The Lost Magician

Torday pays tribute to reading, libraries and imagination in one of the most clever and ambitious children's books you'll read this year * The Bookseller *
An entrancing story that champions imagination at a time when we most need it * Abi Elphinstone *
You'll be on the edge of your seat ... an original, and imaginative war cry for the importance of reading and the magic of libraries * M.G. Leonard *
Thrilling, epic, wise. Truly a book for our times. (With extra rainbow unicorns!) -- Natasha Farrant, author of The Children of Castle Rock
Gripping, original and memorable -- Francesca Simon, on The Last Wild trilogy
Piers Torday...is the new master of books for children who like magic and modernity with their lust for adventure. * The Times, on There May Be a Castle *
Piers Torday continues to demonstrate that he is one of the best writers for children working today * The Guardian, on There May Be a Castle *
An excellent, punchy adventure tale with vivid characters and an impassioned eco message * The Financial Times on The Last Wild trilogy *
A whimsical yet thoughtful tale that brings to mind the smarts and silliness of Roald Dahl and Norton Juster * New York Post, on The Last Wild trilogy *
Wildly inventive, moving and gripping ... full of suspense without ever sacrificing warmth * The Guardian on The Last Wild trilogy *
This beautiful homage to Narnia sees renowned children's writer Torday explore what it is to be a reader and the power of books and libraries, as well as the imagination. Fantastical but with real heart, this immersive story is sure to become a firm favourite. * Book Trust *
A phenomenal adventure story * The Independent *
It's 1945 and four children step through a magical door into the world of Folio - a nod to CS Lewis - where characters from stories are locked in a battle. Only the magician who created them can help. Piers Torday (The Last Wild, There May Be A Castle) has an unrelenting imagination, cleverly mixing nostalgia and modernity. After reading this you will never look at a bookmark in the same way. -- Alex O'Connell * The Times *
The first of a trilogy, this is masterly storytelling, both entertaining and profound. * The Sunday Times *
Piers Torday's The Lost Magician (Quer-cus, £12.99, 10+) is artistically daring, channelling The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in having four children survive the Blitz to step into an enchanted library where magical stories are at war. It is as much about storytelling as about creating an enjoyable story, yet such is Torday's talent that when Evie tells the robotic Jana that "You don't know me... the real me, inside my head", you want to cheer. * The New Statesman *
a wonderful tribute to Narnia, CS Lewis and the magic of books and reading * S Magazine *
a lustrously lovely ode to libraries, to imagination, and to the magic of a wonderful story * I Newspaper *
In recent years, Piers Torday has emerged as a major new voice; his 2018 offering, The Lost Magician (Hachette), rewrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a tale of war-weary siblings entering a parallel world. There's a conflagration raging there too, between fantastical storybook characters and the harbingers of cool, hard logic - a false binary that has to be resolved, if some truly annihilating forces are to be stopped. Cue the "never reads" - the ghoulish ranks of the badly informed, the unimaginative and the incurious. Remind anyone of any other worlds? * The Guardian *
A particularly good novel to give an eager reader is The Lost Magician by Piers Torday.(Hachette) Narnia gets a modern update in this thoughtful reworking of the classic. Four siblings are drawn into the mysterious kingdom of Folio, where its inhabitants are locked in perpetual war * Ham & High Newspaper *