Title: Septimus Heap : PhysikIllustrator: Mark Zug
ISBN: ISBN 0060577371
Warning! This review might contain spoilers. If you don't like spoilers, please leave this post right away.
Physik is the third entry in the Septimus Heap book series by Angie Sage. The book once again featured Septimus Heap as the Apprentice of the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and Jenna the queenling of the Castle, who both would meet a new enemy in the form of Queen Etheldredda, a former queen of the Castle 500 years ago. Joining in their adventure would be Septimus's big brother Nicko, a young trader from the Northern Countries named Snorri Snorrelssen, Septimus's friend Wolf Boy, and Septimus' pet dragon Spit Fyre. As the spirit of Queen Etheldredda was accidentally released by Septimus's father, Silas Heap, she had planned to take over the Castle and sent Septimus back in time with the help of her son, Marcellus Pye. It is now up to Jenna and the others to save Septimus and the Castle from the grip of the evil Queen.
Magyk, the first book in the series, is still is one of my favourite children's novel that I have on my book shelf right now but I thought the second book, Flyte, while is still good, didnt't quite live up to the first book. So what about this third book in the series? In my opinion, the plot for Physik is entertaining with new twist and new characters. The author also included time travel in the plot which makes it even more interesting as I always love time travel-related stories in books and movies. Although I think the plot is good, it can get tricky sometimes when it comes to story with time travel and I feel the plot for Physik was hurt by it a bit. But it might be me being picky about it as it was the details such as the Glasses of Time that I'm complaining about and not the main story of Septimus, Jenna and the others travel back in time to 500 years prior. So readers do not have to worry about getting confused of the plot as it is actually the small details that I'm worrying about. But it might be good if the author did tight it up a bit as it might get frustrating to readers like me who are worrying about tiny details in the plot.
Physik also introduced a new set of interesting characters such as Snorri Snorrelssen, Marcellus Pye and the new villain herself, Queen Etheldredda. I really like strong female characters, that is why I love Snorri who travel by herself all the way to the Castle from her home country to find the ghost of her late father. She's strong, brave and independent which makes her a good role model to the younger fans of the book series. The new villain, Queen Etheldredda, was written quite well too. I read a lot of positive reviews about her as the new villain but I don't think she's better than the previous villain in the series, DomDaniel. Although I do feel she is way more ruthless and cruel in her action compared to DomDaniel who had a slight humour in the way his character were written, I still like both villains in their own way. By the way, I missed Marcia Overstrand and Aunt Zelda quite a bit since both characters didn't play a big part for the plot of this third book.
One major thing I have a problem with Physik is the way Septimus's father, Silas Heap, were written in the story. The way his character were written in the plot suggested that he has no concern about his missing children, which are Septimus and Jenna, when they were travelling back in time and went missing in the present timeline. Of course in the previous books he was decribed as careless and were not really strict on his children but one thing I understand from the previous two books is that he cares for his family very much. But in Physik, he is acting like he don't really care for his family which is the opposite from what I understand his character to be from the earlier books, and this is what makes me confused about his character. It's like he was a different character than before which frustrates me while reading about him. I guess I will just have to wait and see how his character developed in the fourth book in the series, Queste.
As a conclusion, I do enjoy Physik beside the slight dissatisfaction over the small details of the plot revolving the time travel and the way Silas Heap was written in the story. It is still a good continuation from the previous books and I feel the story has a great potential to become even more interesting moving forward. For new readers, as usual I would suggest you to read the series from the first book, Magyk.
Image from HarperCollins.
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