is plunged into a terrifying and dangerous quest. To prove her dad's innocence she must hunt for a magical tool she's never heard of in a remarkable world she knows very little about. But with some very dodgy characters on her tail, does she have any chance of finding it in time? And what is Nic's role destined to be in this remarkable world? Thomas, beloved for such novels as “The Hate U Give” and “Concrete Rose,” has many Gifts (with a capital G) herself, as a fiction writer. Her characters are richly drawn and always engaging. She has a delicious sense of humor and a strong ear for dialogue. “My momma says I’m sneakier than a snake in slippers,” JP remarks at one point.

De world building is sterk, maar voor mijn gevoel kwam er nét iets te veel informatie op mij af. Er werd veel beschreven, veel details, alleen was er daardoor nog maar weinig ruimte over om Nic en haar vrienden écht te leren kennen. As a white person who is not that informed about US history, I learned details I didn't know about, which is always welcome.

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It's not easy being a Remarkable in the Unremarkable world. Some things are cool - like getting a pet hellhound for your twelfth birthday. Others, not so much - like not being trusted to learn magic because you might use it to take revenge on an annoying neighbour. Overall, this is another take on the middle-grade magical fantasy genre that has exploded over the last twenty years. Though it has more in common with the likes of Shadow Hunters than HP. I am now looking forward to the next instalment of Nic Blake. I highly recommend this one, especially for classroom libraries and anyone who loves stories that include:

Fiction editorial director Annalie Grainger acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to the Nic Blake and the Remarkables series from Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency, with the first publishing in April 2023. The story is well-paced and keeps readers engaged throughout the book. The author does an excellent job of building tension and creating a sense of urgency that propels the story forward. The plot is full of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very end. There is a little too much exposition at times, though this of course is necessary to understand this Remarkable world. But Nic, her best friend JP and later addition Alex are a threesome with strengths, foibles, great interaction and both history and a future together as the plot moves towards the first of many denouements that spell 'coming soon' for future chapters. There are a lot of nods of the well-known 'Chosen One' trope in this book (mainly the big one with the Golden Trio) and I liked how it flipped it on its head a bit as we are following the trio's children and see what it's like living with a heavy legacy and expectation upon one's head as well.

Being a Remarkable when you live in the Unremarkable world definitely has its downsides. At least, that’s what Nic Blake thinks. At least her dad got her a hellhound for her twelfth birthday. That, admittedly, was pretty cool. But actually learning magic would be even cooler.