Thirteenth Child is the first book in Patricia C. Wrede’s Frontier Magic trilogy and opens the story of young Eff Rothmer. Eff is in a bit of a peculiar pickle as her younger twin brother, Lan, is a seventh son of a seventh son while Eff is the seventh daughter. This might not mean much but taken all together and it means she is the thirteenth child in their family which most of her extended family seems to think means she is a curse and bad luck waiting to happen. When she is five and after some rather distressing arguments and accusations her parents decide to pack up the family, at least those who still live at home and are willing to go, and move out west to get away from the accusations. They end up right next to the great barrier, the spell that keeps all the wild and dangerous magic from attacking the civilized settlements. As Eff continues growing up she starts learning other schools of magic and manages to distance herself from the belief that she is nothing but trouble waiting to happen. Time goes by and when weird magical things start happening she somehow manages to find herself right smack in the middle of it.
I want to admit that I decided to try this series out because of the unusual premise behind it. There are several series that deal with the concept of a seventh son of a seventh son and how they have some kind of unusual power or ability, though the specifics of that power or ability tend to vary. In fact I have already posted reviews of books like that so I know at least some of them are pretty interesting and pretty good. However, this book and hopefully this series seems to turn that concept right on its head. There is still the seventh son of a seventh son lurking in the background and it even functions as an occasional plot point. What was interesting was the counterpoint to that concept created in the idea of the thirteenth child. While this actually breaks with the tradition of the seventh son concept since the original idea was an unbroken chain of sons, it was interesting because it introduced the concept of a cursed birth order instead of a blessed birth order. You don’t tend to see something like that very frequently in literature so I was intrigued by the idea. The story ended up being a great read. It deals with some alternate history since I am fairly certain that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were not actually magicians of any sort but the world as a whole still shows considerable thought and depth to it. The three major types of magic have distinct differences and it does a pretty decent job of exploring how the different types work though it does focus more on two of the three types so I am hoping to see more of the third one in the later books. I ended up enjoying the story and am looking forward to trying the rest of the trilogy. This book is getting four out of five stars from me.
This would probably be considered a teen fantasy book so it would probably hold the most appeal to teen readers who already enjoy the fantasy genre. It would also probably be okay for older kids as well so probably older than eight or nine. Honestly, there was nothing I would consider to be inappropriate for kids so it would really only be restricted by their ability to understand the work. It is part of a series but it is the first part so go ahead and dive right in if it sounds interesting. Definitely worth the read and a good contrast to works that deal with the concept of a double seventh son. As always if you decide to try it feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.