Thirteenth Child

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Eighteen-year-old Eff must finally get over believing she is bad luck and accept that her special training in Aphrikan magic, and being the twin of the seventh son of a seventh son, give her extraordinary power to combat magical creatures that threaten settlements on the western frontier.

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A Great Fantasy Book submitted by j.carbon06 on June 26, 2011, 3:44pm This is a great fantasy book. It takes place in an alternate America where magic is common and the frontier is a huge spell that holds back the wild magic and non-magic animals. The main character, Eff, has a huge family and is an unlucky thirteenth child. Through much taunting on the subject, she comes to believe that she is a danger to all around her. It doesn't help that her twin brother is a seventh son of a seventh son, and has a huge amount of magic. But when her family moves to a small town on the edge of the Frontier, she has to restore confidence in herself.
This is a satisfying, well-written fantasy story. The characters are realistic and the plot is absorbing. This book will leave you begging for more.

Good submitted by Memoria1224 on July 31, 2012, 4:37pm This is a great book! It has a lot of adventure and magic in it. I loved reading it!

Worth a read submitted by yugure on October 17, 2012, 5:32pm The nice thing about picking up a Patricia C. Wrede book is knowing that it will be well-written; she is very skilled at what she does. While I did enjoy this book, it was not one of my favorites, but that has more to do with the fact I'm not usually interested in "frontier life" type stories than with Wrede's story (the plot, setting, and characters are all well-crafted.)

The wild west even wilder submitted by llamahope on July 3, 2014, 8:03am Frontier life seems so much more interesting when there are magical creatures and plants to keep you on your toes. I enjoyed this whole series because it helped capture what it is like to be exploring a completely new place where unknowns, possibly dangerous, can be as large as a lion or as small as a bug. A good coming of age story as well, especially for those whose talents are different than those around them and have to understand that that isn't always a bad thing.

A little slow submitted by Sunny29 on July 21, 2014, 9:22am I thoroughly enjoyed Wrede's Enchanted Forest series, but was disappointed with Thirteenth Child. The writing is done pretty well, especially the dialogue of the time, but it was missing some narration and physical descriptions. Wrede is portraying an alternate America, and a little guidance would've helped me envision exactly what she was going for. There was much more dialogue and character delveopment, limiting the actual magic and adventure I've grown accustomed to with Wrede's books. I'll finish this series in the hopes that the action will pick up more and the magical fantasy side will be more satiated. That being said, it's still an easy read and good showcase of a coming-of age story for someone who's been cast into a specific role from birth.