Review: ‘Immagica’ by K. A. Last

Immagica surprised me. I read a lot of young adult speculative fiction, but it tends more toward the upper YA to new adult end of the spectrum. With this book’s main character, Rosaline, being fifteen, I thought maybe I’d be a little old for the story.

I should have remembered I loved Harry Potter back when he was a scruffy twelve-year-old. 🙂

I really enjoyed Immagica. It’s a little bit Alice in Wonderland, a little bit The Wizard of Oz, and a little bit The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Rosa and her brother are sucked through a magical book they discover in their Nana’s attic into a magical world. There they are separated, and Rosa must choose between rushing off to search for her brother and, well, saving the world.

The catch is that if she fails to save the world her brother will die too.

Immagica is populated with all sorts of fairytale creatures: gryphons, unicorns, dragons, wild girls, fairies… it could have very easily been cheesy or saccharine, but the creatures felt real. Especially the dragon, who was magnificently evil.

My favourite part of the story, though, is the Eye of Immagica, the centre of the magical world (it’s on the top right corner of the map, below). It’s a little bit Steampunk, with its cogs and hi-tech surveillance. I just loved it.

It probably helps that it had a massive library and a cute boy.

One last thing. This is a very good example of self-publishing done right. It has a professionally designed cover (feast your eyes on that baby!) and professional editing. I’ve read very few self-published novels this well presented.

Immagica is high fantasy adventure with a sense of humour and some poignant moments. I give it four and a half stars.