Connwaer is already unpopular with the local wizards as his theories on the nature of magic (that it is a living thing) are nothing short of shocking, and the Duchess and her guards remain suspicious of Connwaer’s past as a thief. Pyrotechnics are the reason why Nevery’s home of Heartsease has a whacking big hole in it, and why he spent twenty years in exile. Pyrotechnics are banned in Wellmet as, in conjunction with magic they often get out of hand. Could it have something to do with the strange shadows that are stalking the streets of Wellmet, turning unfortunate victims into stone? But without a locus magicalicus, he has to turn to dangerous pyrotechnic experiments in order to hear what it has to say, and that’s where his problems really begin. He suspects that the magic has something to tell him. How was it that Connwaer managed to survive?īut Connwaer is not feeling lucky.

As his master Nevery notes, wizards have been known to die after their locus magicalicuses have been destroyed.

His actions came at a terrible cost, however, as his locus magicalicus - his connection to the town’s magic and the only way he can be a wizard - was destroyed. When we last left the gutter-boy-turned-wizard-apprentice Connwaer at the end of Sarah Prineas’ Magic Thief, he had successfully thwarted a plot by the Underlord and the traitor wizard Pettivox to draw up and trap the ambient magic of the fantasy town of Wellmet.

What better way to start Book Blogger Appreciation Week than with a book review?

The magic thief lost