Threadneedle: The magical SUNDAY TIMES bestselling debut fantasy (Threadneedle, Book 1)

“Goddess of Silence and Secrets: Seal our mouths, so we can’t speak. Pierce our eyes, so we can’t seek. Knot our hearts, so we can’t feel. Bind our spells; to you we kneel. What is forgotten, can’t be known. What isn’t planted, can’t be sown. Lock the door and turn the key. We bear our magic silently. - The Binders’ Blessing”‘Threadneedle’ is Cari Thomas’ debut novel and the first in her four book ‘Language of Magic’ series, set in contemporary London. This was a smashing novel, brimming with magic. I did a dual read/listen and its unabridged audiobook edition is narrated by Bea Holland.Anna is a fifteen-year old orphan, gifted (or cursed) with magic. She has been raised by her Aunt Vivienne, who has always warned her of the dangers of magic. In a year’s time Anna will undergo the Knotting, a ceremony that will bind her magic and she will become a Binder like her Aunt. Then Selene, an old family friend of Anna’s mother and aunt, moves to London with her daughter, Effie, and Attis, a young family friend, who has been living with them in New York.Effie is enrolled in Anna’s school and while Anna has been lectured her whole life about not exposing her magic, Effie delights in being provocative with her magical talent. Anna reflects that “sending Effie into the ordinary, humdrum corridors of St Olave’s was surely like throwing a live firework at a haystack?”Effie identifies two other misfit girls at the school as having latent magical talent and before long she’s encouraged them to form a coven and then we enter ‘The Craft’ territory. Teen witch shenanigans follow and all the while Anna has to evade her Aunt’s surveillance. No further details to avoid spoilers.I enjoyed this novel very much. Cari Thomas clearly knows her subject and I was delighted to discover that the magic in ‘Threadneedle’ was grounded in traditional witchcraft and Wiccan practices rather than the more fantasy based magic found in much fiction of this type. I was especially impressed by the structure of the rituals. Such authenticity carries a lot of weight with me.In terms of the audiobook, I have enjoyed Bea Holland’s reading of a few audiobook titles and felt that her narration on ‘Threadneedle’ was excellent. She has a clear confident voice, which is something that I always appreciate in an audiobook reader. Even with the younger characters she didn’t voice their dialogue as ‘squeaky’.This was undoubtedly a long novel though I felt that this gave the author the space to develop her characters and world building including the hidden London populated by magical folk and esoteric locations. There’s a great deal of potential within and I can hardly wait to see where Thomas takes her readers in the future books.Just to note that while ‘Threadneedle’ is a coming-of-age story with young protagonists it has not been classified by the publisher as a Young Adult novel but as Occult Horror/Fantasy Horror/Urban Fantasy. So, no need for more mature readers to feel guilty.On a side note, its cover design is simply gorgeous and I am happy to add the hardback to my bookshelf.This was exactly the kind of magical-themed novel that I love and I am planning to recommend it widely and also look forward to further books in the ‘Language of Magic’ series.Highly recommended.

I liked this book, it did keep me reading. But it was very slow to start and you did want to scream at the main character a few times. But I find that with a lot of this genre so maybe it's me! It has good twists and turns, and a mystery that needs solving. A good read

A feast of a book- it is beautifully written and very intriguing. There is a fun element and humour arising from the witticisms of the characters. Also, it has to be said, the novel runs with some dark and disturbing themes which could well act as triggers for some readers. However, the story is told from the perspective of Anna - a young woman, a schoolgirl growing into her witchery, and though her first hand account of her "binding" is painfully sad, she is strong and has support from a group of school friends who are all well-rounded characters in themselves. Attis, the schoolboy is a mystifying melange - charismatic, amoral and also, dare I say, with a Jesus-like quality?The ending is indeed good but the reader is still left with unanswered questions rather along the lines of Anna's constant questioning throughout the story. Also, can Selene be trusted? I cannot wait for the next story in this series.Thank you, Cari Thomas, for such an absorbing rollercoaster of a novel.

Sound familiar? That's because it is meant to. This book has clearly been pitched at the post-HP era. Instead of a secret magical school we have a secret magical coven within a school. A mistreated, repressed magical orphan, with no idea how significant she really is. Fantastical hidden delights around every ordinary corner only seen by magical folk, that Anna the protagonist gets to discover along with her gaggle of magical friends - you get the picture.It is more grown up in the sense of the emphasis on the divine feminine. All of the witches are female -white middle-class female, I hasten to add. In fact the only male magical character is there purely as love interest for the girls, which is a nice twist. There are some lovely descriptions of magical places. Themes of magical repression serve as a metaphor for sexual repression of women and their sexual power. Their "magic" is their "curse" -not surprisingly unleashed as they reach sexual maturity and start to become sexually attracted. There is some grown-up stuff going on here, and the characterisation is excellent, from the enigmatic ,eccentric Selene, to the rebellious and wild Effie to the stringent and stricken Aunt Vivienne. The one character that falls flat for me is Anna ,who seems perpetually to have things done to her , being led around in the novel by other people ,literally in one part of the book, so maybe this was deliberate. At some point she has to learn to have a will of her own, but it all comes so late it becomes highly improbable.In fact it was the improbability of the ending that made me ultimately frustrated with the book - and that was after skimming most of the middle part school dramatics that don't move the plot anywhere and just go on and on. All motives and mysteries are kept top secret until the very end and then when the reveal happens I was simply just not buying any of it. After such a drawn-out build up, it all ended very abruptly, and I was left with the feeling that the book had been written backwards to fit exactly this very unconvincing plot twist, and everything had been leading to something that didn't quite make sense.I think this book would work well for teens, but adults might struggle to swallow the premise and the school saga. it should be made clear it's YA.

A fun and magical read in a super creative world with good character development and a great twist of an ending. Very creative and could be the next blockbuster world like JK Rowling’s books!

This story was simply amazing, I was hooked right from the beginning. The characters were well described. Anna is my favourite character , she is a witch. The story had unexpected twists towards the end that I didn't see coming. This book is definitely worth a read and I can't wait to see what Cari Thomas writes next !

Highly original and well-written. The ending was a very fast, too fast for me, confusing wrap-up. The characters are developed nicely but didn't seem to make sense at the end. Halfway through I was excited for volume 2 but now don't really care. Some vivid and memorable scenes - sewing machine, salt, witch library and curio shop. Maybe it is me but writers seem to have great difficulty bringing matters to a satisfactory close and that's my problem with this novel.

That's my review. I started this book and could not bear to stop until I reached the end. Work is going to suck tomorrow. Maybe start this one on a Friday night instead of a weeknight.

Absolutely loves this book. Amazing characters, a storyline that kept me guessing the whole way through, beautifully written. Recommend for sure.