Publication: 27th May 2021 – HarperVoyager
Within the boroughs of London, nestled among its streets, hides another city, filled with magic.
‘Magic and love. Love and magic. They destroy everything in the end …’
Anna’s Aunt has always warned her of the dangers of magic. Its twists. Its knots. Its deadly consequences.
Now Anna counts down the days to the ceremony that will bind her magic forever.
Until she meets Effie and Attis.
They open her eyes to a London she never knew existed. A shop that sells memories. A secret library where the librarian feeds off words. A club where revellers lose themselves in a haze of spells.
But as she is swept deeper into this world, Anna begins to wonder if her Aunt was right all along.
Is her magic a gift … or a curse?
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I was just a few chapters into my reading of Threadneedle that I was already a big fan of the author and I was completely addicted to the series (duology, trilogy?) and its characters.
The story is set in modern London where witches hide their magic. The protagonist is Anna, a sixteen-year-old orphan who lives with her aunt. All her life, Anna has been told that she needs to keep her magic hidden or the Hunters will find her and kill her, and she is preparing, under her aunt’s alert eye, to become a Binder. As the name implies, Binders bind their magic forever and can’t never use it.
Anna accepted her fate a long time ago until Effie and Attis enter her life. New in her school, where she’s always kept her head down and been a nobody, they convince her to join her coven and explore her magic. Suddenly, Anna’s life become more exciting as she keeps secrets from her aunt, she becomes popular, she goes to parties, and she explores magic libraries searching for the truth about her parent’s deaths and her magic.
I really liked the character of Anna. Having lost her parents when she was just a few months old, she’s been raised from an aunt that at the beginning I thought was simply overprotective and stern and then find out that was like the evil stepmother of fairytales. Anna dreams of freedom, of using her magic without fear, of travelling the world and falling in love, but she remains under her aunt’s control until she meets Effie and Attis. Effie is lively, exuberant, and a troublemaker who is not afraid to use her magic. Attis is charming and witty and probably he was my favourite character as I always looked forward to his appearance and his conversations with Anna.
The story is incredible, well-structured and intriguing. It is full of surprises and twists that I didn’t see coming and I was completely engrossed in the magic, but also Anna’s typical teenage problems, the family mystery, and, of course, the magic libraries. I am really looking forward to reading book 2, because I need to know what happens next and I highly recommend Threadneedle to all fantasy lovers and not!
A huge thank you to HarperVoyager and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this fantastic story.
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Cari Thomas grew up in the Wye Valley area of Wales and, after studying English Literature & Creative Writing at Warwick University and Magazine Journalism at the Cardiff School of Journalism, moved to London. She worked as a journalist and at a creative agency, before finally doing what she’d always wanted to do: quit her job and write a book about magic.
The result is Threadneedle, her debut novel and the first in her Language of Magic series. Be introduced to a world of wild, ancient witchcraft hidden within today’s London; where libraries made of books breathe dusty pages beneath the city, where witch clubs serve up magical cocktails and vintage shops sell memories. A world where magic gleams light and very, very dark.
Cari now lives in Bristol with her husband and son. Discover more on her website: CariThomas.com
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