I read this book throughout my first week of college, and somehow it felt like Biddy’s emotions and tumultuous feelings as she enters this new world, the “real world” for the first time, echoed my own feelings of starting college. Most of you would know that the first ever week or so of college is quite overwhelming. 

This was one of those books that I just found at the right time. I was extremely overwhelmed and confused during my first month of college. A lot of the things were up in the air. I had no set routine. There is so much to take in. College seemed like a beautiful and unpredictable monster, and somehow I found a reflection of all those uncertainties, fears and doubts in Biddy- the main character of this book, The Magician‘s Daughter. 

Having lived a blissful yet lonesome life secluded on a magical island with only Rowan, her guardian and his familiar, Hutchincroft for company, relies on a library, her companion in books and reading. 

I can’t tell you how much solace and camradrie I found reading about Biddy’s experience as she goes out into the outside word for the first time she is left to for herself in a completely unfamiliar and in hospital environment, it’s a coming of each story at its finest. 

Biddy is such a genuine character. She feels all the unreasonable frustration and anger of a teenager. She rebels when she’s left out by the adults, but she has also grown up a lot. She subconsciously can still rationalise and understanding the mess of emotions she feels. Innately, she was raised to be kind, forgiving, and living among the wildness of nature and magic, she’s considerate. 

As her life is constantly under threat, her character matures and aware of her emotions, even more, perhaps then her guardian Rowan, who is very similar to the eccentric, introvert genius stroke, despite being an flawed character, I got all the more attached to Roman‘s character . 

Then there was Morgaine. The first ever, like, adult woman Biddy gets to know closely, and that is a very significant aspect of the story. 

Biddy oscillates between trying to decide if she should look up to Morgaine, try to emulate her or see her as an example of why she should or should not do. 

A lot of themes are discussed through her Morgaine, a woman among an entire system dominated by men. Someone who firmly believes in making changes from inside the systems. Her belief clashes with Rowan’s, who had never enjoyed being constrained by an authority anyway. 

The Magician‘s Daughter creates miniature version of a corrupt system, complete with a leader who is charismatic leader, a bunch of old men who were too comfortable in their power with a hunger to hoard resources. It’s such a well-crafted story that combines an extremely character-centric narrative with an engaging, high stakes plot.