Tidesong Book Review

Sophie is a special girl, a descendant of a dragon and a human causing her to have magical powers. The powers enable her to control the water and wind. She moves in with her Great Aunt Lan and cousin, Sage to study at the best magic school. To get in she has to audition for it, however, she has no previous experience with magic with a teacher. At her old home, she usually practiced by herself, not knowing what was right and what was wrong. Great Aunt Lan made her clean and do other chores as training which made her angry because she thought that she could do more than clean. She began to sneak out to practice magic until Sage caught her. She agreed to teach Sophie some basic magic and set a rule that she wasn’t allowed to practice any magic without Sage or Aunt beside her. But, she was very impatient so she didn’t oblige, she still kept practicing magic every day in secret. One day when she performed a technique Sage taught her, she fell into the sea and drowned. A dragon saved her causing both of their magic to be tangled. They both came on shore safely where Sage found them and took them home. The dragon’s name is Lir; he lost all of his memories and the ability to turn back into a dragon. Aunt got really mad at Sophie and banned her from using magic. However, Lir stood up for her and convinced Aunt to let her practice magic. So, Sage took both of them to the sea to teach them magic. When Sophie did magic with Lir, her magical ability increased. Lir’s magic is just AWESOME! He can do really cool tricks with water. Aunt and Sage clearly like Lir more than Sophie, she feels jealous of Lir because he is all she wanted to be, good at magic, and loved by her family. Aunt takes both of them to a seer who tells them that when Sophie drowned, Lir saving her tangled their magics together because that was when both of their magics were at their weakest. That’s the reason Sophie’s magical abilities are enhanced because she is sharing it with Lir who has a high magical ability. From the next day, Lir and Sophie were trying in every way to detangle their magic. Sophie always wanted to do it her way, she was always dismissing Lir’s opinions and treated him badly. Spoiler alert, her ways didn’t work. One day, Aunt yelled at her, so she ran away and went to the seer again to seek some guidance. Sophie told her about all of her struggles at home, Lir being better than her in almost everything, Aunt being rude to her, and her worries about getting into the school. Next, Aunt came out from the other room and apologized to Sophie for being a bit strict and the only reason she did is because Sophie reminded her of her younger sister (Sophie’s grandmother) and she didn’t want Sophie to be like her. Aunt and her sister had a bad past, growing up Aunt was always the quiet kid who was also very smart, she was always pushed into the shadows by her younger sister. However, Sophie’s grandma was always in the spotlight. She was the spoiled, younger sister that was perfect at almost everything she tried. Their grandmother had to choose between the two to carry on the family legacy of teaching their way of magic. When the day came for the choice, their grandmother chose Aunt instead of her sister. Sophie’s grandma got mad and left the house and never talked to them again. Aunt believed that discipline is key, and her sister not having any caused her to become who she is, hating the family traditions and wanting nothing to do with her family. Aunt and Sophie went back home for the night and came back to the seer in the morning, this time with Lir. Sophie thinks that telling the truth will help untangle their magic restoring Lir to his dragon form. So she begins by telling him about that angry voice in her head telling her that she can’t do it or that she is useless and that it practically controls her. At that, Lir begins to regain his memory back. He tells her about how he feels like a failure because his dad is very strict and he always criticizes him about his lack of magical ability and how will not make a good king in the future. Now since there are no more truths left to tell, the magic is untangled setting them free from the other. When they all go back home, the King of Dragons (Lir’s dad) comes to take him away to his palace. Sophie stands up for Lir saying that he feels like his dad is bullying him and that he also feels like he can’t tell his father everything about himself because of how he’s being treated. Hearing that, Lir’s dad apologizes to him for being a bad father and they go away to their castle. Sophie made her decision, she is going to stay with Aunt and Sage to learn the family’s way of magic. She talks to her mom and grandma about it and they both disagree at first but after a lot of begging, they agree.

THE END