I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this world! Cass continues to be a great main character and I loved getting to see a different part of the Longest World this time, plus more politics.

I really loved the trip with the queen and how we get to see how Cass has grown since the end of a Company of Eight. Her bravery and detective skills are fun! Plus once the action kicks off, there are actually serious consequences in place and that seems rare for middle grade.

In places I felt that things were resolved a little too quickly or that certain characters didn’t really project the menace I would have liked, but that’s really it for my quibbles, it is too fun to get bogged down by them!

I’m dying to see what happens next as there’s some great foreshadowing going on!

Woah! I wasn't expecting these books to be as good as they were! They follow a young girl called Cassandra, or Cass, who is an obtuse. Meaning that she is immune to magic and does not possess any magical powers. I love her character. She's funny, sassy, brave and caring. I loved learning about her journey (I won't say where

I was excited about this book for over a year & when I got my copy I was overjoyed! The Conspiracy of Magic was different from the first book but not in a bad way; Cass has definitely matured & it was awesome to learn more about the world that Harriet has created! The plot was exciting, though was wrapped up just a little too quickly for my liking, however the last chapter has made me very excited for the next book & I desperately hope this is more than a trilogy. I love Harriet’s writing & can’t wait for more of Cass’ adventures.

⚠️ This book contains mild violence ⚠️

I was sent this book by Stripes Publishing in return for an honest review.

Extended Review to follow.

It's the first book i read in this series and fell in love with the characters and the world building.
It's an engrossing and entertaining read, with a cast of interesting and well thought characters, and a well crafted plot.
I look forward to reading other books in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Conspiracy of Magic is a perfect fantasy story for readers age 9 and up.

I started The Conspiracy of Magic within days of finishing The Company of Eight - neglecting the other novels I was part way through to do so. I couldn't wait to return to Cass's world of magic and sword fighting.

In The Conspiracy of Magic, Cass leaves behind the islands of The Company of Eight, travelling North of Minaris to visit foreign lands on a diplomatic mission with Queen Arden. When magical foes keep attacking their convoy, Cass is the only one able to see through the magic's deception, but Cass's status as an obtuse may prove more crucial to what is going on than she realises.

As with The Company of Eight, the cover and map work are beautiful and I kept flicking back as I progressed through the story to see exactly where we were (and to try and guess where the story was going next!)

Here are three reasons I loved The Conspiracy of Magic:

1) The world building from the first novel is expanded on in interesting and exciting ways. I loved that there was an entirely new setting for this story, which was rich in history and had some interesting parallels with real-world wars and politics. Veraklia, with its post-war poverty, was depicted with sensitivity and nuance; despite Queen Vegna's role as the story antagonist, the people of Veraklia are overwhelmingly helpful and kind.

2) The events of this novel take a heavy emotional toll on Cass. What she goes through affects her greatly, and it was nice to see this addressed in the text, rather than glossed over to move the story forward.

3) The plot is really twisty and unexpected! There were plenty of moments where I felt like I knew what was going to happen next, or understood how the plot was progressing, only to have the narrative take a completely unexpected turn.

Thank you Stripes Publishing for sending me a copy of this fantastic fantasy adventure. I can't wait to find out what Cass does next!

Simply magical!

The sequel to the company of eight and I really felt that Harriet Whitehorn hit her stride in this one! Cass continues her journey, cant wait for the next book!!

Full review to come.

Woah! I wasn't expecting these books to be as good as they were! They follow a young girl called Cassandra, or Cass, who is an obtuse. Meaning that she is immune to magic and does not possess any magical powers. I love her character. She's funny, sassy, brave and caring. I loved learning about her journey (I won't say where

In this thrilling sequel that was somehow even better than the Company's of Eight, which I enjoyed immensely last year, we follow Cass as she is tasked with protecting the Queen of Minaris as she tours part of their world, and how things go very wrong due to a sinister plot that threatens not just them, but everyone in the Longest World. Cass is amazing, and I love how capable and clever she is, but also the fact that there are moments where she doesn't quite know how to handle things yet always keeps going until she does. My other favourites in this book was Dacha, who was a new addition and just the absolute sweetest, and Arden, who was very different to what I had been expecting. I also love the world building in these because it's such an interesting concept and I really like that this showed a completely different side of it to the Company of Eight; given she is with the queen for a lot of it there are some scenes in quite luxury places but we also see more of the darker side in different ways and it's so well balanced and all so well described that it just forms a really brilliantly written world. The plot itself is pretty impossible to describe without giving anything away, so all I'll say is that it was incredibly exciting and I thought the twists and shocks in various places were great. I'm very hopeful after the ending that this isnt the last I see of Cass! 4.5/5

Simply magical!

The sequel to the company of eight and I really felt that Harriet Whitehorn hit her stride in this one! Cass continues her journey, cant wait for the next book!!