I think I might have enjoyed this book a whole lot more when I was five. And had the book read to me instead of reading it myself, because the constant Magykal words being bolded whenever someone Caused something to Happen were so incredibly irritating that I seriously just ground my teeth whenever I saw another one.Other than that, this is definitely a fantasy for children, not so much crossing over to a YA or adult audience, I would say. Plenty of telling, which I could perhaps have lived with, but also a lot that just felt like talking down to the readers - which, I suppose, is tolerable when you're writing for 6-year-olds. Not that I think this was actually targeted at them.
Anyway, the story was pretty predictable, and the dangers never made me actually worry whether our heroes would make it out alive or not, but that's not to say it was a bad book as such. Just that I'm very definitely not in the target group, and I very much doubt I'll be reading more.