The Serpent's Spell

The Serpent’s Spell is a delightful tale about two orphans and a school for magic. Sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it? Actually, while there are some very striking similarities between this story and the very famous one, I kind of liked it anyway. It has an atmosphere and mood of its own and of course is written for a younger audience. Though the cover states that it is Teen Fiction, I would put it at a little younger than that. While many people will decry this tale as derivative, I tend to think of it as Bridgman paying homage to an author that got kids back into books. Rae Bridgman gives a knowing nod in the direction of that famous author; knowing because her readers will most definitely move on up in that direction.

Just for the fun of it, I will go over some of the most noticeable similarities first and then I will describe the arc of the story itself and the good and bad bits therein. Here are some of the parallels:

Serpent’s Spell - Harry Potter
Orphans - Orphan
Rufus Crookshank - Crookshanks the mischievous cat
Practical Joking Ghost Peerslie - Practical Joking Ghost Peeves
School for Magic - School for Magic
Gruffud’s Academy - Gryffindor House
Snakes - Parseltongue
Talking Statues - Talking Paintings
Ditchball/Magical Sport - Quiddich

Will is an orphan who has lived with his grandmother since his parents were killed. When his grandmother dies during an apartment fire, he gets sent off to live with two distant aunts. On his way there, Will observes what has to be some sort of trick as he has never been exposed to magic before. Questioning this once he arrives he is told all about magic, that anyone can use it, and that he will be enrolled in a school to teach him how to use it. Once he and Sophie are enrolled at Gruffud’s Academy, they set about learning quickly. At the same time, there seems to be some troubles with the snake population. Snakes being a wonderful and magical creature, when the population starts dwindling, people begin to worry. Through studies, field trips and magical sports, Will and Sophie work to solve the snake population problems and find the villain behind it all.

I found this to be a very charming and engaging story, even after identifying some of the similar elements. Including lovely illustrations and quizzical latin phrases for each chapter, it was fun to turn the pages. I think the main downfall of the book is the many plot holes the author seemed to miss plugging. These are things that either a child reader will question immediately or will completely ignore. Not being a child I have no way of telling, though I will say that in my experience children seem to be both more questioning and more forgiving than adults so this could go either way. As expected in a story for children, the characters were one dimensional. Despite or perhaps because of this, the story moved along at a quick pace without a great deal of background, atmosphere and characterization. I do not believe that in this instance, these are true negatives. I would definitely enjoy reading this one as a bedtime story to my godchild or passing it along to my nieces and nephews.

Other Reviews of works by Rae Bridgman

Amber Ambrosia - Aug 30, 2007